Earlier this month, Global Drinks Intel announced the winners of its inaugural ESG Awards. Here’s a look at why the winners won.
Sustainable Marketing Campaign – Clonakilty Distillery
Earlier this year, Clonakilty Distillery was awarded gold membership of ‘Origin Green’, the world’s only national food and drink sustainability programme. To qualify for membership, a company must demonstrate exceptional performance annually in areas such as raw material sourcing, water and energy efficiency, waste reduction, packaging and social sustainability.
“We leveraged this award to raise consumer awareness of the significant changes we have implemented in the company to reduce our carbon footprint and promote sustainability throughout our operations,” the company says. “We took the decision to make our public sustainability goals more immediate, rather than committing to distant dates.
“Our campaign message became: Our sustainability story is happening now, not in 2050.”
The activation encompassed the company’s social media and PR outreach. “The campaign yielded impressive results, with a 48% increase in organic engagement across Instagram and Facebook, including a significant jump in reach and impressions.”
On LinkedIn, Clonakilty noted a healthy uptick in employee engagement, with staff sharing these posts 35% more than regular business updates.
“We will sustain this campaign to reinforce the message that climate change is immediate, demanding businesses to respond today.”
Special Commendation – Diageo for Guinness’ ‘Regenerative Agriculture’
An important part of Diageo’s ‘Society 2030: Spirit of Progress’ ten-year ESG plan – which debuted in 2020 – is regenerative agriculture. In Ireland, flagship beer brand Guinness is running a three-year pilot across Irish barley farms to lower the carbon footprint of spring barley production.
A campaign was created “to provide insights so that Guinness could communicate and depict the process clearly, accurately and authentically on the farms that produce the barley”. Sustainability was factored into the campaign production, with the shoot taking place in one location, on a barley farm that supplies Guinness.
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