Company Announcemnt - The country’s leading total beverage company, Brandhouse Beverages (Pty) Ltd, has unveiled its newest Drive Dry TV advert ahead of the festive season. The poignant campaign, which features Slikour and Twins on Decks,taps into consumers’ intimate ambition by showing how opportunities can be lost in an instant by drinking & driving. Excessive drinking, coupled with peer pressure and a fear of missing out, results in a very evident lack of self-control and a drive to push the boundaries to maximise the moment.  Therefore, consumers who drive under the influence do not internalise any of the negative results of drinking and driving and what may happen to them. “You could lose everything the moment you choose to drink and drive,” says Zanele Njapha, Sustainability Manager at brandhouse. “Unfortunately, consumers don’t realise that their ability to take advantage of opportunities in life is threatened by their drinking & driving behaviour.”

The television advert is aimed at creating the link that you could lose everything the moment you choose to drink and drive.  This relevant, powerful and hard-hitting journey follows a young man as he chases his dreams of becoming a DJ.  As the story unfolds, we see how he eventually gets his lucky break.  With his meteoric rise on lavish display, the scene is set for an epic fall from grace, precipitated instantly by his decision to drink & drive. “The humble beginnings to eventual success via hard work and dedication appeals to our target market because they readily project themselves onto the lead character,” said Njapha.  “The fantasy they are seeing is not far off from how they'd like to see themselves.”

Although Drive Dry speaks to all South Africans who have access to a car and who drink alcohol socially, it targets mainly 18 to 25 year olds who tend to be more casual about drinking and driving. South African consumers are not put off by the legal ramifications of drinking and driving.  "It won't happen to me" is a common attitude among South Africans, particularly when it comes to drunk driving and especially when you’re young. But statistically the chance of being arrested, crashing a car, injuring yourself -or worse- killing a friend, is alarmingly high. “brandhouse is committed to engaging with consumers on responsible drinking and to create consumer campaigns in the regions where we operate,” Njapha said.  “We are therefore committed to promoting responsible consumption today and into the future, and we hope this campaign will make a real difference to people's attitudes to drunkenness and their drinking behavior."

The campaign airs one year after the company launched a hard-hitting social media activism campaign, a first for the industry and designed to change behaviour amongst South African youth with regard to drinking and driving.  The 2014 Drive Dry campaign calls on all South Africans to make a public pledge to drink responsibly, and to go on Facebook to make the public pledge to “drink and not drive” or “drive and not drink”.

The television advert kicks off tomorrow, and will appear in prime time slots on ETV, MNET, SABC1, SABC2, SABC3, Comedy Central and Soweto TV, and will run right through the Festive Season a high risk period for road accidents.