Dry July is a charity that asks Australians to not only give up alcohol for the month of July, but also to raise money for cancer clinics while doing it.

Australians have a heavily engrained drinking culture, this is evident in and worsened by the extreme prevalence of alcohol references in popular culture and music.

We had to find an idea that would not only stand out, but also increase the average donation amount that our participants would raise. And we had to do it in a competitive media landscape: a Federal Election had made the complementary ad space which Dry July traditionally depends on, unavailable.

Our radio advert went far beyond the live reads used to promote it. To bring our DryTunes concept to life we integrated with programming across the Dry July network. To promote taking a month off of alcohol and raising money for cancer, we removed the alcohol references from popular music.

The execution of the core idea was simple. On the 1st of July Triple M’s stations ‘went dry’ across Australian capital cities. A sound effect was used to replace alcohol references (and there are plenty) in song lyrics. For example, it was played over words like ‘drink’ and ‘liquor’ and brands like ‘Ciroc’ and ‘Patron’, when they came up in songs.

This was supported by promotional pushes across Austereo’s Hit And Triple M networks and their 9 stations throughout July. These included weekend sponsorships, on-air discussions, social media posts, and a number of Austereo hosts taking part in Dry July.