Party with style

Objective

To lower binge drinking levels in Latvia, especially among young adults and students.

To change drinking habits and alcohol-related behaviour in Latvia for the better.

To educate people about responsible consumption.

Description

Although alcohol consumption in Latvia is decreasing, Latvians are still one of the biggest binge drinkers in Europe and student parties are one of the times where many drink to excess. Latvian Ministry of Health figures for the percentage who drank 6 or more units was: 45.6% less than once a month; 16.1% once a month and 5.6% once a week in 2020. 36.7% less than once a month; 11.1% once a month and 3.5% once a week in 2018. 40.8% less than once a month; 14.5% once a month and 6.8% once a week in 2016.

The initiative uses social media to show the social impact of binge drinking and to raise awareness of the dangers associated with drinking too much. Emphasis is placed on the loss of social status, an issue which important to the target group (adults aged 18 to 35).

In 2017, it was promoted at two Latvian festivals: “Positivus” and “Laba daba”. Stands were set up to provide information about safe levels of drinking and guidelines, and to intersperse alcoholic drinks with water. Promotional materials such as cups with the “Party with Style” logo were handed out and participants could get their hand stamped with the “Party with Style” logo. A virtual game on the safe drinking guidelines also presented at the festivals.

In 2019, it was promoted at an event for influencers, where psychotherapist Dr Ernests Pūliņš Cinis spoke about what can lead to memory loss when drinking and the importance of drinking in moderation. This was followed by a Q&A session after which the influencers were encouraged to spread the message on their social media channels. Posts were also shared on LANA’s Facebook page and Instagram account. In addition, outdoor advertising for bus-stops, etc., were also used. Also in 2019, a competition to create a social media campaign to promote responsible drinking was held in Latvian higher-education institutions (students aged 18 or over). The winning campaign, “Remember Emotions, Not Films” (this is the slang word for a “blackout” in Latvian), features a fictional character called “The Filmmaker”. The Filmmaker (blackout maker) character typifies a person who has drunk too much alcohol. The character publishes “blacked out” posts on social media alongside photos of typical social settings – reminding users that memories cannot be made if one blacks out.

In 2020, responsible drinking guidelines and tips were shared on social networks. The guide includes information about moderate drinking and about units of alcohol. The tips were created by the Filmmaker to serve as guidelines for party goers. The aim is to avoid undesirable situations and to remind the user about moderate alcohol consumption.

Between 2019 and 2021, influencers supported the campaign by creating short videos to amplify the message which are then shared on social media, including by the Filmaker.

2019/2020 influencers: Janis Krivens interviewed Dr Arturs Miksons in his “Pedeja Pilite” podcast. Rojs Rodžers talked with Dr Rita Kuznetsova of the “Vivendi” Health Centre. Niklavs talked with people around Riga to find out their consumption habits.
2020 influencers: Lauris Zalāns summarised common types of “filmmakers” in his video called “the Filmmaker”. Lida Niznaja and Elina Pakalna (Latvian Sisters) created two videos. The first on staying in control whilst partying and the second on resisting peer pressure. Lota Ulmane (YouTube and Instagram) explored why drinking too much is a bad idea and was joined by the Fimmaker and Dr Ernests Pūliņš-Cini.
2021 Influencers: Lauris Zalāns summarised the most common types of ladies at parties. Jorets asks people on the street for alcohol related funny or shameful stories. Rojs Rodžers shares his experience of drinking the wrong cocktail. Bengers FM DJ’s Baltaisvilks and Pannāpirdējs talked about drinking too much and blacking out.

In 2022, a sub-section on the most read news portal in Latvia (delfi.lv) was created which was added to in 2023. Responsible drinking articles are posted onto the section and parallel publishing highlights the articles on the first page of the news section. The articles published feature a link to atbildigi.lv inviting readers to find more detailed information about the topics covered on the site. Delfi.lv also posts information about the articles on their Facebook. In addition, LANA posts the articles on the responsible drinking website, and advertisements on Facebook and Instagram target young adults (18 to 35 years old).

In 2022, the campaign ran between 5 and 20 October. The sub-section contained articles on Responsible drinking (basic information about responsible drinking); Most common myths about alcoholic beverages and their use (debunks popular myths about alcoholic beverages and their usage); Five situations in life when you should not drink alcoholic beverages (5 situations when a person shouldn’t drink any alcohol, for example, while breastfeeding, while driving a car and when taking medicine); Alcoholic beverages and calories (Explains that all alcoholic beverages have calories, and that drinking cocktails and eating snacks increases calorie intake).

