Objective

To spread the message of responsible drinking among young adult consumers and influence their intention to drink responsibly.

To increase awareness of the harms of alcohol abuse and the consequences of negative drunken behaviour among young adult consumers.

To make young adults think before drink-driving and use an alternatives for going home.

To turn students into real ambassadors of the responsible consumption message.

Description

The main problems of irresponsible drinking among young adults in Bulgaria are “binge drinking” and/or driving after drinking. Binge drinking is a pattern of heavy drinking which is observed all over Europe.  The commonly agreed definition of “Binge Drinking” is five or more “standard drinks” in one single drinking occasion.  This kind of heavy alcohol consumption can lead to intoxication, usually lowers inhibitions, and can lead to another serious problem among young adults, which is driving after driving alcohol.  Since there are very little educational initiatives on responsible drinking aimed at young adults in Bulgaria (information often comes from family, friends and hopefully from sites developed by spiritsBULGARIA) this programme aims to fill in this gap. 

It is hoped that by using the experience gained from working with the NBU the programme will be sustained over many years and a strong bond with community and curriculums will be built.  As seen, involving students in the creative process and awarding their efforts is a beneficial factor for future interest and involvement. 

Depending on tuition and syllabus peculiarities of Bulgarian higher education, the execution of the programme is only possible in the 2nd semester starting early February each year. The programme has the following milestones:

• Pre/post survey: Students fill in an online survey about their consumption habits at the information session. Right answers are given immediately.
• Information session: Students attend a one-and-a-half hour information sessions where they are taught about responsible consumption; such as the recommended drinking guidelines; harma following binge drinking and/or drinking adfter driving; reasons to drink in moderation and many other.
• Creative competition: The information session gives the beginning of the students contest. Participants then have over two months to create a design a digital communication campaign aimed at combatting alcohol misuse and abuse among their peers.  The idea is to use communication tools and language among equals as peer-to-peer communication is very effective.  They are supported during the process and receive guidelines.
• Prize ceremony: Entries are judged by a profesional jury and winners receive their prizes at a special ceremony; a press release is issued in order to bring awareness to the project.

2024-2025 academic year: 7 universities approached, 4 out of which consent their participation and involvement. Program frame stays the same; events will be exectuded in the 2nd academic semester.

2023-2024 academic year: 3 universities took part in the programme: the NBU, the NAA and the UNWE. The campaign was supported by the rector of UNWE (Prof. Dr. Dimitar Dimitrov), the rector of NAA (Prof. Georgi Yankov) and the rector of NBU (Prof. Plamen Doinov), as well as by the heads of the “Marketing” departments and the professors of digital advertising, department in “Fine Arts” and “Poster and Visual Communication” in the respective institutions.

February’s information session was followed by the creative competition which was open until April 22, 2024.  Information session took part between February 4 to 12, 2024. The jury selected the three winners on May 15, 2024. It comprised:

• spiritsBULGARIA: Ralitsa Skorcheva-Slavova, Chair; Iva Mihova-Mitrovska, Member of the Board of Directors; Adriana Momchilova and Gergana Gevezova-Koleva, Executive Secretary.
• UNWE: Ch. Associate Professor Borislava Stoimenova, Department of Marketing and Strategic Planning;
• NBU: Associate Professor Kalina Hristova, Department of Fine Arts;
• NBU: Alisa Guzeleva, IV-year student and winner of last year’s competition;
• NAA: Associate Professor Georgi Pavlov, Ph.D., Department of Poster and Visual Communication;
• National Self-Regulation Council: Eli Gerganova, Founder. 

The prize ceremony was held on 16 May 2024 where the winners of the student creative competition were announced at an official ceremony in the Ceremonial Hall of the UNWE:

• 1st place was awarded to Varti Mavreva and Gergana Dimitrova from the NBU for “A SHOT OR TWO, AND WHAT A REACTION” (see the project here). The project is intended for social networks, public screens or as an application for phones. It is a fun reaction test game in which the player can see their reactions after drinking alcohol enabling them to stop drinking if their reactions and behaviour are affected.
• 2nd place was awarded to Isabella Dankova and Lora Tsvetkova from the UNWE for “(HOW) WOULD YOU DRINK?” The project includes a short film with informative elements and humorous details showing the place of alcohol from ancient times to the present day. A quiz emphasises the awareness of today’s young people about drinking responsibly (see the project here).
• 3rd place was awarded to Christiana Nocheva and Stoyana Peneva from the NBU for “SAVE THE MOMENT” (see the project here). The project brings together several digital social media products that have one common message: “RESPONSIBLE CONSUMPTION ALLOWS US TO PRESERVE THE MOMENT WITHIN AN ENJOYABLE AND SHARED EXPERIENCE.”

The jury also awarded special prizes to the following creatives: “RESPONSIBLE SIP”, by Ana Lukanova and Yana Velinova (UNWE); “MAKE ALCOHOL COMPATIBLE WITH USEFUL HABITS”, presented by Bozhidara Dimitrova (NAA) and “Reaction time spirits” (see the project here), sent by Christian Kostadinov and Raya Panayotova (NBU).

The winning project was shared with the target group through NWEE and communication tools of spiritsBULGARIA.

2022-2023 academic year: A pilot project including students from Visual Art faculty of the New Bulgarian University (a private institution in Sofia).  The information sessions were hosted by Assoc. Prof. Chr. Postagian, Deputy Rector of Educational Activities and Assoc. Prof. K. Christova, Dean of Visual Arts Department. The prize ceremony was held on 14 June 2023 and the jury was composed of three representatives from the NBU, a representative from the National Council for Self-regulation, a member of spiritsBULGARIA’s Board of Directors/Coca-Cola, and two representatives from spiritsBULGARIA.  The winners are: Simona Nedelcheva for “One drink is enough” (3rd place), Ivana Dimova for “Buy responsibly” (2nd place), Alisa Gjuzeleva for an online calculator of alcohol units “AlCOcalculator” (1st place).  The jury awarded a special prize to Mimi Delcheva for her project “Just call a taxi”. 

