Diageo has created a series of advertisements to warn young customers of the dangers of alcohol misuse. But will the campaign work?
Drinks companies are used to dealing with bad publicity about the negative effects of their products on public health, the rise of binge drinking and alcohol-related violence.
In recent years the industry has made significant strides in terms of responsible marketing, notably in the UK through the work of the Drinkaware Trust and the Portman Group. Drinks companies have started to tone down contentious forms of advertising, such as linking alcohol consumption with sexual success. But with its “Choices” responsible drinking advertising campaign, which has been airing for a second time since May, global market leader Diageo has taken a bold step to communicate alcohol’s harmful effects to consumers.
Rather than simply adding a responsibility message at the end of a branded commercial, the Choices campaign makes that message the subject of the advertisement. Some of the prime Diageo brands – Guinness, Smirnoff and Bells – appear at the end of the ad as small icons. Otherwise, it has more of the appearance of a generic public information film. Aimed at the 18-to-24 age group, the new campaign has already been seen in the UK, Germany and Spain. Other markets will follow, possibly with different ads, the company says.
The campaign comprises two ads, one targeted at men and the other at women. Each represents two possible scenarios for an enjoyable evening out, one in which alcohol is enjoyed responsibly and contributes to a fun evening, and another where excessive consumption has the opposite effect. The viewer is finally asked the question: “A night to remember? Or one to forget? The choice is yours.”
Behind the scenes, Diageo has made Attitudes to Alcohol a brand unit with its own global marketing director, Pamela Bower-Nye, an experienced marketer who has headed up its flagship Smirnoff brand in both the UK and the US.
She says: “We believe that we are the first drinks company to run a CSR programme from within our marketing function. As a company we know that our strengths lie in our in-depth knowledge of consumers and in creating fantastic marketing campaigns so we want to use this strength to create a positive change in people’s attitudes to alcohol.”
Getting serious
While it may seem an awkward transition from marketing Smirnoff as glamorous and aspirational to communicating the risks of alcohol misuse, Bower-Nye maintains the two tasks are closer than they appear. “The common ground is that responsibility is at the heart of all our marketing,” she says. “From a creative standpoint it doesn’t really matter if I am making an advert for brands or for responsible drinking – the same principles apply. I start with basing the campaign on consumer insights and then follow the same creative process to make a unique and innovative advert that will influence and engage consumers.”
What the two tasks patently have in common is the target consumer. Diageo stresses that it knows these consumers well and has a proven record of successfully marketing to them. “We have a unique opportunity, through our consumer insights into the behaviour of 18-to-24 year-olds, to really get under the skin of this age group and understand what makes them behave in the way that they do,” Bower-Nye says. “By knowing this we can develop a campaign that we believe will really make them change their attitude to alcohol.”
Diageo claims some success in achieving this. In a survey it commissioned after the campaign’s initial burst in November 2007, 62 per cent of the 300 viewers in its sample said they were more likely to consider drinking responsibly as a result of seeing the adverts, while some 92 per cent said the ads and website were the kind “that make you think about drinking responsibly”. Diageo has not done any further research into the impact of the ads. But it will repeat the survey for the latest burst that began in May.
UK home secretary Jacqui Smith has praised Diageo. She said in February that having a global brand director for attitudes to alcohol was an emphasis and focus she wanted to see from across the industry. But finding favour from health campaigners and academics has arguably proved harder. Indeed, Christine Griffin, professor of social psychology at Bath University notably accused the campaign of glamorising excessive drinking, a suggestion Diageo stoutly rebutted.
Dr Andrew McNeill, director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies, says it is easy for marketers to get public health messages wrong. He highlights instances where sex and drugs education campaigns have backfired. “How it leaves the creative ad department and how it is perceived are two different things. That’s why you have to do things properly and have some proper evaluation.”
McNeill remains sceptical of corporate involvement in health education. “One of the golden rules of public education is that the education must be coming from a credible source and I’m not sure how credible Diageo or any other company is in giving health messages.” He sees Diageo’s move as predominantly a response to political pressure and the threat of tighter regulation and higher taxation. “It’s a response to perceived pressure and that pressure will increase, not just in the UK but it is certainly increasing in Europe and it will increase globally,” McNeill says.
