Creating accessible experiences around the world: Celebrating International Day of Persons with Disabilities

At Diageo, we’re committed to creating experiences where everyone feels included, and can access the products they love.

Over the past year, we have been trialling ways to make our marketing campaigns as accessible as possible by integrating alt text, image descriptions, captions and audio descriptions. We want to make sure that consumers can enjoy our brands and feel part of the celebrations.

Following successful pilots, we have launched an Accessible Marketing Playbook to upskill our marketing teams and our agencies in how to create campaigns that are as accessible as possible. Covering our pilot learnings, case studies and best practice from accessibility specialists, including the Royal National Institute of Blind People and Royal National Institute for Deaf People, the playbook is now available to all 2000+ employees across Diageo’s Marketing and Innovation teams, before being made available to agency teams around the world.

We are also trialling technology. In September, Ketel One became the world’s first spirits brand to launch accessible on-bottle QR codes (AQR) on its ready-to-serve cocktails in North America. The QR codes allow easier identification of products and access to product information such as specific allergens; a powerful yet simple way to provide greater choice for all consumers. These new enhanced QR codes can be detected by a range of class-leading accessibility apps such as Microsoft Seeing AI, Be My Eyes and Envision.

According to Zappar, the company that created the AQR and their charity partners at the Royal National Institute of Blind People, more than 315 million people around the world are blind or have low vision. That’s why we are now looking at how we can trial the technology across other products, including Baileys in 2025, in a bid to ensure we’re serving as many consumers as possible who enjoy our products.

As part of its global We Do We platform, Smirnoff is committed to improving accessibility across hospitality. Earlier this year, Smirnoff introduced a brand-new stage at Ireland’s biggest music and arts festival Electric Picnic, in a strive to make music experiences more inclusive and accessible for all. The Smirnoff Stage included accessibility features such as an Irish Sign Language interpreter, Braille and colour-coded cocktail menus, lower bar areas, noise-reducing earbuds, and an accessible lift to the upper-tier Smirnoff mezzanine The vibrant and interactive venue was designed by the all-female street art collective Minaw Collective, who remained on hand with others to deliver a diverse activity programme ranging from colourful art murals to theatrical pop-ups.

Staying in Ireland, we’ve been working to make sure that our brand homes offer the highest standard of accessibility for all guests.

• We partnered with Ireland’s autism charity, AsIAm, to successfully get the Guinness Storehouse, Roe & Co Distillery and Smithwick’s Experience Kilkenny accredited as certified autism-friendly attractions. In Ireland, it is estimated that one in 65 people are autistic¹ and we wanted to make sure that we were offering sensory-friendly experiences for people with additional or sensory sensitive needs. Our teams completed training to better understand how to welcome visitors with autism or other neurodivergences, and AsIAm conducted reviews to provide recommendations to increase accessibility, including offering sensory kits, visual guides of the buildings and customised tours with noise and light-reduction.
• In 2024, The Guinness Open Gate Brewery became Ireland’s first brewery accredited by AsIAm and visitors can enjoy sensory friendly-hours once monthly, while year-round there are sensory kits, visual guides and sensory maps available at the venue.
• The Guinness Storehouse partnered with Irish Deaf Society to put Irish Sign Language across videos with audio on The Guinness Storehouse website.
• Working with autistic artist, Aoife Dooley, the Guinness Storehouse team recently commissioned a map of the Guinness Storehouse, so that all visitors would know where they are going. It’s available online and on screens around the building, with 17,000 QR code scans since it went live in September.

By supporting communities and inspiring action through our brands, people, partnerships and platforms, we will continue to build a more inclusive world for all. We’re proud of the work we’re doing, but we know there’s always more we can do.

¹ Oireachtas, 2021, https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/debate/dail/2021-10-20/8