Responsible Advertising and Marketing

RESPONSIBLE ADVERTISING AND MARKETING

We strive to promote alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages in an ethical and responsible manner, focusing on consumers of legal purchasing age. This effort spans all marketing channels, including on-trade, off-trade, e-commerce and both online and on-the-ground events.

             3.5                     17.16

Stakeholder Groups Most Concerned:

Consumers; Customers; Industry Associations and Regulators

Why It Important

Our pledge to ZERO Irresponsible Drinking remains at the heart of our operations, advocating for responsible consumption among legal-age drinkers through various marketing strategies. This commitment is crucial in safeguarding consumer health, complying with local laws and protecting our right to operate. Through initiatives centred on ‘enjoyment in moderation', we aim to drive a positive brand image, strengthen trust with our stakeholders and enhance our reputation as a responsible brewer. Our focus is on playing a constructive role in the solution to irresponsible drinking.

Our Approach:

Through our Marketing Communication Policy (MCP), we continue to uphold our commitment to responsible advertising, setting a high benchmark as a self-regulated brewer. Built on eight guiding principles, this policy ensures that our messaging reaches the right audiences sensibly and effectively. It also supports our ability to create innovative and engaging marketing that reflects our purpose and standards.

Additionally, we reinforced our Responsible Advertising and Marketing practices through the principles of responsible marketing set by the Confederation of Malaysian Brewers and the Singapore Beer Industry Association, of which we are proud founding members.

Our approach in Malaysia remains aligned with the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission’s Content Code. This ensures that our advertising and marketing practices respect the context of social values in the country.

Throughout FY2024, we recorded no instances of non-compliance with regulatory requirements, nor any complaints or legal actions concerning marketing or labelling.

Progress/Achievements

In Malaysia and Singapore, our Above-the-Line (ATL) and Below-the- Line (BTL) marketing activities were aligned with local regulations and guidelines across each market. Currently, our initiatives are as follows:

Guiding Responsible Marketing Communication

Our MCP remains a key guideline for all our employees, affiliated agencies and contract workers who are communicating through or on behalf of our brands. This includes media agencies, our current serving social media and creative agencies, as well as all our existing Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs). It is essential that everyone involved in marketing efforts adheres to the MCP. We provide a comprehensive briefing to communicate the policy effectively and share a reference copy during agency pitches or when onboarding a vendor.

We also tailor the MCP to meet the specific requirements of local markets, ensuring relevance and compliance. For instance, the MCP provides guidelines to govern alcohol-related advertisements, posts and videos across Malaysia and Singapore. This includes ensuring alcohol-related advertisements must not encourage drinking while at work or in situations or locations where it could lead to unsafe or unwise behaviour. In addition, we strictly prohibit promotions of excessive alcohol consumption.

In Malaysia, the MCP guidelines ensure that the intended audience does not include anyone below 21 and those of the Islamic faith. The content of advertising and marketing must also include a responsible drinking message, advice notices and the 'Don’t Drink and Drive' logo and be age-gated wherever possible. We collaborate only with KOLs who are at least 25 years old and visibly reflect their age.

To further guide our efforts in responsible marketing, we have put in place a standard operating procedure outlining the review process for print, online and digital marketing materials, ensuring adherence to and consistency with departmental policies.

The flow chart illustrates the steps taken to validate these materials before distribution across approved platforms:

Enforcing Marketing Compliance

Our Legal Department regularly conducts internal audits to ensure continued compliance with the MCP. Our respective brand teams are accountable for addressing any gaps promptly, with verification of closure from the Legal Department. As of 31 December 2024, there were no pending issues documented.

Enhancing Brand Safety

Beginning 1 January 2024, we transitioned to Google’s DoubleVerify for our brand safety monitoring efforts. DoubleVerify replaced the Moat Analytics Tracking System, which was previously used in all our digital media buys to monitor unsafe advertisement placements and measure advertisement delivery across the web.

While both platforms track and measure brand safety, DoubleVerify enhances the process by categorising risks into three tiers: High, Medium and Low. This provides greater flexibility in assessing content, topics and webpages based on their risk level.

In short, we now track brand safety not only at the overall level, but also across distinct tiers, providing a more detailed assessment of risk. For FY2024, all our digital ads have consistently adhered to the established thresholds, ensuring compliance with the set brand safety standards.

DoubleVerify Brand Safety Benchmarks:

• Overall Brand Safety: 99%
• High Risk Incident: <5%
• Medium/Low Risk Incident: <25%

Sustaining Awareness of Responsible Drinking

Through the #CELEBRATERESPONSIBLY campaign, we maintained our ongoing efforts in advocating the importance of responsible drinking to prevent the harmful use of alcohol. We promoted moderation in drinking as a key approach to tackle alcohol misuse and reduce alcohol-related harm within society, such as underage drinking and drink-driving.

Going Forward

We will continue to observe and practise responsible marketing by ensuring that new employees, agency partners and contract workers are aware of the MCP and relevant regulations and guidelines. We will also maintain vigilance in monitoring and tracking our online advertisements through DoubleVerify for brand safety.