News

The annual awards, which took place at the Zofin Palace in Prague, honour the most outstanding achievements in communications from across Europe. The Mission Water2 campaign took the top spot in the ‘Greece and Cyprus national & regional campaigns’ category.

The winning programme, which was created to address acute water scarcity in the Mediterranean region and the Greek islands in particular, highlighted the urgent need to manage water in the country and engaged citizens in effectively protecting and preserving water resources.

Its primary focus was the reintroduction of rainwater harvesting systems in eight Cycladic islands including Santorini, Naxos and Syros, supporting the freshwater needs of 5,500 residents by providing facilities capable of collecting and storing 650,000 litres per year. Training seminars were conducted to help local technicians to build and maintain the harvesting systems. Together with the Hellenic Ministry of Education, Coca-Cola Hellenic introduced an educational kit to instruct teachers and students about effective water management – encouraging young residents to play an active role in water preservation.

In addition, a major clean-up of Kerkini Lake, was also organised, in partnership with UNESCO and local authorities, in which some 1,500 volunteers helped restore the area by collecting 2,800 tonnes of litter. Kerkini Lake, a Special Protection Area declared a Ramsar site, is a very important area to breeding, passage and wintering birds under EU law and is one of the 10 wetlands of International Importance in Greece.

Commenting on the success of the campaign, the Public Affairs and Communication Director of Coca-Cola Hellenic Greece, Mr. Vassilios Lolas, said: “The Mission Water campaign has been a huge success and has had a positive impact on many parts of the community who have helped to preserve this valuable resource. It is terrific that the campaign has won this award, but the real winners are the local residents of the islands, who have taken our message to heart and learned to effectively protect their water resources.”

This year, more than 1,400 entries were submitted for the European Excellence Awards in 58 categories. Coca-Cola Hellenic was also shortlisted for its Romanian HR programme 'Talents on Board', where an innovative communications campaign targeted high-performing graduates to join the company’s summer internship programme. A "career website" was set up online, along with a dedicated Facebook page, a video on YouTube, and an internship newsletter. A "Career Aspiration Quiz" attracted more than 400 entrants. Overall, the project attracted 5,700 applications for employment positions. The company selected 12 to become interns. In an independently conducted survey, Coca-Cola Hellenic Romania was judged the "Employer of Choice" among all the top businesses in the country.