Straight Talk

Objective

To raise awareness of responsible alcohol consumption, specifically among young adults.

To create higher sensitivity of the importance of responsible drinking behaviour.

To raise awareness of the negative impact of binge drinking among young adults.

To educate consumers and influencers to talk about alcohol consumption more openly and directly.

Description

The Drinkawaremalta 2019 campaign was a call-to-action inviting everyone who intended to enjoy the festive season with alcohol to keep their minds focused on what really makes a happy festive season: health, family and friends.

It was centred around hard-hitting messages aimed at prompting the reader to stop and think about the possible consequences and realities resulting from alcohol abuse. Through a play on words, the reader was invited to reflect on not only their situation but also about those around them, and how this could drastically change through thoughtless alcohol abuse. The idea was to have a campaign with hard-hitting messages designed in a way to make the reader stop to read the message twice.

Beyond urging people to avoid drink-driving, the campaign also encouraged those who abuse alcohol and their loved ones to sit down and have a “straight talk” on how to tackle the problem in a positive and supportive way. It also encouraged people to keep an eye on family and friends who might not realise their alcohol habits could be dangerous.

The messages were shared on digital and social media and on outdoor billboards.

Partners

Ministry for Social Affairs
Foundation for Social Welfare Services

Results

On Facebook, the best performing video posts reached between 94,651 and 137,223 people. The campaign was also covered by 14 print and online press articles and visible on billboards across Malta. A total of over 9,000 minutes of campaign videos were viewed over the course of the campaign.

Measurement & evaluation

An online quantitative research study of 350 respondents took place to assess the awareness of the campaign, drinkware portals and issues of alcohol abuse. Findings show:

Younger age groups were more likely to drink to socialise or to get drunk.
Drinking too much, having a hangover, and driving drunk decreased with age.
Older age groups were more likely to drink daily but less likely to drive tipsy.
Respondents with a higher level of education were more likely to drive drunk or tipsy (however, the 18-24 had the highest number of graduates and the 25-34 age group had the highest number of post-graduate respondents).
The Drinkaware campaign was seen the most by the 25 - 34 and the 35 - 44 age groups. Of those who had seen the ads:
- 70,5% found that they encourage responsible drinking.$70,5% found that they encourage not drinking and driving. Of those who felt encouraged not to drink and drive, the least affected group was that of the 25-34, while the most affected group was that of 18-24-year-olds.
The adverts where overall equally liked. No significant differences in preference were found for age, gender, or education.
The most successful medium of the campaign were billboards (63.5%) followed by Facebook (44.4%) and Instagram (14.3%). Billboards were seen the most by the 45 - 54-year-old group, while adverts on Instagram were seen the most by the 18 - 24 group.
The adverts were overall scored higher by the older age groups, especially the 55+ group, despite being the group which had the least percentage of respondents who came across the adverts.

Website

http://www.drinkawaremalta.com/