Maine has one brewery per 8,710 people, the highest per capita in the country, and between 2019 and 2021, an increase in binge drinking was reported throughout the state. Reasons for this increase were increased stress, increased alcohol availability, and boredom.
2024 Hermes Platinum
2024 Silver Anvil Award of Excellence
Public Health
The COVID-19 pandemic introduced new and innovative ways for Mainers to order alcohol for home delivery and to takeaway with meals from restaurants or breweries. Women were disproportionately impacted by the shutdowns, often trying to balance working full-time, while home-schooling children, and dealing with every day domestic stressors all at the same time.
Rinck developed a strategic communications plan to address the increase of Maine adults, aged 21-55, consuming alcohol post-pandemic to help increase awareness of the negative impacts of alcohol misuse. Online surveys and virtual focus groups were conducted with community-level partners and key stakeholders to develop audience insights that would inform messaging and creative.
The integrated plan included paid search, digital, and social media, including Meta, Pinterest, TikTok and Snapchat. The Maine Center for Disease Control tasked Rinck with developing its first-ever influencer marketing campaign, working with seven social influencers from Maine to develop compelling content that was leveraged in an advertising campaign. Digital ads drove to a campaign landing page, while Click-to-call ads created a direct connection with 211Maine, an informational resource call center.
Campaign engagement with both paid ads and influencer content was strong. Nearly 8 million impressions were achieved through paid search, digital, and social media. The Sipping Point garnered 945.4K video views, 101.2K ad clicks, and 291 "Get Help" clicks through paid media. Additionally, the influencer campaign had nearly 500k video views and 30k engagements. The campaign was honored with an Award of Excellence from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) for its exemplary behavioral change work with the Maine CDC and awarded a 2024 Hermes Platinum Award for Strategic Social Marketing Campaign.