Paige Louise Coote 21285181 Major Project

DRINK “SPIKING” AWARENESS CAMPAIGN IN PARTNERSHIP WITH ‘PRYZM’, DELTIC GROUP.

“A project to protect and educate the young adults of today”

Located in some of UK’s biggest cities, ‘PRYZM’ is a nightlife chain appealing to young adults aged 18-35. Its known specifically for offering a multi-room service and bespoke design with state of the art custom built sound and lighting complimenting the stunning décor. We offer a variety of evenings for you to come and experience with us, whether it’s a big birthday night out with some of the biggest DJ’s/artists in the world, or if you’re just after a quiet but luxurious catch up with friends in our chill-out bar sponsored by GreyGoose to enjoy delicious cocktails, nibbles and a relaxed atmosphere. We’re a known venue amongst the student population due to our specifically designed bank account friendly drink deals, designated student night’s and an energetic atmosphere bring in the undergrads in their masses. It’s clear that every corner of ‘PRYZM’ is revolved around making you feel like a VIP at an affordable price to ensure an unforgettable evening of music, drinking and dancing. ‘PRYZM’ is owned by Deltic Group, a private company with an estate of 65 nightclubs with the largest square footage of nightclub capacity in the UK. Originally the majority of ‘PRYZM’ venues were called ‘Oceana’, however following a horrific major incident at the Kingston Upon Thames chain in 2013, this venue, along with the other ‘Oceana’s’ in , Brighton, , , Watford, and were converted in ‘PRYZM’ in an expensive major rebranding in attempt to continue business after being given a bad name for unsafe behaviour.

On top of the awful event that occurred that summer of 2013, ‘Oceana’, was also labelled as a venue which tolerated behaviour such as lack of security and so men and women claimed to have had their drinks spiked. Drink spiking has been a cruel a cowardice act which see’s many of its victims in unspeakable scenarios, some in hospital, and in some cases people have even died at the hands of this silent crime. Over the course of the past few years, police reports regarding this matter have tripled and with a new celebrity on our front pages every few months saying their a victim too, it has become apparent that this is something we must act on now. Us at ‘PRYZM in particular, feel it is our personal mission to ensure our consumers are enjoying their evenings safely, however with our new state of the art metal detectors and more security than ever, this still doesn’t guarantee the safety of our party goers, as we at Deltic Group believe the best way to keep our clientele safe in this day and age, is to have them educated with how easy and dangerous this is and most importantly how it is unfortunately common. With a lot of our visitors being students and the current drinking culture increasing and demonstrating reckless and irresponsible behaviour, it is imperative we take issues like this seriously especially since due to the effects of social media, the dangers of drinking excessively has been overlooked. Our mission is simple, in light of our rebranding we want to become a trusted venue and branch over the UK in which we prioritize this issue and hopefully see a change in reported crimes such as this. To ultimately become the safest nightclub chain in the UK, and to reinstate safety among our consumers, that would be our success.

The issue we’re trying to solve here is to educate the youth of today in regards to drink-spiking in attempt to achieve a happier, healthier and safer nightlife experience within our brand. We at Deltic Group have always possessed the vision “ to be seen as experts within the late night entertainment and bar sector, acting as the anchor for the night time economy in each town by delivering the highest levels of entertainment, standards and facilities." (https://delticgroup.co.uk/), and so we would want to continue, by moving with the times and set an example to other competing nightlife professionals. This could lead to more business opportunities for us, ie. sponsors, and will draw in more of a crowd if we make it our priority to take this issue more seriously in comparison to existing bars and clubs, as we’ll be seen as a more trusted venue to spend your evening at, thus benefitting our customers. Our customers and their safety and wellbeing are who are at the heart and core of this project, we want them to trust in us and our brand to fully appreciate that we have a dissected understanding of this modern day concern. The strategy for us is to look at everything surrounding us with regards to this issue, such as in the newspapers and online to work as our key market insights to drive our potential design solutions.

In terms of outcomes and deliverables, could we go further to achieve more than just an awareness campaign? Could we find physical ways to prevent this from happening? We want to achieve a cultivating learning experience, that won’t patronise its viewer. Currently today, there are drink testing kits available to purchase at £5.95 per 3 tests. These were designed by Jim Campbell, former home office toxicologist. However, being titled and clearly identified as “The Drink Detective”, this, although brilliant concept, isn’t very discreet. How could we make this a subtle but key addition to our essential items we carry during our evenings, while also being unisex? Could we develop this further? Considering execution, copyright, colours and size will all benefit the outcome here. The current hashtag for the matter is ‘#NotInMyDrink’, it has a clear definition and meaning and will be easy to apply on various platforms, both digital and nondigital. Since this project is aimed at, what we refer to today as “The Millennials”, and because a lot of these cases go unreported, due to embarrassment or not enough evidence, it might be beneficial to conduct a questionnaire specifically catered to this generation, to ask if they know or suspect they know someone who may have been affected to divulge and uncover a new variety of statistics that won’t otherwise be discovered. As for my budget this will be unpredictable, however I will keep a track record, such as a gantt chart to keep a reflective track of my spending for physical outcomes.

WEBSITES

PRYZM Website: https://www.pryzm.co.uk/

Oceana Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceana_(nightclub)

2013 Incident: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-23334216

Deltic Group Website: https://delticgroup.co.uk/

Indepant: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/uk-drink-spiking-doubles-police-a8545011.html

Drink Detective: https://inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/food-and-drink/drink-spiking-incidents-double-three-years-figures-statistics/ http://www.notinmydrink.com/drink-detective/