Drinkaware urged to make 'substantial changes' to its operations

An audit of the industry-funded alcohol education charity, conducted by independent consultancy 23red and overseen by an independent review panel chaired by Sir Hugh Taylor, chairman of the Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust and former permanent secretary of the Department of Health, identified areas that were ‘well done’ but said some were either ‘poorly done’ or ‘lacking entirely’.

Based on published and internal information, contributions from third parties, desk research, 118 survey responses and 36 interviews with key stake holders – The ‘Independent Review of The Drinkaware Trust (2006-2012)’ report  – examined Drinkaware’s activities, stakeholder relations, governance and management and funding arrangements between 2009 and 2012.

The review acknowledged the ‘good work’ that had been carried out since 2009 in terms of building awareness of the Drinkaware logo and brand and said the charity had gained better understanding of marketing and behaviour change, piloted interesting initiatives and achieved some success with its parents and adults programme.

However, it warned that all groups of stakeholders were dissatisfied with the ‘status quo’ of the organisation, which is funded by voluntary cash donations and support from all sectors of the alcohol industry.

The concerns focussed on three areas:

• The lack of evidence base, both to inform what Drinkaware does and to evaluate how it does it
• A perception of industry influence resulting in a suspicion that Drinkaware is not truly independent of the alcohol industry
• Weak stakeholder engagement, resulting in Drinkaware’s isolation within the alcohol harm reduction community

“We found a lack of clarity concerning Drinkaware’s mission and purpose and we recommend the Trust now take this opportunity to review these,” the report said. “Drinkaware has no overarching marketing strategy and has provided no analysis for why it prioritises the audience and activities it does.”

The report also said Drinkaware had not yet been able to “demonstrate a compelling case for industry to continue to fund its activities, as it has provided no evidence of return on investment.”

Recommendations included:

• Restructuring its board to include more lay trustees, each of whom is chosen for the skills he or she brings (such as expertise in marketing, behaviour change) rather than as a representative of a specific interest group
• Building more positive relationships with non-industry stakeholders
• Building a robust evidence base by collating data on drinking behaviour, not just asking people what they believe they do, but by observing what they actually do and proving that specific interventions have an impact – by testing or piloting different approaches and measuring the impacts of those approaches in real life or experimental situations.

Derek Lewis, Drinkaware chairman, said: “The Drinkaware team has achieved major progress in a relatively short time in an area of education and behaviour change that is notoriously difficult. 

“The report sets out the scale of the challenge for the future.  While everyone at Drinkaware is up for the challenge, there should be no illusions about its difficulty, requiring new ground to be broken in social marketing with modest resources and a desire for evidence of long-term results within a short time frame.”