During the summer of 2020 low calorie eCommerce retailer, SkinnyBooze, tasked Refresh with rolling out a reactive media relations campaign in response to the UK government’s Better Health drive, which was being spearheaded by Prime Minister, Boris Johnson.
The government had unveiled plans to combat Britain’s obesity crisis, in a bid to get the nation fit and healthy, with the aim of giving Brits more of a fighting chance on protecting themselves against Coronavirus, in turn protecting the NHS. As part of the campaign, the government proposed multiple new measures, one being highlighting ‘liquid calories’ on alcoholic drinks – a move SkinnyBooze had been lobbying for, for some time.
As one of the only alcohol brands to already display calorie contents clearly on its website to educate and inform consumer buying decisions, SkinnyBooze was fully equipped to advise on what the government’s policy should entail.
610
million people reached
8
top tier broadcast interviews
100%
key message inclusion
Obesity-related illnesses currently cost the NHS £6 billion a year, but alcohol brands in the UK aren’t required to be transparent with consumers on what exactly they’re putting into their bodies – from both a calorie and nutritional standpoint. In order for the Better Health Drive to be successful, SkinnyBooze knew it was essential for brands to be clearly labelling everything – including calories, carbs, sugar and fats etc., all in line with what consumers are used to seeing on food and typically steer their purchasing decisions.
Above all, we knew the crucial education piece was missing from the government’s strategy and was absolutely imperative in order for it be successful, with the majority of UK adults completely unaware of exactly what’s in the common drinks they’re regularly consuming. This is the problem SkinnyBooze wanted to solve.
To do this we commissioned some research to uncover how much alcohol had been consumed by various different demographics across the UK during lockdown, revealing who had been drinking more and who had cut down during the initial height of the pandemic. We then pitched the findings to media, offering up Tom Bell, managing director and founder of SkinnyBooze, to take a deeper dive into the results, while providing valuable insight into what the Better Health Drive policy should incorporate.
Over the duration of the six-week campaign, Refresh:
- Secured eight top-tier broadcast interviews with the likes of Sky News and LBC, amongst others
- Generated 610.9m opportunities to see with 100% of coverage including the campaign’s key messages
- Secured an op-ed in one of the food and drink industry’s most well-read trade titles, The Grocer, taking a deeper dive into the key elements the government should be considering for the policy
Due to the success of the campaign, MD and founder of SkinnyBooze, Tom Bell, was invited to join the government’s consultation to advise on what exactly the policy should entail.
Services delivered included:
- Planning
- National press office
- Research
- Content creation
- General copywriting
- Feature writing
- Media relations
- Broadcast media
- Spokesperson media training
- Measurement and evaluation