The Portman Group, the drinks industry watchdog set up to promote responsible drinking, has published a new set of guidelines to advise companies on how to stay within the Portman Group and the UK Advertising Codes in their digital marketing campaigns.
The Responsible Marketing of Alcoholic Drinks in Digital Media aims to educate alcohol producers about the growing importance of digital marketing and to avoid inadvertently targeting underage consumers or encouraging harmful drinking. The guidelines have been compiled with the help of leading industry marketers from Bacardi-Martini, Beverage Brands, Molson Coors (UK) and Diageo.
The publication covers the importance of age verification pages and nanny tags; the boundaries of acceptability surrounding consumer-generated content on brand websites; and how companies can assess the appropriateness of websites and social media.
Discussing the guidelines, David Poley, Portman Group chief executive, comments: “Digital marketing is challenging because it can prove difficult to identify who is using digital media and how old they are. Even so, producers must meet the same high standards digitally as in other areas of marketing. Our advice will enable companies to steer a socially responsible route.”
Nick Stringer, head of regulatory affairs at the IAB adds: “The IAB welcomes the Portman Group’s new digital marketing guidelines for alcohol drinks. It is an excellent example of the alcohol producing industry taking a responsible approach, complementing existing legal requirements and rules. These guidelines should be followed right across the digital marketing sector.”
Click here to read The Responsible Marketing of Alcoholic Drinks in Digital Media.
