Scottish Government

ISBN 0 7559 2768 0 (Web only publication)
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Campaign overview

• This Wave 3 research was conducted following Phase 2 of the "Don't let drink spoil a good night out" campaign. This campaign targets binge-drinkers of 16-25 year olds who drink to excess on a regular basis.
• The previous positive impact of this advertising, combined with budget restrictions, prompted creative ideas from the first year's advertising being reused in this second year.
• Phase 2 of the campaign ran over the festive period November 2004 to January 2005. Radio advertising was combined with 6 sheet posters on bus shelters and outdoor sites. Ambient advertising, primarily washroom posters, was used in club and pub toilets.
• The Wave 3 post-campaign research was conducted in January 2005 after Phase 2 of the campaign was completed. Two previous waves of research were conducted in October 2003 (pre-campaign Phase 1) and January 2004 (post-campaign Phase 1).

Highlights

Levels of Awareness

• The research found that levels of campaign awareness were higher than the expected levels of recall and out take from radio and poster campaigns of a similar target and weight.
• Unprompted awareness of the advertising was slightly higher than the previous year, increasing from 68% to 75%.
• Prompted awareness of the poster advertising was 40% (compared to 36% in Wave 2), with the majority questioned able to describe an aspect of "Don't let drink spoil a good night out".
• There was, however, a drop in those who felt that the advertising related to them personally (from 69% at Wave 2, to 53% at the latest stage), and those that agreed that the advertising made them think about their own behaviour (from 61% to 50%).
• Encouragingly there seems to be a small shift in attitudes towards binge drinking with 74% drinkers claiming "when I'm drinking I always know my limit and when to stop" (from 69% in 2003 pre-campaign benchmarking research).
• There is also more awareness of the government discouraging excessive drinking (57%, compared to 51% at Wave 2, and 40% at Wave 1) and more agreement that drinking can ruin a night out (86%, compared to 84% at Wave 2, and 81% at Wave 1). This suggests the campaign messages are being communicated.

Implications

• The campaign continues to record very healthy levels of recall for a radio and press campaign. There was however a slight drop in terms of perceived relevance of the campaign to respondents and its effect of prompting young people to reconsider the issue of excessive drinking. This may explained by the target audience being highly sophisticated in terms of their ability to consume advertising, as such the re-use of the same creative approach may have blunted the impact second time around.
• The trends towards better self-awareness of drinking to excessive levels and the setting of personal limits when drinking may be related to the effectiveness of the advertising. However, other factors are also likely to influence drinking behaviour which are not considered or recorded within this research.
• Total campaign reach figure at this latest stage is significantly lower than 2004 stage - 84%, compared to 59%. However, once put in the context that the 2003 campaign had an exceptionally high reach, the figure is still good. Furthermore, the reuse of the creative design may have reduced the impact of the advertising amongst the target audience.
• Future waves of activity might consider how this message can remain effective. In media terms, it is possible that more focused targeting around certain times of the week and day would continue to heighten the relevance and impact of this message.