Examination of Witnesses (Question Numbers
680-699)
MR NICK
GILL, MR
NICK CONSTANTINOU
AND MS
ROBERTA FUKE
9 JULY 2009
Q680 Sandra Gidley: The difference
is that nobody actually has any power to tell you off on the Internet,
whereas with television adverts they do.
Mr Constantinou: Especially as
we are talking new media, I think there is always a channel to
be told off with new media because it is a two-way channel; so
I would actually disagree with that and I think the new media
and the online environment actually encourages the users and parents
or whoever may not think it is appropriate as an open channel
of communication, which I would actually say that when you are
watching a TV ad for 30 seconds between Coronation Street,
or whatever it may be, I believe it is easier in the new media
environment to actually feed back to the producer of that piece
of content to say that that is inappropriate.
Q681 Sandra Gidley: Would it be possible
to have copies of those codes that you work to so that we can
see how they differ?
Mr Constantinou: Absolutely, yes.
Q682 Sandra Gidley: Just to come
back to new media, I want to pursue a couple of points that Dr
Taylor made. On Facebook you do have to put your age in
and most people would do that honestly, I think, unlike one of
your drink sites, and you may be prohibited from accessing a Facebook
drinks page but by the very nature of Facebook people would
often publish links to other things that are external to Facebook.
Say, for example, somebody who quite liked this game would be
able to put a link to it on Facebook and their friends
would be able to see it; they might click on, they might be under
18 and, as we have already seen, the age that you have to put
into the site is meaningless. So in effect is not having a Facebook
page also, if you think about viral marketing, quite an insidious
way of spreading some of these messages further, because it is
not about the politically correct Facebook page it is about
the way that games and things like that are disseminated on Facebook.
Mr Constantinou: I think an online
game or piece of content that people like could be spread in a
number of ways, whether it be through Facebook or a conversation
with somebody in somebody's living room, etcetera. There are guidelines
in play—and I take the feedback around that they feel lax
at the moment—to ensure that this piece of content as held
within the new media environment, which is the Internet for want
of a better phrase, is held within certain gateways and verification
points to protect that. I think beyond that there is an important
point that Nick mentioned that there are additional controls through
the actual Internet browser that you use at home to access online
content, which could be looked at as a way of strengthening those.
I think there are multiple points to provide additional security
to access that content.
Q683 Sandra Gidley: So it is actually
down to the parents for controlling access—it is not your
fault, is that what you are saying?
Mr Constantinou: That is not what
I am saying; what I am saying is that you have to look at the
entire solution and different methods you can use to provide the
end goal.
Q684 Sandra Gidley: But you do accept
that by launching an attractive game that particularly young men
would want to play the whole way that this sort of information
is spread via links on Facebook, you actually have no control
whatsoever over that—you can just let it go?
Mr Constantinou: I think to be
clear that game is targeted at legal purchase age and above and
actually skews towards—it is a casual game on the—
Q685 Sandra Gidley: Come on! It is
a game that is apparently so intense that my son when he was 13
or 14 would have loved it! He would have loved it—shooting
at things, by the look of it. How does that appeal to an 18 year
old and not a 17 year old?
Mr Constantinou: Casual gaming
is proven to be very popular with a 30 plus demographic and that
is fact and I can only talk to my experience and what I have seen
over the last 10 years. This game has been created for that older
demographic and well above the legal purchase age; and it is protected
in an online destination with some controls around that.
Q686 Sandra Gidley: Which do not
exist, let us acknowledge that. Nick, do you have anything to
add to that.
Mr Gill: I would just like to
add in there in terms of people sending information around that
we are working very hard with the Portman Group on the working
group in terms of making sure that digital space is ever evolving.
It constantly changes and constantly creates new challenges. We
work very proactively within the framework we currently have and
we are working very actively with the Portman Group and our own
internal guidelines from Five by Five and various brands'
perspective to ensure that we can absolutely try and raise the
bar in terms of digital controls to make sure that our content
is socially responsible and only targeting those we only want
to see it.
Q687 Sandra Gidley: But there are
a lot of people who can see it on the Web. Can I just come back
to Twitter? You say you do not use Twitter at all
for advertising. Do any of you have any plans to use Twitter?
I tweet and occasionally get followed by somebody called "Horny
Hotty", which worries me greatly! I have no control over
her and I keep trying to block her. But the nature of Twitter
again people send share links about things they like, and again
no age controls. Also, it could seed the potential for advertising
but no age restrictions.
Mr Gill: Until such time as Twitter
can guarantee from a Beverage Brands' perspective, in much the
same way that we can do with Facebook, a date of birth,
and therefore your followers and people you follow and people
who follow you can be guaranteed over 18, we will not enter into
that medium. You are right, that people can share links about
anything on there if they so wish, but to further Nick's point
once they click on that link there are the controls in place for
them to gain access to it.
Q688 Sandra Gidley: Which are not
very robust, as we have seen. So there is nothing to stop the
whole viral networking; there is nothing to stop anybody disseminating
these fun things which actually link to the site.
Mr Gill: Dissemination is one
thing and getting access to the content is something completely
different.
Q689 Stephen Hesford: To Nick, on
this page, on your tank game "Win a year's supply of Smirnoff";
what is a year's supply of Smirnoff?
