The start of January opens the floodgates for campaigns revolving around various “New Year, New You” concepts, from marketers of fitness chains, dating apps, health food products and more. Beverage marketers for years have toyed with Dry January, the decade-old challenge that encourages consumers to abstain from alcohol in the primary month of the 12 months, in campaigns for brands each alcoholic and never.
This 12 months, nonalcoholic beer maker Athletic Brewing is remaking Dry January in its own image with an “Athletic January” campaign that maintains “there’s nothing dry about it.” The effort is informed by research cited by the brand that found nearly two-thirds (64%) of consumers claim to be moderating their alcohol consumption, with greater than a 3rd (36%) of U.S. drinkers planning to scale back or eliminate alcohol in January.
“The consumer is already very inclined, especially younger consumers, Gen Z and millennials, to be considering participating in a roundabout way, shape or form,” said CMO Andrew Katz. “What we’re attempting to do as Athletic is bring a bit of little bit of fun and joy to what’s otherwise a dreary begin to the 12 months.”
“Athletic January” builds off last 12 months’s “Ask for Athletic” campaign and is comprised of 15- and 30-second spots that feature bartenders, waiters and retailers presenting Athletic as the apparent selection in nonalcoholic beer. A multimillion-dollar media plan includes TV ads, out-of-home placements in key markets, streaming audio and podcasts ads, digital media and influencer endorsements — a full-funnel approach that helps the brand’s awareness efforts.
To help battle the stigma that also stays around nonalcoholic beer, Athletic puts a concentrate on “liquid to lips,” doing roughly one million samples annually to display how their number of brews is way closer to traditional beers than the nonalcoholic brews of yore. The recent campaign will include a sampling component at lots of of activations, retail samplings and community events across North America and the U.K., plus an “Ask For Athletic Week” effort that doles out rebates at select locations to supply consumers a no-risk trial.
“We need to simplify life for consumers in order that they don’t seem to be asking, ‘Do you’ve got any great NA beer?,’ it’s just, ‘Ask for Athletic,’” Katz said. “With our increase in distribution and availability, it’s rather more likely consumers will come across us, whether it’s at retail or on premise.”
Netflix and chill
Athletic’s recent campaign looks to construct on the brand’s rapid growth. Since its 2017 founding, it has grown to a top 20 U.S. brewery and now holds a few fifth of market share within the nonalcoholic beer category, per details provided by the corporate. That growth has been aided each by consumer behavior changes towards no-and-low-alcohol beverages and its culture-facing marketing efforts.
Athletic in November launched its second limited-edition collaboration with Netflix, the hazy Marine Odyssey IPA inspired by the streaming platform’s Barack Obama-narrated documentary series “Our Oceans.” The recent beer was tied to the brand’s Two For The Trails environmental grant program that sees the corporate donate 2% of sales (as much as $2 million in a 12 months) to assist provide higher access to the outside.
The brewer-streamer partnership began in 2023 with the discharge of Geralt’s Gold, a helles lager inspired by Netflix’s fantasy series “The Witcher.”
“We did something decidedly less business this go around in an attempt to focus on a few of what we do as a brand, altruistically,” Katz explained.
Influence and validation
Athletic has also worked to attach with influencers and creators, partnerships which might be each inbound and outbound. The brand last 12 months collaborated with country singer Walker Hayes and teamed with influencers the Holderness Family around a “Holly Hangover” skit timed to the vacation period. The brand’s approach has been an intentional move away from the form of influencers that appear endemic to nonalcoholic beer.
“We’ve really tried to diversify from just the athlete and wellness community now into music to lifestyle to cooking,” Katz explained. “We’re really attempting to reach a broader audience than when the brand initially began.”
Since Athletic’s founding, its category has also seen the wide release of nonalcoholic beers from major competitors including Corona and Heineken; AB InBev is slated to release Michelob Ultra Zero this month. The brand sees the competition from the “big guys” as validation of its value proposition.
“The more those that they may help make aware of the category, the higher it’s for us… more individuals are coming down the aisle, seeing us on shelf and normalizing NA drinking as a part of their repertoire,” Katz said. “We’re not likely focused on the sober community — we’re very much a fan of you play it your way.”
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