Beermats & fly tipping, getting the message over

Everyone accepts that fly tipping is becoming an increaing problem as the cost of rubbish disposal in landfill sites increases every year. Now some of the local councils are using beermats, which coincidentally are themselves 100% recyclable, to deliver a hard-hitting message in relation to this illegal and anti-social activity.

Gateshead Council used 40,000 branded beermats to deliver quirky and innovative messages to raise awareness of the campaign aimed at capturing the public’s imagination and encouraging them to take ownership of their Borough.

Two distinctive designs were utilised bearing images of environmental crimes as well as details of the fines attached to the offence. One was aimed at street litter, such as takeaway rubbish and other forms of fast food waste, whilst the other was aimed at fly tippers. The council emphasised that anyone caught dropping litter could face a fine of up to £50 whilst fly tippers could risk fines of up to £50,000.

The beermats were distributed to local pubs and clubs who were said to have been fully behind the campaign and its virtues.

Beermats have become a popular and inexpensive medium for advertising, branding and campaign messages used by many governement agencies, charities and businesses to deliver their messages. Because they can now be ordered in smaller quantities, are typically litho-printed in full colour, they are perfectly suited to targeted campaigns. No longer the sole domain of breweries, beermats are being used in mailers, at shows, as business cards and in upmarket restaurants and hotels.

Up in smoke? UKIP use beermats to campaign

Beermats are often used in campaigns given, it is suggested though independent research, that they are read some 10 times before being discarded. Perhaps aware of this fact, UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom launched a beer mat campaign aimed at rousing public opinion to have the blanket smoking ban in pubs overturned.

 

Clearly the beleaguered landlords of the UK’s public houses were for the most part, supportive of this initiative, given many want to provide their customers with the choice, rather than having blanket bans imposed by government.

 

Not for the first time, UKIP utilised beer mats to re-enforce their message, allowing the beermat to do the talking. Beer mats can now be ordered in smaller quantities making them ideal for smaller campaigns, targeted campaigns, promotions or brand building. Some beermat manufacturers will offer 1000 genuine pulp board beermats, printed in full colour both sides, for the princely sum of less than £100. This really places the beer mat in reach of the vast majority of small and medium sized business in the UK.

Beer mats and the Metropolitan Police

The Police forces up and down the country are no strangers to using beermats to get their message across. However, the Metropolitan Police have used beermats on a number of high profile campaigns, which include, Domestic Violence, Anti-Drugs, Operation Trident, False Reporting as well as Stop & Search Recommendations.

 

Distributed into pubs within their jurisdiction, beermats have been a considered to be valuable additional medium to deliver direct messages straight to the target audience.

 

With the average public house consuming around 1000 beermats per month, messages delivered on a beermat can be fresh, informative and an excellent talking point. Some beermat manufacturers also offer distribution direct to pubs and clubs in a targeted area or nationally.

Beermats deliver Road Safety message

You may well ask what beermats have to do with road safety. Well, road safety campaigners in the county of Cumbria used beer mats to reinforce the message that drivers should wear their seatbelts.

 

The county was alarmed at the number of people driving in Cumbria who were not wearing seatbelts. Therefore, they launched a campaign utilising beermats which included pictures of the injuries suffered by people who had not been wearing their seatbelts.

 

This particular campaign has a pleasant picture on one side and then relying on the age old practice of ‘beer mat flipping’ they included an image on the reverse of someone that had suffered horrific injuries as a consequence of not wearing a seatbelt.

 

Clearly beermats can deliver serious messages as well as act as an advertising or branding tool as was clearly recognised by the road safety campaigners in Cumbria. Some UK manufacturers of beermats offer short print runs at a fraction of the cost, allowing a wider audience to use beermats for small campaigns or perhaps, a number of different campaign designs.

Beermats used to target under-age drinkers

Leominster and Area Drugs and Alcohol Forum used beermats in their campaign to tackle underage drinking and anti social behaviour. They produced a series of beermats which featured young people who were drunk. These beermats were subsequently distributed to off-licenses and alcohol retailers.

 

The forum intended that the beermats would have a practical use as well as delivering a serious message to potential under-age drinkers. The forum is run by the Herefordshire Community Safety and Drugs Partnership.

 

Once again beermats are proven to be an excellent medium for delivering messages to a targeted audience. There are several manufacturers of beermats in the UK who can design, manufacture and print bespoke campaign messages.