Diageo – Marketing to Remember

Introduction
The case is about Diageo, a drinks company and a leader in corporate social responsibility issues. The company is running a CSR program from within the marketing function. In 2007 they launched the ‘Choices campaign’, aiming at 18-to-24 age group. The campaign ended with the sentence: ‘A night to remember? Or one to forget? The choice is your’. With this they showed that responsibility is at the heart of all their marketing, with the aim to change the attitude towards alcohol.

Ethical strengths - Raising awareness - Closeness to consumer provides something that public health agencies lack - Product safety - They have in-depth knowledge of consumers, the ability to get under their skin and understand what makes them behave in the way they do. - Organization succeeds by outperforming their competitors in providing superior value to their customers, in order to create a positive change in people’s attitudes to alcohol. - They do not mislead their customers - They try to ensure that consumers properly understand the risks involved in consuming their product - Brand names are not dominantly present in the advertisement, focus is on responsibility message

Ethical weaknesses - Fitness for purpose - Creation of artificial wants - Reinforcing stereotypes - Targeting vulnerable consumers

Issues in Product Policy i) To what lengths should the producers of goods and services go to make them safe for the consumer use? ii) To what extent are producers responsible for the consequence of the consumer’s use of their products?

Issues in marketing communication i) To inform consumers about goods and services; and ii) To persuade consumers to actually go ahead and purchase products

Due care - Manufactures ought to exercise due care -