The Alcohol Effects campaign, February 2010

Building on the KYL campaigns, DH launched a national campaign in February 2010 about the unseen effects of drinking at an increasing or higher risk level on a regular basis.

Using hard-hitting images of body scans, it showed the unseen damage that alcohol can cause. The harms covered included: cancer of the mouth, breast cancer, high blood pressure and stroke. By making people aware of these harms, the campaign aimed to make them think about their drinking and to reduce it to a lower risk level.

The national advertising to launch the campaign featured joint branding from the NHS and three key charities - Cancer Research UK, the British Heart Foundation and the Stroke Association. Research with increasing and higher risk drinkers showed that talking about a range of alcohol-related health harms, using a range of credible independent voices was likely to have the greatest impact.

The campaign uses the full media mix to support the behaviour change model (see diagram below). TV and print advertising are used to help the target audience self-identify and start the process of displacement. This is supported by partnerships with magazines and PR. The empowerment and support stages of the behaviour change journey are delivered through direct marketing to 8.75 million households encouraging people to join the CRM programme and to health professionals, a text message support service and a new campaign website. Practical advice, including eight tips for cutting down on your drinking, is delivered through the CRM programme, the national press campaign and the website.

2010 Alcohol Effects campaign adverts

Behaviour change model developed for Alcohol Effects campaign

Evaluating the national campaign

The Alcohol Effects campaign is being evaluated using a range of different measures, including quantitative and qualitative research - and follows Test - Learn - Refine, an essential social marketing principle - see page 27.

Applying national testing locally

There are multiple metrics to measure the extent to which each channel or route influences people to reconsider their drinking and drink less over a sustained period of time.

Proposition testing showed that various age-groups respond in different ways to different approaches - hence the need for a variety of routes.

Target audience

The campaign targets increasing and higher risk drinkers as they contribute to the growth in alcohol-related hospital admissions. To help these drinkers self-identify, the advertising uses drinks rather than units, so highlights the increasing risk at two pints of strong beer a day or two large glasses or more of wine a day. This advertising was tested as the most meaningful and impactful way for the target audience to relate to the messages. Campaign leaflets also give information on the lower risk limits to ensure messages don't contradict the wider units-based advice and limits.

The age range of the target audience for the above-the-line campaign is between 25 and 55 years old, which is broader than our overall campaign target audience of 35 to 55 year olds.

Although 25 to 35 year olds are not the core target audience, targeting them with information contributes to their understanding of the health harms associated with alcohol and helps prepare the ground for future marketing. Audiences who are between 35 to 55 year olds are more likely to consider long-term health harm than audiences who are younger and older than this group.

Generally, this audience doesn't think that their drinking is a problem and they think they are in control of it. They tend to think that the only people who really get ill from drinking are dependent drinkers who will suffer some kind of liver disease.

The audience segmentation is now available for use by the NHS. It was principally drawn from hospital admissions data, Health ACORN, and TGI.

Older People

People who are 55 or over appear less receptive to traditional consumer-focused marketing. They tend to view themselves as 'survivors' and are not very receptive to 'official' messages. However they do appear to listen to their GP. DH will test a route that targets older people through the Life Channel on surgery TVs and accompanying leaflets. The activity will focus on the pre-existing health conditions that they may be managing and living with as a lever to get them to consider their drinking behaviour.

Evaluation

A national evaluation plan is currently being developed setting out DH targets and how we intend to achieve them. This will dovetail with the evaluation tool included in this guide, which will help you to embed evaluation into your social marketing activity.

Working with the NHS

DH is working in partnership with PCTs, SHAs and other partners throughout England. In the first quarter of 2009, DH began working with a coalition of PCTs in East Midlands to target their population. In February 2010 the North East, North West and East Midlands regions up-weighted the Alcohol Effects campaign in various ways, including further targeted marketing and evaluation. GPs and pharmacists were also provided with further materials and support to deliver IBAs.