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Diageo virtual reality experience targets binge drinking
By Melita KielyIn an effort to curb harmful drinking, Diageo is creating a virtual reality (VR) experience that highlights the importance of sensible decision-making when imbibing.
Diageo’s VR experience will focus on binge drinkingThe new binge drinking-focused programme will be in partnership with Jaunt, an immersive cinematic experience company, who will help with the creative vision, production, development and distribution of the experience.
The initiative follows the launch in October 2016 of the 360o experience called ‘Decisions’, which put consumers in the front seat of a fatal drink driving crash.
In the first four months following its release, Decisions had been watched almost 14 million times. A survey revealed that 73% of viewers were now more likely to stop other people from drinking and driving, while 75% said they will prevent drinking and driving by planning their social occasions with a designated driver.
James Thompson, chief marketing and innovation officer, Diageo North America, said: “We made the choice to break into VR with our social responsibility programme because it gives us the proper medium to explore numerous dangerous drinking situations in a very real way.
“Telling people about the effects of irresponsible decision-making when drinking is one thing – but giving them the opportunity to see, hear and feel what can happen because of even one bad choice is a potential game changer.
“‘Decisions’ and its portrayal of the impact of drunk driving stuck with viewers, even after they removed their headsets. Now we’re aiming to prevent binge drinking with the same high impact intervention.”