The Scottish Government has launched an integrated social marketing campaign with the aim of encouraging people to consider the amount of alcohol their drink and cut down.

The campaign, created by Story, uses the central theme ‘Every time you have a drink it adds up to more than you think'.

It will run across radio, print and digital until the end of February in order to highlight that regularly exceeding the sensible drinking guidelines can be damage health.

Mediacom is overseeing media planning and buying, while Stripe will deliver the PR communications strategy.

The campaign will be supported by field marketing activity across the country involving a ‘mocktail’ bar, where a free unit measure cup will be given out to help people monitor their alcohol intake and find out how many units they are consuming with each drink.

A range of retail partners including Aldi, Spar, RS McColl, David Sands and Superdrug will also be distributing free cups to Scots across the country.

A website will support the campaign, providing information about sensible drinking guidelines and the health benefits of doing so.

Paula Macdermid, senior strategic marketing manager for the Scottish Government, said: “The campaign is well-timed as it launches in the New Year, when people are ready to look at ways to start afresh after the festive season. It is important that we talk about drinking responsibly in a way that is clearly identifiable and understood by our audience.  The campaign asks people to reflect on their current drinking, how this compares to the sensible drinking guidelines and to consider reducing their intake.”

Jim Kelly, head of planning at Story, added: “Most people associate drinking with positive experiences and for many having a few drinks is ingrained in many aspects of their lives. This campaign tries to get people to stop and think how much they drink in terms of units of alcohol. We then give them the tools to translate this into what consequences this may have on their health.”