Don’t Drink and Dive: Malibu’s aim to make a lasting impact
Two years ago, Malibu decided to adopt a more strategic approach to responsible drinking around water – to make a long-term commitment that could be championed throughout the drinks industry worldwide.
Malibu’s strategic approach to responsible drinking paved the way for its Don’t Drink and Dive campaign starring five-time Olympic diving medallist Tom Daley. Aired in the UK and Australia (where Daley was joined by Australian Olympic swimmer Cate Campbell and some Bondi Beach lifeguards) in 2024, the campaign is successfully raising awareness of the dangers of drinking around water. Alarmingly, statistics show that one in four drownings in the UK involve alcohol1.
But behind the light-hearted nature of the advert – with a champion diver wearing bright red knitted swimming drunks – there is a serious message. For Malibu, this ongoing campaign is about making a meaningful difference by encouraging behavioural change when it comes to drinking alcohol around water.
“Malibu is a brand that has always been strongly associated with summer, beaches, the sea and swimming pools – so it’s natural for us to advocate for responsible drinking around water. Our brand’s ethos is to promote a free-spirited lifestyle, but while doing this, we need to ensure our consumers’ safety,” says Craig van Niekerk, Malibu’s VP of Marketing. “We wanted to demonstrate how you can talk about important and sensitive matters in a way that resonates with consumers. The Don’t Drink and Dive campaign is not just white noise.”
Craig admits that when he and his colleagues first sat around the table to brainstorm creative ideas for the campaign, their first instinct was to create a famous advert and then hope that behaviour change would follow. However, they quickly realised this was the wrong approach. “We said, no, we’re doing this the wrong way around. We need to focus on changing behaviour, and if we end up being recognised for it, we will take that as a compliment,” says Craig.
Tellingly, the underpinning inspiration behind the campaign’s direction came from a haunting anti-violence video about gun crime in US schools. The anti-crime video’s tone seamlessly shifts from cheerful to harrowing, creating a powerful and lasting impact. Malibu’s creative team sought a similar “emotional arc”, aiming to come up with an idea that would engage but then stop people in their tracks to take note.
“The hardest part was finding smart ways to bring in some light-heartedness into a serious message”, Craig says. “The knitted briefs are ridiculous, aren’t they? After all, who is going to swim in knitted briefs? Ultimately, they were used as the creative mechanism to dial up the light-heartedness while landing a seriously important message. It’s the balance we were trying to strike. The campaign looks light-hearted on the surface but it addresses a very important message.”
Feedback before and after the Don’t Drink and Dive campaign provide evidence of increased awareness. There was an uplift in people recognising the risks associated with drinking around water, after the ad had aired, while even more people said they wouldn’t drink and swim having seen the ad. PR coverage reached an estimated one billion people, with more than 350 pieces published across a range of titles.
The hardest part was finding smart ways to bring in some light-heartedness into a serious message. The knitted briefs are ridiculous!
Craig van Niekerk, VP Marketing, Malibu
“The first wave of the campaign was incredibly and positively received from a consumer point of view. We had struck a balance between the brand’s tone of voice and an important initiative directly connected to the brand, allowing us to credibly make an impact,” says Craig. “While we successfully pushed the ‘don’t drink and dive’ message out there, we are under no illusions that it will take time to make a significant lasting impact.”
The campaign in the UK and Australia is ongoing in 2025 but a further reiteration of the campaign is planned for the US in 2026 and Craig hints he already has some big ideas. “We’d love to do something that would resonate with millions of consumers. That’s the creative height that we want to achieve with our responsible drinking initiatives,” he adds.
Malibu’s responsible drinking campaign is just one of many initiatives from Pernod Ricard brands including the Group-wide Drink More Water campaign that targets young adults. The initiatives coincide with a time when consumer trends and behaviours are shifting with more people enjoying social occasions in moderation2.
“People today are perhaps much more conscious of responsible drinking than in the past. They want to live holistic lives, where social interactions are just as important as their physical health,” says Craig. “I am not against drinking alcohol and I am proud to work for a company that is striving to change behaviour and attitudes. I enjoy having Piña Colada with friends as much as I enjoy mountain biking. But for me, it’s not a trade-off between one activity or the other; it’s about doing what I enjoy in the moment.”
1 Royal Life Saving Society UK (RLSS UK)
2 Drinkaware
