As the UK's leading brewer and cider maker, it is hugely important to us that our brands are consumed in a responsible manner and we recognise our duty to lead the industry in encouraging responsible consumption.
We believe we can be a valuable partner in tackling alcohol misuse, by marketing our products responsibly, providing consumers with information, and delivering education and responsible drinking programmes.
Seeing is Believing
In July 2010, we worked with Business in the Community and Addaction to arrange a Seeing is Believing evening for our Management Team. The evening was spent at a 'wet hostel' in Vauxhall and a Community Centre in Brent. HEINEKEN in the UK's management team met with a variety of people affected by alcohol misuse including the residents of the wet hostel, ex addicts at the community centre as well as a number of community specialists, such as police, licensing officials and community organisers who are impacted by alcohol misuse in their daily lives.
Addressing growing public concern about the links between strong ciders and irresponsible drinking, and as a direct result of our senior colleagues seeing first-hand the issues surrounding alcohol misuse at the Seeing is Believing event, the decision to speed up the de-listing of Strongbow Black was taken.
The decision to de-list Strongbow Black followed the ongoing move to lead the way in terms of responsible marketing of our cider portfolio, including the de-listing of White Lightning at the end of 2009. These de-listing decisions have had an impact on the company's annual turnover, reinforcing HEINEKEN in the UK's stance on responsible drinking and commitment to integrating responsible consumption into our business.
Responsible Marketing
We will fully embed responsibility in the marketing and sales activities of HEINEKEN in the UK's brands. As a brand leader in many of our markets, we see both an opportunity and a responsibility to take the lead in responsible marketing and promoting responsible drinking.
Rules on Responsible Commercial Communication
Globally, HEINEKEN wants to embed responsibility into its Top 10 brands. In the UK, over the next three years we will apply this ambition to all of our Super Six brands: Foster's, Strongbow, Heineken, Bulmers John Smith's and Kronenbourg 1664.
We aim to ensure that our commercial communications encourage alcohol responsibility and go beyond best practice guidelines. We also seek opportunities to help consumers understand what responsible and irresponsible consumption means.
We train employees and relevant external agencies annually on our Responsible Marketing Policy and its implementation.
Cool@work
Cool@Work is a HEINEKEN workplace alcohol information and prevention programme, which aims to improve safety and health at work, ensure responsible alcohol consumption and create awareness, commitment and ambassadorship among employees.
At HEINEKEN in the UK we encourage our employees to be ambassadors for alcohol responsibility and to take personal responsibility for their own alcohol use.
The Cool@Work programme was rolled out in the UK in September 2010. Cool@Work is underpinned by the HEINEKEN Alcohol Policy. The Policy sets out our role as a responsible employer, our rules about alcohol in the workplace and our expectations of employees.