Mr Constantinou: It was a year's
supply of red vodka which was calculated on three units a day,
which I believe are the government regulations for safe consumption.
The prize would be delivered at quarterly periods rather than
a big chunk of the prize upfront. Obviously targeted at over 18s
only and it is seen as a sharing prize—that was the purpose
of the competition, for a game to enhance the brand awareness
and people talking about the brand—to share that prize with
their friends.
Q690 Stephen Hesford: But if it was
calculated on consumption of three units a day per person—
Mr Constantinou: No, it is one
person.
Q691 Stephen Hesford: How could you
share it with your mates? You would be a tight, mean character
if you are getting a year's supply of three units a day for you;
so how could you share it?
Mr Constantinou: We are promoting
responsible drinking, but we are promoting responsible drinking
by sharing smaller quantities on a less frequent basis.
Q692 Stephen Hesford: So this is
a really mean campaign!
Mr Constantinou: That is not for
me to comment on. Certainly from a marketing point of view and
with our clients that was very much the correct volume we felt,
again, that went back to the responsible and respectful marketing
guidelines that we are legally contracted and expected to follow
for Diageo.
Q693 Chairman: When this site talks
about share a game or forward the game to friends, what is the
mechanism for doing that? Do you just click on a button and put
somebody's email address in? What is the mechanism of sharing
it with a friend?
Mr Constantinou: A small form
will appear on the website and you enter your names—first
name, last name and email address, and more often than not you
will be expected to tick a box confirming that you agree to the
terms and conditions of doing so.
Q694 Chairman: Is that receiving
it or sending it?
Mr Constantinou: Sending it.
Q695 Chairman: Because we have age
verification going on to this site, we are assured, but how do
you then sent it on to somebody else? What are you asking for
as verification and by whom?
Mr Constantinou: What you are
sending on is a link, a web address, and it arrives in your friend's
email inbox as a web address with some nice copy, etcetera, around
it. You click that link; you have to go back to the beginning
of the experience and go through the verifications.
Q696 Chairman: So it triggers the
verification from the receiver before they can actually play the
game?
Mr Constantinou: Yes, it is not
a direct hotlink.
Q697 Charlotte Atkins: Roberta, could
you explain what sort of PR you do for Beverage Brands in respect
of particularly WKD?
Ms Fuke: Of course. We were taken
on earlier on this year to support WKD in terms of media relations
activity, reinforcing the messaging around having a laugh with
your mates but targeting the 18-25 year old age range. Focus is
on targeting key consumer magazines, primarily things like Nuts,
Zoo, FHM, Maxim, those sorts of titles which
are for adult males, with content which is based around having
fun, having a bit of a laugh—quirky humour—reinforcing
our messaging that we are trying to deliver a number of objectives
in our campaign; so our campaign is focusing on encouraging maintaining
loyalty, so sharing that sense of humour and building a bond with
the consumer.
Q698 Charlotte Atkins: So there is
WKD and Nuts and also there is a football company as well,
is there?
Ms Fuke: The support for the Nuts
football award from our point of view is media relations, so news
releases around those who have won the award. The awards are quirky;
they are run through Nuts magazine.
Q699 Charlotte Atkins: Tell me a
bit more about the football awards.
Ms Fuke: Nuts magazine
is a partnership. WKD are partnered with Nuts; Nuts
has an average age range of 24 years in terms of readership. 92%
are over 18 in terms of the readership again, so it is absolutely
targeted to our target audience. It is very football focused in
terms of content. Football in terms of an aside, in terms of the
award itself, about 35% is the current figure of 18 to 25 year
olds play regularly and 54% watch sport in a social environment,
so maybe with their friends at home or in a pub, for example.
So it is an appropriate link for us as a brand. The initiative
itself is irreverent, if you like, sporting awards—so best
hair cut, a bravery award for the player who has managed to play
on despite injury, the best bargain of the season, etcetera. The
awards themselves are voted on by members of the public, again
working through the Nuts magazine content, if you like;
and our job from a PR point of view is to promote the winners.
Q700 Charlotte Atkins: I thought
that there was some sort of ASA code which actually talked about
not linking up with sport, sex and so on. Would that linkage not
transgress those codes?
Ms Fuke: The initiative we are
talking about is a sponsorship and the sponsorship is not focused
on the brand itself but it is sponsorship of football awards and
Nuts football awards are about sponsoring or encouraging
people to engage with football and we simply support that and
this sponsorship initiative is managed through equally important
guidelines, so a marketing activity would be related to that in
terms of content, style and tone.
Q701 Charlotte Atkins: But you are
aware that there is a code which suggests—in fact forbids
the association of alcohol with sporting success and with masculinity
and sex.
Ms Fuke: This is not about sporting
success and masculinity; this is awards which are irreverent that
the fans make to the people who have played all through an injury
or the best chant on the terraces.
Q702 Charlotte Atkins: So basically
it is a way of linking up with football without transgressing
the code?
Ms Fuke: I am sorry?
Q703 Charlotte Atkins: It is a way
of linking up men's obsession with football without transgressing
the code?
Ms Fuke: I do not believe it conflicts
with the code, no.
Chairman: Could I thank all three of
you very much indeed for coming along this morning and helping
us with this inquiry.
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