Diageo and PID Introduce Interactive Public Furniture under their “In Good Spirit” Initiative

  Following the first launch in 2015, Diageo and Public Interest Design – Levant (PID) and in collaboration with industry stakeholders and NGOs, launched the campaign’s public furniture assets to further engage their target groups, promote a responsible handling of alcohol in society and raise awareness on the risks of its abuse. The event was held at Villa Badaro on Tuesday 1^st of March, bringing together partners, stakeholders, media and collaborators. “In Good Spirit” is a great example of a successful public and private sectors’ collaboration initially launched in June 2015 to promote responsible alcohol handling in society. The program encourages consumers to enjoy their consumption experience while reducing the potentially negative affects excessive drinking may produce. It also encourages nightlife workers to serve responsibly in terms of quantity and more importantly quality.  For this purpose and in collaboration with Skoun, bar owners and bartenders will be highly engaged in the campaign and will receive Responsible Beverage Serving training and capability building. Moreover, the campaign works to reduce counterfeit alcohol distribution through bottle recovery from the trade and done in partnership with Atria and leading industry stakeholders. Ziad Karam, Corporate Relations Director EMEA at Diageo commented: “In Good Spirit continuously builds stakeholders’ networks and create shared value to support the sector and promote responsible handling of the product.  Public Furniture is a novel medium to communicate, promote the campaign messages and ensure our target audience is fully engaged, he added. Ibrahim Zahreddine Co-Founder and Director of Strategy at PID commented: “ In Good Spirit public furniture (or public interventions) is a new channel of communication that interacts with the audience, create a buzz around the campaign, and more importantly act as campaign message carriers. These interventions will serve as fun, interactive and informal sobriety tests and are built in collaboration with major Lebanese industrialists such as Naggiar and Boisseulier du Rif. He added: “The public furniture will be deployed in key locations in nightlife communities in both Mar Mikhael, Badaro and other clusters. Passers-by will be encouraged to interact with the pieces, share and comment on social media allowing interaction with target audience and deliver a positive impact on the community”. Social media will push awareness messages using attractive visuals and copy. The visuals will vary from Pictures, Gifs, and Videos. The point is to start conversation on social media about the subject and draw more data as research and visualize it and share it to the public.