On Monday 5th December, Coca-Cola held its Coca-Cola Christmas Parliamentary Reception. The event marked the return of the business’ ninth Designated Driver campaign in support of the Department for Transport’s THINK! road safety campaign, as well as the launch of a new initiative with UK-wide food redistribution charity FareShare, to help provide meals for those in need.
Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) has supported FareShare since 2014, in tackling hunger and food waste. CCEP has provided £200,000 worth of drinks from across its range to FareShare over the past two years, helping charities and community groups across the country support vulnerable people.
This Christmas the partnership has been extended with a special ‘Snap to Donate’ on-pack promotion, running on all 500ml Coca-Cola bottles and 1.25L bottles of Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Zero Sugar and Diet Coke from now until the end of December. Consumers can ‘Donate a Meal to Someone in Need’ by simply taking a picture of the FareShare logo on the bottle and uploading it to cocacola.co.uk/donate. Each uploaded photograph will trigger a 25p donation from Coca-Cola, enabling FareShare to provide a frontline charity, such as a homeless shelter or older person’s lunch club, with enough food to serve one nutritious meal to someone in need.
Last year alone, FareShare helped to feed almost half a million people per week across 995 cities, towns and villages in the UK. While addressing the Parliamentary Reception, FareShare’s CEO Lindsay Boswell said: “We have been working in partnership with Coca-Cola for the last two years, to make best use of their surplus stock within our food redistribution network. This on-pack campaign is an exciting development to our partnership, that will not only raise awareness of FareShare and the lifeline we provide to charities working with hungry and vulnerable people, but will also raise vital funds to support our operation, helping us to redistribute more food to more people in need.”
The event also marked the return of CCEP’s Designated Driver Christmas campaign. Run in support of the Department for Transport’s THINK! road safety campaign, Designated Driver helps local pubs and bars take a socially responsible approach to the festive holiday period, rewarding drivers not drinking alcohol with a ‘buy one get one free’ offer on soft drinks across its range.
This year the campaign is placing an increased focus on out-of-town venues. To find out which pubs around Daventry are participating in the scheme you can visit: www.cocacola.co.uk/designateddriver
Julian Hunt, Vice President, Public Affairs and Communications at Coca-Cola European Partners said: “Coca-Cola has a very special relationship with Christmas. This year we are excited to bring several festive campaigns to life, including the return of our designated driver campaign which proudly supports the Department for Transport’s THINK! road safety campaign.”
Chris Heaton-Harris MP said: ‘I’m pleased to be able support the Designated Driver and FareShare campaigns which Coca-Cola are running this Christmas. They address issues which can have a real impact within communities such as ours. I encourage all of my constituents to support the on-pack promotion with FareShare to help feed someone in need over the Christmas period. The Designated Driver campaign is a fantastic initiative which rewards drivers for being responsible. The campaign makes it easier for people to do the right thing and helps us to bring people home safely this Christmas.’