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11 June 2012

London Fire Brigade to use Twitter telling Euro 2012 fans to opt for takeaway

 By Tim Gibbon

London Fire Brigade (LFB) is to use Twitter during Euro 2012 to warn fans to not to cook when returning home after the pub during the European football championships.

Today sees England vs. France 17:00 BST kick-off with many fans leaving work early to watch the game and inevitably drinking more and for longer until the journey home. In its press release, LFB state that with an extra 2.2 billion pints sold during the last world cup there is a concern that there will be an increase in alcohol related cooking fires. In 2011, there were 5,903 accidental house fires, 850 of those involved a person who had been drinking alcohol. The Brigade is advising fans that have been out drinking to have a takeaway for dinner rather than cooking when they get home after to prevent fires.

LFB is adopting an integrated approach with adverts in free newspapers (such as the Metro), social networking sites and ads featuring the slogan ‘GOAL!’ appearing on a picture of a burger, which will be posted up in pub toilets across central London. Although the campaign targets pub drinking and the journey home, it’s equally important for fans that may be drinking at home and may have the urge to cook.  Unfortunately, the Brigade missed the opportunity to add its Facebook and Twitter URLs to the ad making it easier for audiences, along with the details of its competition.

The Brigade will be using its Twitter handle @LondonFire to get the message across from 8pm and 12am, tweeting about every fire that breaks out across London during this period. Although London-focused, it’s a message that could really be adopted nationwide.

To raise and sustain awareness, it’s also asking fans to tweet using the hashtag #EatmyGoal, with a football related takeaway team e.g. Chipswich Town. The best tweet will win a voucher of £100 from Takeaway.com, and there will also be prizes given for second and third place.

The Brigade isn’t a stranger to social media maintaining quite healthy social channels and communicating with its online audience. It launched its campaign this Saturday with a tweet.

We're telling #Euro2012 fans: Don't cook when you've had too many drinks, get a takeaway instead. Read about it here london-fire.gov.uk/news/LatestNew…

— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) June 9, 2012

Ron Dobson, London Fire Brigade Commissioner says, "During Euro 2012, many Londoners will go straight from work to the pub to watch the football. Our research shows cooking after having one too many plays a massive part in house fires and sadly, one in every four fire deaths involves alcohol. If people cook tonight under the influence of alcohol they could be putting themselves and the people they love in danger. Play away from home and eat out,” adds Dobson.

At the time of writing, the London Fire Brigade had 22,479 followers, following 1,332, and had tweeted 1,770 times. It also had 10,555 Likes on Facebook. You can check out The London Fire Brigade on social media via the links below.

London Fire Brigade on Twitter @LondonFire

London Fire Brigade EatmyGoal hash tag #EatmyGoal

London Fire Brigade on Facebook

Categories: Social media, News, Marketing

Tags: London Fire Brigade, Twitter, Euros, football, Euro 2012, social media, England fans, England football fans, fire prevention, fire safety