Unit 14 21 was developed by the Leeds University Union (LUU) Marketing Department with funding from the local Primary Care Trust (PCT). This campaign is designed to increase awareness of the facts and effects surrounding binge drinking as a young person and to allow people to make informed decisions regarding their drinking habits, safety and welfare.
Drawing on their experience of the student market and their already progressive organisational social responsibility policies, Leeds University Union set about working on a different approach to the drink education discussion. With the knowledge that communication with students and young people is most successful using engaging bite-size chunks of information distributed in the right mediums and at the right time, Unit 1421 was developed.
By placing key information to educate and inform the public on safer drinking at the point of consumption, the campaign aims to raise awareness of the issues surrounding alcohol unit intake, drink spiking, safe drinking and getting home safely. The campaign sets out to align itself with club and bar culture rather than being at odds with it using promotional techniques, employed by the industry, to deliver the message such as teaser campaigns, flyering, fly posters, promotional teams, give-aways and engaging condemnatory publicity.
Leeds University and the PCT trialed the campaign over the 2006 to 2007 academic year with the teaser campaign starting in the last weeks of September 2006, and the launch of the full Unit 14 21 campaign at the Leeds University Union Fresher’s Ball.
