Recess, the functional beverage brand, is calling for an end to Dry January, the trend that sees consumers quit alcohol for the primary month of the 12 months to reset their health and wellness, per details shared with Marketing Dive. A brand new campaign, which launched the primary week of January, focuses on moderation and comes as other functional and nonalcoholic brands — including Athletic Brewing, Hopwtr and Seedlip — make renewed pitches to those abstaining from alcohol entirely.
“Every other alcohol alternative brand is going to say, ‘just drink me as an alternative of alcohol all month,’” Recess Founder and co-CEO, Ben Witte, said of the campaign’s origin. “Dry January has develop into the most important New Year’s resolution for thus many individuals, and like most New Year’s resolutions, most those who say they’re going to do it, don’t find yourself completing it.”
Central to the campaign is a full-page ad that ran within the New York Times on Jan. 11, timed to the weekend of Quitter’s Day, when many individuals surrender on their New Year’s resolutions. The ad takes the shape of a manifesto by Witte that maintains, “You’re not broken. You don’t need a brand new you,” and positions Recess as an “antidote to modern times.”
“It’s not obviously political, but I believe everyone wants moderation in all facets of life lately,” Witte said of the manifesto. “We live in a world of extremes straight away — extreme change, extreme politics — and I believe what individuals are in search of is balance, moderation and equilibrium. Having a brand that stands for that and helps lead you there is what we’re attempting to do.”
The effort was created in partnership between Recess’ in-house marketing team and agency Better Half, which worked with Equinox in 2023 on a similarly iconoclastic campaign, “We Don’t Speak January.”
All things in moderation
Along with a Quitter’s Day event on Jan. 9 at The Snow Lodge in Aspen, Colorado, that featured a sponsored DJ set by Hugel, the campaign includes an owned media push, influencer partnerships and traditional and digital out-of-home promoting. The media approach is meant to be moderate, in keeping with the campaign’s tone.
“I have a look at the campaign as more of putting a stake in the bottom with what our positioning is as a moderation brand. I don’t have a look at this as a large national campaign,” Witte said.
Recess launched in 2018 with a line of sparkling waters infused with hemp extract and adaptogens and packaged in pastel-colored cans aimed toward soothing stressed-out millennials. The company has since shifted focus from CBD-infused beverages to additional lines, including functional Recess Mood beverages and Recess Zero Proof craft mocktails.
The brand’s chief use cases have been acting as a night substitute for a glass of wine, as a drink between drinks or as an alcohol alternative while socializing, Witte explained. Those occasions align with drinking trends driven by younger consumers who’re imbibing less often. The shift — while less important than total abstinence — is still having a large effect on the alcohol industry.
“I don’t like this term sober-curious, because I believe while there are more people [who] are usually not drinking in any respect … the most important trend is around moderation, not elimination,” Witte said. “This whole conversation on the ‘death of alcohol’ is dramatically overstated, even amongst Gen Z.”
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