Diageo has pledged to double its investment in responsible drinking messaging as it rolls out the global Johnnie Walker drink driving campaign in Australia for the first time.
Adam Ballesty, who recently took on the top Diageo marketing role permanently told AdNews one of the first things he did as CMO was commit to double its dollar investment in responsible drinking marketing activity. He wouldn't be drawn on how much that represents, however.
It will be a combination of extending its existing activity as well as new ideas to push the message, he said.
Mika Hakkinen is fronting the launch of the Johnnie Walker campaign at the Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix this weekend.
Johnnie Walker wants to earn 1 million pledges from Aussies to never drink and drive as part of the Join the Pact #ImNotDriving social push.
It has also teamed up with taxi app Uber to offer people in Melbourne free transport over grand Prix weekend. It will give away 10,000km in taxi journeys, which is part of a global commitment to give away 1 million km in safe rides home globally.
The drink drive activity complements Johnnie Walker's global brand platform Keep Walking.
“I'm Not Driving and Keep Walking work really well together and we're finding more ways to integrate that. The easiest thing is in social media and you'll see stuff come to life this weekend [on social]. The challenge for us is always making sure that we integrate across all our channels.”
Part of the campaign includes the Glass Car video ad, which recreates an F1 car from whisky glasses and sees it shatter into pieces to demonstrate the risk of driving drunk.
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