Alcohol awareness

Aviator, a small start-up agency, was about to pitch against some big guns for 'The Drinkwise Campaign' - an exciting new project from the Health Education Authority. They (Aviator) hadn't yet hired any creatives so they asked if I could come up with some ideas for a campaign logo and strapline. I scribbled just one. They won the pitch. I joined as creative director.

My original idea was a pink elephant. However, the client thought this implied 'drunk' (too extreme) so the elephant was watered down with just the cheeks being pink. The aim of the campaign was to increase public awareness of alcohol 'units' and recommended weekly limits. The campaign's tone was to be friendly and informative rather than dictatorial so the cartoon elephant became a central feature. Lost count of how many times I drew that damned animal. Must have been hundreds.

With the elephant being the focus of attention, opportunities for 'ideas' were somewhat limited. However, an opportunity would occasionally arise such as the invite shown below (message in a bottle) for news reporters to attend a press launch. 

Another idea I rather liked was for a poster I did in the campaign's third year (we had to re-pitch each year) when the focus was 'alcohol in the workplace'. By this time the elephant had mercifully taken a back seat.