Media

“Mike will be a great asset to brandhouse with his vast commercial knowledge and experience, as well as his understanding of the broader African regional context, and will play a pivotal role to help us reach our ambition of becoming the most celebrated total beverage alcohol business in South Africa,” says Gerald Mahinda, MD of brandhouse.

Mike’s previous endeavours include Head of Transformations and Communications at Rio Tinto and Head of Corporate Affairs and Communications at JT International and Adcock Ingram Holdings.

Mike will play a key role in driving sustainability and responsibility, public policy, communications and employee engagement, which are all high priorities on brandhouse’s agenda.

Mike will also take the lead on one of brandhouse’s key objectives, namely responsible drinking awareness, including developing and delivering impactful and effective responsible drinking campaigns. brandhouse’s responsible drinking initiatives include the brandhouse Responsible Drinking Media Awards, the Drive Dry campaign “Who’s driving you home tonight?”, the brandhouse Pitch & Polish enterprise development programme, and the brandhouse Number One Taxi Driver, amongst others.

Since this matter was brought to our attention via Facebook we have conducted an investigation and now know that:

• • The venue is a nightclub in Mongolia
• • The venue hosted a dog fight of which we had no knowledge and were not involved in any way
• • The venue owner has verbally confirmed that Heineken banners are visible in the pictures because the previous evening the club had been decorated for a promotional event and he had failed to remove the banners once it was over. This event was in no way related to the dog fight.

Based on this we have taken the following immediate actions:

• • Removed all remaining promotional materials from the venue
• • Withdrawn all current product stock from the club
• • Ceased our relationship, ensuring our brands will not be available in the club again
• • Instructed our distributor to check every location where our brands can be enjoyed to ensure such illegal activities are not taking place. If there is any suggestion that they are, we will take the same action and remove our products
• • Continue to ensure our strict advertising and promotion guidelines are enforced both to the letter and the spirit of their intent

We want to thank our consumers on-line for bringing this issue to our attention. We are shocked and disappointed by these images. We fully understand the level of negative feeling amongst consumers based on what they have seen. We appreciate that the vast majority have asked for our point of view before making a judgment. We encourage our consumers to continue to use social media channels to alert us to any situation where they feel our brands are being misrepresented, so that we can take the appropriate actions.

For more information please contact john.g.clarke@heineken.com 

The awards aim to encourage journalists to use their individual approach and messaging influences to proactively gain traction with their readers and shape perceptions and behaviour around Responsible Drinking , as well as other alcohol-related issues such as drunk driving, under-age drinking, foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and binge drinking.

“The awards were a resounding success last year which has encouraged the continuation of this initiative. brandhouse sees the vital role that journalists have to play in supporting, promoting and contributing to the Responsible Drinking agenda and ultimately to help change consumer behaviour. Responsible drinking should be a priority on the news agenda in South Africa”, says Heather Noble, responsible drinking campaign manager at brandhouse.

brandhouse is deeply committed to responsible drinking and is involved in numerous interventions driving this important message to consumers. Other initiatives include the recently launched “Who’s driving you home?” Drive Dry TV advert, the educational training programme DRINKiQ, teaching consumers about alcohol and its consumption, the brandhouse Number One Taxi Driver competition, amongst others. The awards form part of the company’s ongoing efforts to inform and raise consumer awareness about the potentially devastating effects of alcohol abuse.

brandhouse, one of South Africa’s leading Total Beverage Alcohol (TBA) companies, have secured an exceptional panel of judges for this year’s awards. The panel consists of Chris Moerdyk - marketing guru, Thezi Mabuza - chief director of the National Liquor Authority (NLA), and Kieno Kammies - well-known Cape Talk presenter, making up the judging panel.

“With the fast approaching deadline, we encourage journalists to submit their entries and not to miss out on this great opportunity. We look forward to receiving a wide variety of submissions from all sectors of media,” says Noble.

Articles must be published in South African media (print, broadcast, online). Any stories on responsible drinking can be covered including issues related to alcohol abuse and its consequences.

The entry categories for the 2012 brandhouse RDMA include:

• • Journalist of the Year (Prize money of R10 000)
• • Best Magazine (Prize money of R10 000)
• • Best Newspaper (Prize money of R10 000)
• • Best Broadcast -Radio/TV (Prize money of R10 000)
• • Best Online (Prize money of R10 000)
• • Best Blog (Prize money of R10 000)
• • Best Community (Prize money of R10 000)

There will be three finalists per category.

