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The Phatgnat Spotlight #1: Diageo
This feature will present individuals who help to raise the profile of their brand through projects and initiatives and help to disseminate examples of good practice.
Name: Vanessa Williamson
Title: Social Responsibility Manager
Company: Diageo Great Britain
1. Describe the philosophy, or values, behind your brand/company.
As a global premium drinks company, Diageo understands the importance of leadership in responsible drinking and is committed to this role wherever we conduct business.
Alcohol brings pleasure to millions of adults and has done so for over 7,000 years. Consumed responsibly, it is associated with enjoyment and celebration. However if alcohol is consumed irresponsibly or excessively, this can create health or social problems for the individual or society as a whole.
Diageo therefore recognises it has a legitimate role to play, alongside others, in promoting responsible drinking and combating alcohol misuse.
2. How does this corporate philosophy orchestrate itself in terms of the causes and issues you support?
Diageo advocates a partnership approach for responsible drinking. We actively engage trade bodies, media, NGOs, government, consumers and other stakeholders and seek opportunities to work together to find solutions to alcohol related issues.
Diageo also recognises that social responsibility extends beyond toda'ys legal alcohol purchasers and has a programme of activity to support organisations to equip under 18s with the knowledge and skills to make responsible decisions about alcohol.
3. How do you demonstrate the business case internally, which enables you to do such work?
There are sound reasons why Diageo is promoting responsible drinking:
—We are committed to creating the best possible conditions for our business to thrive
—Consumers are at the centre of everything we do as a company. We want them to form positive
—long-term relationship with our brands and have a good time enjoying them. If they drink to excess then they won't; it's as simple as that
—We want our people to feel proud of the company they work for and the brands they are building
4. How do you tackle the issue of sustainability in the projects you are involved in?
We work in partnership with relevant organsiations and the communities in which our programmes run to ensure sustainability is maintained after programmes are launched and running. For example, our alcohol peer education programme involved Tacade working closely with local education authorities in the areas it was piloted to ensure the schools involved had ongoing support to maintain the programme after the pilot had ended.
We also ensure that the independent evaluations carried out on all our programmes are shared openly, so that the programmes can build on the evaluation findings (i.e. what's working and what can be improved upon) and share it with other interested parties.
5. What new social/cultural/technological trends do you see impacting on your brand and community investments/projects in the near future?
The responsible drinking debate is in a critical period: a great deal of action is now being taken to change the drinking behaviours of the minority who abuse alcohol. Government has substantially tightened the regulatory framework, both on licensing and on penalties for those who break the law. Industry has raised its game on codes of practice, marketing and promotions. Over the next five years we will see if this partnership approach - coupled of course with the need to foster more responsibility on the part of individual consumers - can really bring about the culture change we are all seeking.
6. Altruism / Corporate Social Responsibility / Philanthropy / Cause-Related Marketing / Community Investment… what terms do you use to describe your activities and why?
We use the term 'Responsible Drinking Programmes' to describe our activities, simply because that is what they aim to achieve.
7. What developments or initiatives are we likely to be seeing from Diageo in the future?
Today Diageo GB in partnership with The National Union of Students Services Ltd (NUSSL), announced the national roll-out of a campaign to promote responsible drinking to nearly one million students across the UK. Entitled 'What's In It?', the campaign will run from 15 November for four weeks at 53 universities across the UK. It will deliver both unit guidance and responsible drinking tips in a visual and creative way.
Check out all the 'Spotlights' here
Filed by DK on November 15 2005
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