We had an exciting week this week, working with Dudley Council, Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group and ORB to launch ‘Let”s Talk Drink‘.
Dudley has a problem with alcohol; with a rate of premature alcohol mortality higher in Dudley than the national average, and the area’s hospitals feeling the pressure of heavy drinking. Dudley Council wanted to launch a campaign that would trigger conversations, highlight health harms, look at the positive benefits of drinking sensibly and inform people living and working in the borough about the health implications of alcohol and discuss their own habits.
ORB brought this idea to life and came up with Let’s Talk Drink…
A website – www.letstalkdrink.com – was launched for the people of Dudley to sign up, share their drink-fuelled stories, take a candid self-assessment and share ideas with others. They are also encouraged to make a realistic and measurable pledge to change their behaviour, for example by cutting their weekend consumption down or talking to a loved one about their drinking habits.
In order to really take this message to people on the street, a confessional ‘Booze Booth’ will be popping up across Dudley, Halesowen and Stourbridge; inviting passers by to tell their best drink-related stories, admit to how much they drink each week and pledge to make a change. The Booze Booth will appear in the following locations:
- Saturday 16 November (daytime) – Merry Hill
- Saturday 16 November (evening) – Lloyds Bar Stourbridge
- Sunday 17 November – Merry Hill
- Monday 18 November – HMRC Workplace
- Tuesday 19 November – Stourbridge College
- Wednesday 20 November – Halesowen College
- Thursday 21 November – Dudley College
- Friday 22 November – Tesco Stourbridge Rye Market
Let’s Talk Drink launched yesterday, just ahead of Alcohol Awareness Week (18-24 November) and EAST VILLAGE. was tasked with helping to create a buzz. Instead of a simple press release, we wanted to engage key journalists, both regional and national. With the campaign’s key message being all about opening up and starting conversations relating to alcohol, we decided to send a ‘message in a bottle’ mailout to journalists to introduce them to the campaign. Check out some pictures of our mailer over on Facebook.
This weekend, the Booze Booth is out and about so if you’re in the area why not stop by? Now that it has launched, EV.’s job is to now spread the message and help to get people talking about drink.
Find out more about the campaign – and make your own pledge – at www.letstalkdrink.com. After a quiet Friday night in, we’re about to do ours!