UK Edition Ministers struck a deal worth up to £119m with one of the world's biggest marketing companies for a Covid campaign three weeks before the country went into a national lockdown, official filings show.
The Cabinet Office signed the contract with London-based OMD Group, a subsidiary of US ad titan Omnicom, on March 2 - the same day Prime Minister Boris Johnson attended his first pandemic-related Cobra meeting - as the Government began to gear up its response to the crisis.
Although the UK did not go into lockdown until March 23, the outline of its communications strategy appears to have been agreed weeks in advance.
The agreement referred to three “tiers” of messaging that the Government wanted to get across to the public, including telling people to “Stay Home, Stay Safe”, reminding them to wash their hands regularly and promoting healthy lifestyle habits during periods of isolation.
It also referenced marketing campaigns to communicate emergency economic measures.
The price tag of the pandemic information campaign dwarfed the £46m the Government spent on its “Get Ready for Brexit” campaign at the end of 2019, which it billed at the time as its biggest advertising blitz since the Second World War.
According to details published on the Government's website, the contract said: “The outbreak of Covid-19 in the UK requires a significant communications effort including through mass marketing channels to provide clear instructions to the public about actions to take to protect themselves and their communities."
OMD was tasked with buying media space regionally, nationally and internationally across a range of different platforms, including in print and broadcast and on social media sites such as TikTok and Snapchat.
Despite the huge outlay in anticipation of a major push of health and economic messages, the Government still had not closed schools or banned mass gatherings at large events, such as football matches, to control the infection rate at the time the deal was struck.
This heavy spending on advertising weeks before politicians moved the country into lockdown could be used as ammunition by critics who claimed Britain was too slow to follow its European neighbours into a full shutdown.
More than half of Britons believed the UK was too slow to enter a national lockdown, according to an Ipsos poll published in April. Critics have since claimed that acting earlier would have allowed restrictions to be loosened more quickly, ultimately boosting the economy.
The Government is under mounting pressure to disclose details of billions of pounds handed over to private companies for contracts related to its pandemic response with campaigners threatening legal action if it does not improve transparency.
Vast sums have been spent on contractors tasked with securing PPE, helping to build the Test and Trace system and delivering emergency lending programmes for businesses. and there are calls for ministers to show that taxpayers got value for money.
A Government spokesman said: “The Government's coronavirus public information campaign aims to ensure people of all ages know what they need to do to slow the spread of the virus and save lives.
"We work to support our campaign utilising TV, radio, social, print and other advertisements to ensure the public has the right information it needs.
"We also work closely with local authorities to share best practice and insight on communications, and have delivered a paid marketing campaign according to local risk levels in England to ensure our messaging lands locally.”
OMD did not respond to a request for comment.