PUBLICITY: BEST BAR NONE

Best Bar None: Supporting a great night out

64% of stranger violence and 70% of violent incidents at the weekends, evenings and nights are alcohol-related, according to Alcohol Policy UK.

This a statistic that Best Bar None, a scheme piloted in Glasgow and now in 58 towns and cities across Scotland, is desperately trying to change. The scheme signs up member licensed premises to train and prepare their staff in promoting a safe night out.

Ensuring a safe night out might be recognising when someone has had a lot to drink, it could be arranging a taxi for a single woman who is clearly in an uncomfortable situation on her ‘date’, or it could be promoting smaller measures of drinks to reduce alcohol excessive consumption.

Results from the scheme are staggering and regions operating under Best Bar None have seen a notable dip in crime in the region. Despite this so few people knew about the programme, and so Best Bar None involved Volpa to help raise awareness.

  • Client: Best Bar None
  • Skills: Media relations, public relations, award writing
  • Website: www.bbnscotland.co.uk

Our cunningly good® approach…

Our objectives were:
1.      Promote Best Bar None venues as safe establishments within communities, particularly amongst young people
2.       Raise the profile of the Best Bar None scheme and its benefit to communities
3.       Improve social media engagement with consumers
4.       Promote successes of members in the National Awards Scheme within their communities
We knew the biggest challenge would be making the Best Bar None scheme relatable to every walk of life in our communities. We therefore split the work into three mini campaigns: #HaveASafeOne aimed at 18-25year olds; a 125ML campaign aimed at 30+, who were identified as a target audience by the client; and the awards which would unite communities.
For this we needed a multi-channel, multi-content approach; mixing traditional PR, social media and identifying and engaging with prominent influencers within communities.
Our strategy was to be as relatable as possible to each audience, speaking their language, making the right comparisons and using the right platforms.
Meanwhile, sought to bring communities together and to rally around their licensed premises through our awards PR.