Labatt Makes A Plan to engage youth

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Labatt Makes A Plan to engage youth

By Christie Adams on October 1st, 2008

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To rebrand its safe drinking campaign, Labatt used feedback from youth ages 19-24 and for the most part, the results show.

Their new portal, www.makeaplan.ca, was created after a Labatt-commissioned Ipsos Reid poll showed the 19-24 demographic was the most likely to make plans to get home safely after a night of drinking.

The result is an amusing, slightly edgy website that’s actually informative. It has planning tips for both urban and rural party travel, hosting advice, and a quiz to debunk common drinking myths.

Most of the tips are illustrated by budding youth artists, which makes the site more authentic.

In this day and age, though, the site could be more interactive-beside the quizzes, the information is all one-way. There’s a ticker tape of safe drinking tips running along the bottom; why not have users submit their own tips and publish them? Even a section of drinking-and-traveling stories would be beneficial.

Not sure if Labatt is making use of social media tactics for the campaign, either. It’s a mistake if they haven’t-their target demographic spends more time on social networks than anywhere else. A Make A Plan group on Facebook has the potential for a huge following, and could be used to drive members to the Make A Plan website.

The campaign is accompanied by an Agency59 ad launch that advises revelers to stash $20 for a cab-and to stash it anywhere. I have to admit, the look of shock on the Queen’s face as she’s stuffed in a guy’s boxers is pretty funny.

The campaign’s messages are effective-informative without being preachy-but it can really hit its objectives if it finds a way to create true two-way dialogue.

Check out some of the ads from the campaign.