Journalists entering the brandhouse RDMA will be judged on the following:

• - Ability to highlight, profile and engage with the issues around Responsible Drinking
• - Approach to the various campaigns (proactive / unique / relative)
• - Level of support (balance between quality and frequency)
• - Level of influence (creating awareness / challenging target audience / encouraging change)

For more information on the 2012 brandhouse RDMA and how to enter, go to www.brandhouse.co.za  or email entries to rd.media.sc@fticonsulting.com . Entries close at 12pm on 30 April 2012 and only media who have entered will be reviewed.

brandhouse, which houses choice brands such as Johnnie Walker, Smirnoff, J&B, Heineken amongst others, initiated the responsible drinking campaign called Drive Dry six years ago, which is an honest approach to evoking strong emotional responses from consumers by personalising the issue of drunk driving. Drive Dry forms part of brandhouse’s ongoing efforts to inform and raise consumer awareness about the effects of drunk driving and to change consumer behaviour to responsible drinking.

“Following brandhouse’s recently launched television commercial, ‘Who’s driving you home tonight?’, which brandhouse is encouraging all South Africans to talk about , the consequences of driving while under the influence of alcohol and to agree to no longer drink and drive,” said Heather Noble, Responsible Drinking Campaign Manager at brandhouse.

“brandhouse and SADD are aligned in their objective to create awareness around responsible drinking in South Africa,” says Noble.

To date 1 490 people like brandhouse’s Drive Dry Facebook page and 20 320 people have viewed the ‘Who’s driving you home tonight?’ television commercial on YouTube.

“As South African’s we have the power to minimise drunk driving by not committing the crime, by talking about this pertinent topic and by educating others. If everyone took responsibility for themselves, this issue would quickly be eradicated. Drunk driving is not an accident, it is a choice,” says Noble.

Show your support for responsible drinking by liking brandhouse’s Drive Dry Facebook page and brandhouse will donate money on your behalf to SADD. www.facebook.com/drivedry

“The awards, now in their second year, showcase journalistic efforts in supporting, promoting and contributing to the Responsible Drinking agenda and ultimately helping change consumer behaviour,” says Heather Noble, Responsible Drinking Campaign Manager at brandhouse.

“Being part of the 2011 brandhouse RDMA’s was a great experience. The awards were a huge success, and I am looking forward to honouring journalists who are making a difference by informing South Africans about responsible drinking, at this year’s RDMA’s, ” says Chris Moerdyk.

The objective of the awards is to encourage journalists to use their individual approach and messaging influences to proactively gain traction with their readers and shape perceptions and behaviour around drunk driving, as well as other alcohol-related issues such as under-age drinking, foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and binge drinking.

The awards are open to all South African journalists who consistently demonstrate efforts to support and promote responsible drinking and associated issues. Articles must be published in South African media (print, broadcast, online). Any stories on responsible drinking can be covered including issues related to alcohol abuse, its consequences and how to address these challenges.

“brandhouse is deeply committed to responsible drinking and is involved in numerous interventions to spread this important message to consumers. The awards form part of the company’s ongoing efforts to inform and raise consumer awareness about alcohol abuse and to ultimately impact the responsible use of alcohol,” says Noble.

The entry categories for the 2012 brandhouse RDMA include:

• Journalist of the Year (Prize money of R10 000)
• Best Magazine (Prize money of R10 000)
• Best Newspaper (Prize money of R10 000)
• Best Broadcast -Radio/TV (Prize money of R10 000)
• Best Online (Prize money of R10 000)
• Best Blog (Prize money of R10 000)
• Best Community (Prize money of R10 000)

There will be three finalists per category.

Journalists entering the brandhouse RDMA will be judged on the following:

- Ability to highlight, profile and engage with the issues around Responsible Drinking
- Approach to the various campaigns (proactive / unique / relative)
- Level of support (balance between quality and frequency)
- Level of influence (creating awareness / challenging target audience / encouraging change)

For more information on the 2012 brandhouse RDMA and how to enter, go to www.brandhouse.co.za or email entries to rd.media.sc@fticonsulting.com. Entries close at 12pm on 30 April 2012 and only media who have entered will be reviewed.