Partners

New Bulgarian University (NBU, private university) (2022 – ongoing)

National Academy of Arts (NAA, public university) (2023 – ongoing)

University for National and World Economy (UNWE, public university) (2023 – ongoing)

Sofia University "Kliment Ohridski" (SU, public university) (2024 - ongoing)

Results

2023-2024 academic year:

• 3 seminars in 3 universities with 254 attendants
• 3 months for creative concepts development
• 17 applications
• 9 jury members
• 1 awarding ceremony with 6 awards
• 29 future RD ambassadors

2022-2023 academic year:

• Preparation of the pilot phase including scoping paper, team appointment, university and tutors selection and many others. It was suggested and agreed on 2nd semester to be the time for program execution each year.
• Information sessions: 2 events with 15 and 24 attendees.  A total of 39 pre-session questionnaires were returned.
• Entries and Jury: 10 entries were evaluated by the jury.  
• Use of the winning project: The winning project was used by spiritsBULGARIA during their drink-drive activities in September 2023.  The ALCOcalculator was also used at this time.
• Feed-back from participating students is very positive.
• “A great thank to the organisers for the wonderful opportunity, as this to some extent is a real campaign and it is important for each student to participate in such a one, facing the rivals and the topic of the assignment. We had enormous freedom to create in the direction and style we wanted, and this is exactly the kind of experience students need, because the majority of them have not been working with real clients and briefs by that moment,” Mimi Delcheva.
• “The theme of the contest is contemporary and interesting, as well as extremely important for our health and safety, regardless of whether we consume alcohol or not, whether we drive or not. We can all be victims of excessive drinking and there is always something to learn. I think today’s young people are more and more interested and want to be informed about various topics for which they must show responsibility,” Ivana Dimova.

The programme was highly appreciated by both tutors and students' bodies and has the potential of increasing awareness of Responsible Drinking among the specified traget group, so it went to its academic launch.

Measurement & evaluation

2023-2024 school year: Questions where knowledge still needs improvement (percentage of incorrect answers):

• 8% do not know that excessive alcohol consumption acts as a brain depressant.
• 48% do not know that there are times when adults (18+) should not drink.
• 42% do not know that your gender influences how drunk you are.
• 13% do not know that you might still be over the limit to drive the morning after drinking.

Questions that showed the most improvement (percentage of correct answers pre session):

• 25% answered that beer contains the most alcohol (12.5°/150ml wine, 4.8° beer/500ml and 40° whisk(e)y/40ml)
• 26% disagreed that “Drinking to get drunk” doesn’t hurt anyone but themself.
• 65% disagreed that “Time is the only cure for a hangover”.

None of these answers were incorrect post information session.

Rating of the information provided: Rating 1 to 10: 1 the least likely. 10 the most likely (Students who rated below 5 do not or hardly ever drink alcohol).

• How likely were they to benefit from and use the information received: 1: 2 students; 3: 3 students; 5: 4 students; 6: 6 students; 8: 9 students; 9: 5 students; 10: 220 students.
• How likely they would be to resist peer pressure when they don’t want to/shouldn’t drink: 1: 3 students; 3: 4 students; 4:1 student; 5: 2 students; 6: 3 students; 7: 5 students; 8: 10 students; 9: 7 students; 10: 214 students.

Rating for behaviour change: Rating 1 to 10: 1 the least likely. 10 the most likely.

• How likely they would be to measure/control their daily/weekly alcohol intake: 1: 1 student; 4: 4 students; 7: 5 students; 8: 8 students; 9: 7 students; 10: 224 students (Students who rated below 5 do not or hardly ever drink alcohol).
• How likely they would be to drive after consuming alcohol: 1: 243 students; 3: 3 students; 4: 3 students.

2022-2023 school year: Questions where knowledge still needs improvement (percentage of incorrect answers):

• 10% do not know that excessive alcohol consumption acts as a brain depressant.
• 46% do not know that there are times when adults (18+) should not drink.
• 46% do not know that your gender influences how drunk you are.
• 10% do not know that you might still be over the limit to drive the morning after drinking.

Questions that showed the most improvement (percentage of correct answers pre session):

• 31% answered that beer contains the most alcohol (12.5°/150ml wine, 4.8° beer/500ml and 40° whisk(e)y/40ml)
• 26% disagreed that “Drinking to get drunk” doesn’t hurt anyone but themself.
• 67% disagreed that “Time is the only cure for a hangover”.

None of these answers were incorrect post information session.

Rating of the information provided: Rating 1 to 10: 1 the least likely. 10 the most likely (Students who rated below 5 do not or hardly ever drink alcohol).

• How likely were they to benefit from and use the information received: 1: 1 student; 3: 2 students; 5: 4 students; 6: 5 students; 8: 9 students; 9: 3 students; 10: 15 students.
• How likely they would be to resist peer pressure when they don’t want to/shouldn’t drink: 1: 1 student; 3: 1 student; 4:1 student; 5: 1 student; 6: 3 students; 7: 3 students; 8: 9 students; 9: 6 students; 10: 14 students.

Rating for behaviour change: Rating 1 to 10: 1 the least likely. 10 the most likely.

• How likely they would be to measure/control their daily/weekly alcohol intake: 1: 1 student; 4: 4 students; 7: 5 students; 8: 8 students; 9: 7 students; 10: 15 students (Students who rated below 5 do not or hardly ever drink alcohol).
• How likely they would be to drive after consuming alcohol: 1: 39 students.

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