The Gin Guild has won the Best Sustainability Marketing Campaign title at the Global Drinks Intel (GDI) ESG Awards 2025, recognising its “exceptional” #TenGreenBottles campaign that supported the launch of its Sustainability Toolkit for the gin industry.
In doing so, The Gin Guild has joined a hall of fame that includes previous winners Diageo for Guinness (2024) and Clonakilty Irish Whiskey (2023), triumphing in a highly competitive category that celebrates the most effective sustainability-led marketing in the global drinks sector.
Launched on Earth Day in April 2025, and in response to the drinks industry accounting for 3.8% of global carbon emissions, the #TenGreenBottles campaign uses the familiar nursery rhyme as a metaphor to highlight the shared responsibility of all distillers: if one “green bottle” falls, the impact is felt across the entire category.
The Gin Guild, an international membership body established in 2012, created the campaign to introduce its Sustainability Toolkit, the first evidence-led guide designed to help gin distillers of every scale operate more sustainably.
Dr Anne Brock, Master Distiller for Bombay Sapphire and a key contributor to the Sustainability Toolkit, said: “The #TenGreenBottles campaign showed what can happen when our industry comes together around a shared goal. It’s been inspiring to see distillers of every size engaging with the Sustainability Toolkit and taking real steps to reduce their impact. This award isn’t just a recognition of a campaign, it’s proof that collaboration and creativity can drive genuine change across the global gin community.”
Judging for the award was conducted by an independent panel assembled by Global Drinks Intel, comprising experienced ESG and sustainability specialists and senior trade editors from across the global drinks industry. They hailed The Gin Guild’s entry as “exceptional” with “excellent results on a limited budget”, highlighting its wide reach and success in “encouraging the whole industry to operate to a higher standard and share best practice.”
Charles Maxwell of Thames Distillers is a founding director of The Gin Guild and its newly appointed Grand Rectifier. He said: “The #TenGreenBottles campaign is a great concept. It helps us grasp an important message on sustainability. As a tenth-generation distiller, with the eleventh working alongside me and the twelfth still in single digits, it’s a reminder that what we do now, as a collective, affects the living and means of our future generations.
“Sustainability is a huge subject – it’s not just about what’s in the bottle, but the entire process behind it. The toolkit gives everyone a place to start, whether you’re a small distiller or an international company.”
The campaign’s strategy combined emotional storytelling and impactive design with data-driven insights from extensive research among distillers, consumers, and stakeholders. It was delivered through a series of social media posts over six weeks, each tackling a key sustainability theme. Each post translated statistics into relatable and shareable content (e.g. Saving enough emissions to drive ten buses from London to Edinburgh) with a call to explore actionable Toolkit guidance.
Despite a modest budget, the campaign achieved exceptional reach:
- 46 pieces of earned trade coverage
- 198,000+ LinkedIn impressions and 43,000+ Facebook/Instagram reach
- Toolkit downloads exceeding target by 40% Behavioural change among
- member distilleries adopting Toolkit actions
Pal Gleed, Director General of The Gin Guild, which now has over 600 members from more than 30 countries, said: “The Ten Green Bottles campaign reflects what The Gin Guild stands for – bringing gin distillers and industry leaders together to make a difference. That shared commitment is never more important than in advancing sustainable practice. We’re proud of this campaign and the impact it’s had, and it’s an honour to see our work recognised on an international stage.”