A new public health health campaign is being launched, with a £100 million backing from the Government, to try and encourage young people to drink less alcohol and more water on nights out. But will it be money well spent?

On a day where it was announced British girls are the worst drunks, it’s fitting that there was also a new announcement about the Governments latest plans to try and tackle the binge drinking culture in the UK.  The largest media campaign against alcohol abuse will be launched under the slogan ‘Why let good times go bad?’.

The campaign is going to be targetting pretty much every angle, ranging from beer mats printed with the slogan, stickers in off licences, to television adverts warning about ending your night badly.  Britain has long had a reputation as one of the biggest drinkers in Europe, and also as a country with the worst reputation for getting drunk abroad and causing trouble.  The Government is desperately trying to find ways to get rid of the stereotype, as not only is it bad for the countries image, but a huge amount of taxpayers money is spent on policing town centres to try and stop fights during pub and club closing time.

A huge amount of time is also spent treating people who have managed to injure themselves whilst having a night out on the town, either through fights, falls or drink driving accidents.  One of the aims that we found interesting here at The Water Cooler Company is to try and increase the amount of water that people drink on nights out.  In pubs they are going to be putting up posters with a picture of a pint glass full of water, with the tagline “Free pints all night.  Ask your bar staff for a drink of water”.  Whether this will lead to ‘merry’ people only reading the first sentence and getting very excited about free beer all night is yet to be seen… Nevertheless if it does encourage people to take on more water on a night out it can only be a good thing.

One of the campaigns that we can’t see working too well is the attempt at relating to young people out drinking by using supposed ‘lads humour’. One of the planned posters is going to have an image of beer goggles, and have the caption “Afraid you’ll pull a moose?  Stay focused by pacing your drinks”.  Funny? Not really. Patronizing?  Just a tad.

There’s even some speculation that this could lead venues and pubs to be installed with a water cooler or two to show the government they are making an effort to give their customers free water.

If you have any questions or comments about this article please feel free to leave a comment, or email sales@thewatercoolercompany.com.

Our industry is divided into two main categories – bottled water coolers and bottleless water coolers (sometimes refered to as plumbed coolers or POU within the industry).

In 2008 Zenith International estimated there to be over 430,000 bottled water coolers in active use in the UK – and around 230,000 bottleless water coolers. Over the last few years the main area of growth has been the bottleless water coolers – and this has been reflected in our experience. The Water Delivery Company establised a separate brand – “The Water Cooler Company” – in 2005 to focus on the needs of the bottleless market and has enjoyed steady growth since then.

If the UK market continues to develop in the same way as the American market it is very possible that the industry will over time be split 50/50 between bottled and bottleless water coolers. Within the central London market this is likely to mainly in the traditional water cooler market – due to the age of the buildings. In contrast the outer reaches of London are likely to increasingly look to integrated drinking water fountain and water boiler solutions which can provide a longer-term integrated water facility for offices.

The water cooler market in the UK is still relatively young – celebrating its twentieth year in 2009 – and it is a rapidly evolving market. The Water Cooler Company is primed to innovate and grow within this marketplace.