In 2023, the campaign ran between September to December. The sub-section contained 4 articles about:

How to ensure moderation when drinking alcohol: Provides basic information on responsible drinking, as well as tips for situations when people come up w/decision to drink less alcohol than usual or not at all.
How to talk about alcohol with children and young people: Shares advice on how to talk about alcohol with children and young people, for example, if a parent finds out that a child has been drinking.
The culture of alcohol consumption. What can we learn from the Italians: Summarises the factors that have contributed to the fact that alcohol consumption in Italy has declined more than in the rest of Europe over the last 50 years.
Three times when excessive alcohol consumption won’t help: Introduces readers to three popular myths about the impact of alcohol on mental health, such as the myth that drinking alcohol reduces stress and increases creativity.

Also in 2023, Latvian retailers also began displaying campaign flyers in stores and sharing the campaign messages on their social media. However, this cooperation was stopped because a letter was sent to the Ministry of Health complaining that the campaign should put more emphasis on not drinking rather than just mentioning excessive drinking.

Partners

Latvian retailers Aibe, Spirits and Wine, Circle K, Lild, Top!, Elvi, Latvijas Balzams and AlkOutlet (2023)

Latvian Alcohol Industry members

Latvian Medical Association, Latvia Student Union, Latvian Ministry of Health, Latvian Association of Hotels and Restaurants, Latvian traders association and Association of leading Latvian food retailers (2007)

Results

2023:

Delfi: In total there were 1,924,162 impressions and 18,036 page views. The sub-section had 1,117,914 impressions, while the banner campaign on the news site accumulated 806,248 impressions. In total articles received 16,942 views and the landing page 1,094 views. The most visited article was “Three times when excessive alcohol consumption won't help” (9,129 times). The article in which readers spent the most time was “The culture of alcohol consumption. What can we learn from the Italians?” (2 minutes 12 seconds on average).
Responsible drinking website: The website was visited by 4,600 visitors during the campaign. The average time they spent on the homepage was 2 min 27 seconds (higher than the usual 1 minute spent). The most popular website sections were: “A Guide to Responsible Drinking”, the #RDQ quiz (partnership with spiritsEUROPE; Calories in alcohol; Be responsible! - To drink or not to drink and how much? Learn all about the effects of alcohol and Safety on the road.
Social Media: 6 different supports (like carousel posts), were advertised on Facebook and Instagram reaching a combined 344,196 people. It also achieved 941,043 impressions and 2,126 clicks. The target audience of the advertising were adults aged 18 to 65.

2022:

Delfi: In total there were 1,385,894 impressions and 14,604 page views - the sub-section 742,615 impressions, banner campaign on the portal 550,040 impressions. The articles in total received 14,318 views and the landing page received 286 views. The most visited article was “Five situations in life when you shouldn’t drink alcohol” (5,550 visits). This article was also the one where readers spent most time (10 minutes and 53 seconds on average).
Social media: 18 different supports were produced and advertised on Facebook and Instagram achieving over 1,400,000 impressions combined and over 1,500 clicks. This reach was better than the planned 200,000.
Responsible drinking website: The website was visited by 5,500 visitors during the campaign. The average time spent on the homepage was 2 min 14 seconds (higher than the usual 1 minute spent). The most popular sections were: “A Guide to Responsible Drinking”, the AUDIT test, the #RDQ quiz (partnership with spiritsEUROPE), safety on the road, and, calories in alcoholic beverages.

2021: Influencers: Lauris Zalāns’ video reached over 30,000, had over 40,100 impressions and over 1,935 likes on Instagram. On TikTok it reached over 59,900, had over 66,100 impressions and 6,619 likes. Jorets’ video on Instagram reached over 2,700 and had over 3,800 impressions. On YouTube it reached over 32,100 reach and had 542 likes. Rojs Rodžers’ Instagram video reached over 12,000 and over 14,000 impressions. On YouTube it reached over 21,900 and was liked 1,432 times. The Filmmaker's posts reached over 90,400. LANA’s Facebook posts reached over 29,800, Youtube posts reached over 54,100 and TikTok posts reached over 59,900. A social and digital media ad campaign reached over 90,000. Also, the campaign messages were picked by 3 internet publications (Leta.lv, Nozare.lv and Aprinkis.lv) reaching a total of 4,585.

2020: More than 284,000 were reached of which 60,000 were young adults. The infographic and influencer videos shared on LANA Facebook page reached 4,340, were liked 13 times and were 6 times. Although the media was very focused on COVID-19, news during the activities the campaign messages and survey outcomes were taken up by 5 internet publications (TVNET, Reitingi, Leta and Aluksniesiem). These articles reached 140,000 people. Influencers: Lauris Zalāns’ video on Instagram was viewed over 15,300 times. It reached over 23,800, had 30,410 impressions and 269 comments. On Facebook it reached over 9,000, was liked 39 times and was shared 25 times. The Latvian Sisters’ videos reached over 15,400, had over 17,000 impressions, were liked 3,084 times and were commented on 225 times. On Facebook they reached over 17,100, were shared 36 times and had 67 likes. Lota Ulmane’s YouTube video had over7,600 views. On Instagram it reached over 4,400, had 5,593 impressions and was viewed 1,242 times.

