Earlier this month, Global Drinks Intel announced the winners of its inaugural ESG Awards. Here’s a look at why the winners won.
Responsible Drinking/Alcohol Harm Reduction Initiative – Pernod Ricard for ‘Drink More. Water’
With Gen Z proving to be a hard demographic to reach, Pernod Ricard framed one of its responsible drinking activations around a single, simple message.
‘Drink More. Water’ debuted towards the end of the pandemic in July 2021 “to seize the moment when young adults would socialise again, and the risk of excessive drinking would be high”. The activation has been designed to look like a music video, “exactly like the content that the Gen Z binge-watch on social media”. No branding appears beyond the central message, which allowed for tie-ins with brand-led events run by the group, including for Chivas in Mexico, Jameson in Kenya and Absolut in the UK.
“The simple call to action does not moralise the audience but takes a no bullsh*t approach to empower them to make the choice to drink responsibly, reaching everyone regardless of their social, economic or geographical background. More than an advertisement, it delivers a message on awareness and harm reduction and questions the necessity to change behaviours.”
First launched in Germany, South Africa, Mexico, Kenya & the Netherlands, the activation is now present in around 55 markets worldwide. On Facebook and Instagram combined, reach has been calculated at around 200m, and the campaign will run again next year.
Special Commendation – Diageo for DRINKiQ at Sziget Festival
Earning a notable mention in this category was Diageo’s unit in Hungary, which utilised last year’s Sziget Festival in Budapest for an activation around the group’s DRINKiQ responsible consumption platform. The event, which returned in 2022 after a two-year break, is one of the largest music festivals in Central & Eastern Europe, attracting in the region of 450,000 attendees.
Six “thought-provoking” statements – among them, ‘Have you ever regretted a drink?’ and ‘If you can’t read this, you’ve probably had enough’ – were promoted around the site. The messages were also utilised by Diageo on 150,000 reusable cups, which were designed for festivalgoers to collect.
Backed by sponsorship of the festival’s official guide, along with direct messages to mobile phones, the activity promoted the DRINKiQ website consistently.
“The campaign was seen by tens of thousands of people during the summer period and 75,000 cups – half of the total – were taken home. The ‘Festival Survival Guide’ was read by more than 30,000 individuals, while social media and digital communication resulted in a reach of 1.6m and engaged 133,000 individuals.”
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