Objective

To encourage responsible alcohol consumption.

To encourage the idea of pacing thus helping to decrease excessive consumption and change drinking habits.

Description

The idea for the campaign came from the “Green Paper on Alcohol Policy”, compiled in 2014 by the Ministry of Social Affairs in collaboration with the private sector and health organisations.  The document recommends establishing practices in the private sector which would decrease excessive alcohol consumption and prevent intoxication.  Among suggestions is serving alcoholic drinks with free water, as this is not commonplace in Estonian bars.  The campaign aims to change this.

The campaign advocates drinking a glass of water in between each glass of alcohol.  It also explains that alcohol consumption increases the body’s requirement for fluids and that drinking water helps to pace consumption and thus reduce the overall amount of alcohol consumed.  The campaign is supported by:

• Training and on-trade activations: An emphasis is put on importance of water consumption during the responsible alcohol training for bartender students at the EBA Training Centre.  Also, bars encourage patrons to pace their drinks by serving them water using pitchers with the campaign logo. Stickers for restrooms highlight that water should be drank and stickers for doors show the bar’s participation by stating “A venue of wise consumption”.
• A dedicated website, Facebook and Instagram pages.
• Yearly activations include bottleneck ads placed on products sold in stores, audio clip emphasising the importance of water consumption played in stores, campaign branded free water handed out at events.
• Attendance of the Estonian Drinks Festival in November 2017 where the campaign results were presented.
• Taxi companies (Tulika Takso, Takso24 and Välk Takso) provided campaign branded bottles of free water to passengers at the weekends in November 2019.   Also, branded water was handed out at the Eesti Joogifestival on 11 November and those promising to drink water were also entered into a draw to win a breathalyser.
• The May 2020 wave took place online (web and social media) and by the campaign message played on the radio and in stores.  
• In July 2022, social media posts, water decanters, interactive map of Estonia with participating venues, door stickers and a short video were used.
• In 2023, ads were placed online; ads were played in stores and on a radio station; a social media campaign took place and door stickers were produced and printed.  The campaign ran in three bursts: from 1 June to 11 June and 19 June to 30 June; 14 August to 20 August and 17 August to mid-September.

Partners

Estonian Bartenders Association

Estonian Sommelier Association

Large retail chains and bars, restaurants and cafes across Estonia

Results

2023 campaign bursts:

• Door stickers were displayed at 111 HoReCa venues.
• 6 Facebook posts reached 423,470 and had 2,869 engagements. The page was liked 2,129 times.  Youtube ads reached 50,000 and had 80,000 impressions. 
• Google Display ads reached 89,000 and had 429,000 impressions.
• The website had 181 visits without referral.

Ads on Delfi.ee reached 434,000, 912,000 impressions.  Ads on Postimees.ee reached 120,000 and had 160,000 impressions. 

July 2022: 464 water decanters were distributed and door stickers were displayed at 47 HoReCa venues.  The Facebook was liked over 2,100 times and 17 posts reached 640,750 and had 7,071 engagements.  Ads reached 45,151 on Instagram and 202,000 on Facebook.  Youtube ads had 398,000 impressions. Google ads had 907,000 impressions.  Ads on Delfi.ee and Postimees.ee websites had 2.6 million impressions, 918,000 unique shows and 5,371 clicks to the campaign website.  The website had 181 visits without referral.

May 2020: Radio channels MyHits, Elmar and KuKu reached 500,000 people. The audio clip was played at 91 stores.  The Facebook page was liked over 1,800 times and 16 posts reached 480,000 adults with 32,300 engagements. 4 Instagram posts reached more than 7,800 and Instagram stories reached 43,600 with 1,000 engagements.  The Delfi.ee and Postimees.ee website content was shown to 1 million users with 5,000 redirects to the campaign website. In addition, the message was taken up in 7 articles and one lifestyle podcast.  The website had more than 5,000 visitors in 2020.  

November 2019: 67 bars provided free drinking water, 3 taxi companies jointly provided 10,000 bottles of free water to passengers and 91 retail stores played the audio clip.  By March 2020, the Facebook page had been liked 1,400 times.

2018: 650 washroom stickers, 870 table displays, and 650 water pitchers were used in the 103 participating bars which also served free drinking water.  650,000 bottleneck ads were distributed for products containing alcohol and the audio clip was played in 91 stores.  The Facebook page was liked 980 times.  The posts reached 323,363 adults with 10,308 engagements.  Also, there were 49 stories in the media (20 during first segment of and 29 in the autumn). 

November 2017: 3 bars and one barman were recognised for their contribution to the campaign and for being a role model to others Estonian Drinks Festival.  Also, feedback was positive.

Measurement & evaluation

A post-campaign survey was carried out in 2022 (1,215 answers).  Results show that 33% increased awareness of the campaign and its message.  66% felt this type of campaign is necessary/important.  93% said they would start drinking water when consuming alcohol.  In addition, several social media users shared the campaign posts.

In 2020 a post campaign survey was carried out for the first time to measure the impact the five campaign waves.  Results showed that 39% of respondents had seen the campaign message.  Scaling the representative sample to population level, the message reached around 414,000 adult (18+) Estonians, which is a significant result (around a third of the adult population).  Compared to other age groups, people aged between 18 and 34 had seen it significantly more than others. 2/3 of the people consider the campaign necessary and 88% of the primary target group (ie people who drink alcohol and noticed the campaign) take this recommendation into account while consuming alcohol. 

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