2019-2020: The bus stop poster was seen by over 54,200. 14 entries were received for the competition. 8 presented their ideas in person and the jury selected 5 winners. 13 influencers attended the promotional event, 9 of which posted or shared the content on their social media. The total reach of the event was 35,000 young adults. The Filmmaker’s social media posts reached more than 40,000 and the campaign messages were published in more than 10 internet publications. Influencers: Janis Krivens’ podcast was published on 23 November 2019 and had over 11,500 views. It was liked 485 times and commented on 45 times. His podcast audience are predominately aged 25-34 (52.5%) or aged 18-24 (42.3%). In addition, the podcast was listened to by over 4,000 people on other platforms (including Spotify, Apple podcasts and Google Podcasts. Rojs’ video was published on 8 January 2020. It had over 31,100 views, 2,300 likes and 194 comments. Niklavs’ video was published on 7 January 2020. It was viewed over 38,000 times views and liked 34,000 times.

November 2017: More than 50,000 people were reached at both festivals: 3,000 water filled paper cups were given during the festivals and 2,300 festival goers got a Party with Style stamp on their hand. The social media campaign reached 63,000. 2 printed publications and 15 internet publications spread the information. As a result of the promotions, the responsible drinking website had a 28% increase in traffic, more people follow the LANA Facebook page and new users have visited the LANA social responsibility page.

Measurement & evaluation

In 2022, research company Norstat and LANA carried out a pre-campaign survey in September (608 respondents) and a post-campaign survey in October (606 respondents). Respondents were aged 18 to 35. All results are September vs October (result a vs result b). Full results show:

If they had seen the Filmmaker on Instagram: 10% vs 14 had.
If they drank alcohol in the past 12 months: 84% vs 86% affirmed, they had.
How often they had drunk alcohol in the past 12 months:

4% vs 2% drank every day.
22% vs 25% drank a few times per week.
54% vs 51% drank once or several times per month and
21% vs 21% drank a few times per year.

If they monitor their alcohol consumption and know the low risk drinking guidelines:

42% vs 43% monitor their alcohol consumption and know the low risk drinking guidelines.
28% vs 26% monitor their alcohol consumption, but don’t know the low risk drinking guidelines.
19% vs 19% don’t monitor their alcohol consumption, but they know the low risk drinking guidelines.
11% vs 12% don’t monitor their alcohol consumption and they don’t know the low risk drinking guidelines.

If they know the recommended alcohol units for men and women: 41% vs 53% know them and 59% vs 47% don’t know them.
How many units on average they drink:

40% vs 42% drink one to two units at a time.
32% vs 30% drink 3 or 4 units at a time.
13% vs 13% drink 5 or 6 units at a time.
9% vs 8% drink 7, 8 or 9 units at a time.
7% vs 7% drink 10 or more at a time.

How often they drink 5 units at a time:

22% vs 21% never.
45% vs 45% less than once a month.
20% vs 19% once a month.
12% vs 13% once a week
2% vs 2% every day or almost every day.

Whether the events of 2021 changed their alcohol consumption:

17% vs 19% drink more.
20% vs 18% drink less.
60% vs 59% drink the same.
3% vs 4% declined to answer.

Whether they had lost their memory or had done something which they later felt shame about after consuming alcohol in the past 12 months:

63% vs 57% hadn’t had any memory loss nor done anything which they later felt shame about.
12% vs 15% had experienced memory loss and had done something that they later felt shame about.
7% vs 10% had experienced memory loss but hadn’t done anything they later felt shame about.
18% vs 18% hadn’t had any memory loss but had done something that they later felt shame about.

Whether, in the past year, they had thought about their alcohol habits and if they were planning to change them:

15% vs 14% had but they weren’t planning on changing them.
33% vs 37% had and would like to drink less and more responsibly.
44% vs 41% hadn’t and don’t plan on changing their habits.
8% vs 9% hadn’t but are considering thinking about their habits and changing them.

Whether they decide before drinking how much they will drink and when they will stop drinking:

40% vs 45% always decide both in advance.
36% vs 31% sometimes decide both in advance.
24% vs 24% never decide in advance for either.

2021-2022 change: Harmful alcohol consumption & alcohol consumption trends remain approximately the same, which means that changing alcohol consumption habits will take time. However, awareness of responsible drinking guidelines has increased from 46% to 53%, as the result of the campaign.

Results for previous evaluations (2021, 2020, 2019 and 2017 can be found in the attached word document).