If you work in public sector communications, campaign planning often means balancing limited resources against high public expectations – with multiple stakeholders, channels, and objectives all competing for attention at the same time.

The OASIS framework, developed by the UK Government Communications Service (GCS), was built specifically for this environment. It’s a structured approach to campaign planning that brings consistency, clarity, and measurability to communications work – whether you’re running a public health campaign, a housing consultation, or a community engagement programme.

This guide walks through each stage of the framework and explains how to apply it in practice.

The OASIS framework is a strategic tool designed to enhance the precision and effectiveness of campaign planning. It is structured around five key stages:

1. Objectives
2. Audience and insight
3. Strategy and ideas
4. Implementation
5. Scoring and evaluation

The success of any campaign lies in clear and well-defined objectives, that outline the intended goals of your communications activities. Your communication objectives should help to support the policy aim and make sure to outline the role that individual activities or channels will play in achieving the objectives.

The objectives should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (SMART). By following the SMART approach, you lay the foundation for a well-structured and purpose-driven campaign. Ideally, your objectives should be numerical where possible, focused on outcomes of the campaign rather than outputs.

Effective communication hinges on an understanding of your citizens and the wider community. Personalisation is essential for engaging modern audiences. By conducting thorough audience research and collecting data-driven insights, you can gain a profound understanding of their needs, preferences, and motivations.

Tailoring your communications to your community through community research and data insights is crucial for creating impactful campaigns.

Use this community insight to help you guide your approach, you will also need to take into account channels of choice, campaign messaging, and partners/influencers.

Diversify your communication channels to expand your campaign’s reach while maintaining a consistent and coherent message. Maintaining your organisation’s brand identity is crucial to building trust and authenticity helping to set your campaign apart from the crowd.

Once your approach has been defined, it’s time to lay out how your communications are going to be delivered. Develop a detailed campaign plan, assign responsibilities to team members, and allocate resources wisely. Collaboration with influencers and strategic partners can extend your campaign’s reach and impact.

In the public sector, where resources can be stretched, consider cost-effective approaches like partnerships and public relations. Stay flexible and adaptable to address challenges and seize opportunities as they arise. A well-executed campaign sets the stage for success.

The journey doesn’t end with implementation; it’s an ongoing process of improvement. Continuous learning and evaluation are crucial to refining your campaigns for maximum impact. Measure your campaign’s outcomes against your objectives using both qualitative and quantitative metrics.

Analyse behavioural data and gather feedback from stakeholders to gain valuable insights. Embrace tools and frameworks that align with your objectives and resources. This iterative process empowers you to fine-tune your strategies and optimise the effectiveness of your future campaigns.

1. Set clear and specific objectives, linking them with your organisation’s broader mission.
2. Understand your community through research and data-driven insights.
3. Create a strategy that aligns content with objectives and the audience journey.
4. Implement campaigns with planning, collaboration, and adaptability.
5. Embrace continuous learning and evaluation to refine and elevate your campaigns.

Each stage of OASIS requires a different kind of capability – and most public sector communications teams are trying to deliver all five stages with tools that weren’t built for them.

Orlo is the only community engagement platform built specifically for the public sector. That means every tool in the platform maps directly to what public sector comms teams actually need – from setting benchmarked objectives and gathering AI-powered audience insight, to scheduling campaigns, managing inbound responses at scale, and reporting outcomes to stakeholders.

Over 400 public sector organisations use Orlo to plan, deliver, and evaluate their community communications – including local and central government, NHS trusts, housing associations, police forces, and fire and rescue services.

If you’re working through an OASIS campaign plan and want to see how Orlo supports each stage in practice, a demo is the fastest way to see it in your context.