Bower-Nye concedes that retaining market freedoms is important to Diageo but insists this is not the prime motivation behind her work. “We promote responsible drinking because first and foremost it is the right thing to do. By doing so, it also allows us the freedom to operate.”
Inside knowledge
Notwithstanding his misgivings, McNeill accepts that Diageo’s insights into the mindset of 18-to-24 year-olds are undeniable. “If the question is of the two different groups, health education on one side and drinks companies on the other, which has been more adept at understanding what consumers, particularly younger consumers, want, it’s no contest.” McNeill adds that the campaign could be seen as a positive move if it is part of “a changing culture” in the industry.
UK alcohol charity Alcohol Concern also believes it is important that Diageo’s lead is followed by other companies. “Diageo has always taken a position of leadership when it comes to corporate social responsibility issues and it would be great if they were to inspire other companies to make more of a contribution,” says Frank Soodeen, head of public affairs at Alcohol Concern. “However, I think we could achieve more in this area if there were greater distance between the people who pay for these campaigns and those who execute them.”
This also relates to the question of credibility, but there seems to be a genuine dichotomy here. Diageo’s closeness to the consumer provides something that public health agencies may lack, but there remain concerns about an alcohol marketer being so directly engaged in what is ostensibly a public education task.
How Diageo goes about reconciling this is not clear. Bower-Nye sees Diageo’s work as complementary to government campaigns that are appropriately more “hard-hitting”. Diageo communicates a different message, Bower-Nye adds, “which is about everyone having a choice on a night out”.
While Diageo sponsors a number of education programmes directed at under-18s on an unbranded basis, the company clearly feels it is its direct creative involvement that makes the Choices campaign a particularly useful element in the public education mix. It also stresses its preparedness to share information about the campaign with third parties, including industry peers and public health organisations.
By setting up a brand unit for promoting responsible drinking, assigning one of its most experienced brand marketers to head it, and devising a new style of responsible drinking campaign, Diageo is pledging to lead by example on responsible drinks marketing. But how effective corporate advertising can be to improve standards of public health education, however, remains open to further scrutiny.
Solitaire Townsend’s expert view – a measure of success
“From a marketers perspective the Diageo adverts are a huge improvement on the “please drink responsibly” small print of other ads that is, frankly, laughable. Spending advertising budget to cut consumption of your product is unequivocally brave. The creative product itself is professionally produced. Diageo has taken the job seriously.
But will this stop binge drinking? Measuring attitudes is a first step, but Diageo must also check if they have changed behaviour. This level of advertising spend on product promotion would need to prove sales increases, not just positive feelings.
Real change tactics such as training barmen, cutting the percentage of alcohol in products and making extreme drunks socially unacceptable are harder than an ad campaign. This is a good first step, but not the end of the controversy – or Saturday night benders.”
Solitaire Townsend is managing director of Futerra Sustainability Communications.
Know your limits – UK rules for alcohol ads
The UK government’s alcohol harm reduction strategy of 2005 introduced tougher restrictions on alcohol advertising, covering four main areas:
· the appeal of alcohol ads to young people, especially under-age drinkers, and references to “youth culture”;
· linking alcohol with sex, sexual activity or sexual success;
· linking alcohol with aggressive, anti-social or irresponsible behaviour; and
· depictions of irresponsible handling or serving of alcohol.
Existing codes for drinks advertisers prohibit the encouragement of excessive drinking, the portrayal of drinking in association with activities such as driving or operating machinery, and emphasis on high alcoholic strength. Advertising also should not suggest any therapeutic benefits or that alcohol enhances personal confidence.
Lots of bottle – Diageo number crunch
£5.7 billion – sales (2007)
£643 million – marketing spend (2007)
78.9 million – volume of drink sold (in 9-litre equivalent cases)
Diageo’s brands
In order of volume: Smirnoff (vodka); Johnnie Walker (scotch whisky); Guinness (stout); Captain Morgan (rum); Bailey’s (liqueur); J&B (scotch whisky); Cuervo (tequila); Tanqueray (gin).