Australia’s population musters into coastal cities like moths to verandah lights. Yet the communities that populate its vast interior and coastline are forced to become increasingly self-reliant. The mechanisms that bind communities are also affected. Resourceful schools must be creative in the way they form relationships with local business to subsidise education without endorsing products. AUSTAR – Australia’s largest regional Pay-TV operator – commissioned research that highlighted the need for a more “community-focussed” approach because its advertising message was “losing credibility”. Tribal DDB Sydney saw a precious opportunity to ingratiate AUSTAR to thousands of towns across regional Australia by offering schools a unique package of educational TV content and related internet resources that were free, relevant curricula and commercially discreet. AUSTAR employed Glynis Nunn-Cearns (English / Physical Education Teacher / 1984 LA Olympic Heptathlon Gold Medalist) as the National Spokesperson and Education Manager. Glynis hosted the regional roadshow that travelled through Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria to launch the “SOS Program” in December, 2001. OBJECTIVES – To package together all information and documentary-style content and supply these free to all regional high schools.

– To create one forum for high quality (but previously disparate teachers) materials that were developed independently by National Geographic Channel, Discovery Channel, CNN, SKYNews, the ABC and The Weather Channel.– To establish long-term international content relationships with major educational content providers (mentioned above) and automate one interactive (ie. non static) TV schedule from multiple independent XML feeds.– To develop a host of interactive tools that bring distant schools closer together – such as online debates, quizzes, topical chat rooms (with national celebrities and role-models such as Glynis), live studio excursions and teachers bulletin boards that allow teachers to gauge their peers response to SOS content.TARGET GROUPHigh schools across regional Australia.