5 Tips for Building Your Brand in the No-Alcohol Beverage Market

Jan 29

**Photo credit:** Heather Hodson-Neufeld

Dry January, as it’s known to anyone who swears off alcohol for the first month of the year, seems like the perfect time to talk about the growing market for no- and low-alcohol beverages and the opportunities within it.

The NA beverage market first drew our attention last year when our client, Barnside Brewing Co. – a farm-based craft brewery in Ladner, BC – released its first entry into the NA market. Road Pop is a sparkling hop water that delivers a refreshing hit of hops and citrus. It scratches the itch for a non-alcoholic drink with depth that also offers healthy lifestyle benefits – from hydration to zero calories, gluten, sugar, or alcohol. The beverage was a delicious way for Barnside to diversify its offerings and enter an expanding market, without investing heavily in new equipment or processes.

No- and low-alcohol beverages are a growing market

Choices for no-alcohol wines, cider, beer, and mocktails have been steadily increasing over the past few years. The market used to hold few options for people who wanted a high-quality, non-alcoholic drink with an interesting flavour profile – one that felt more “adult” than a glass of pop, and made them feel included in a night out with friends at their local brewery or bar.

Consumers are choosing NA options for a range of reasons, and Millennials and Gen Z – who are drinking less than previous generations – are leading the charge. Statistics Canada reports that alcohol sales declined in volume by 1.2% in 2022, the first decline since 2015 and the largest in over a decade.

At the same time, according to Statistica, the NA beer market is expected to grow annually by 5.65% until 2028. For some craft beer brewers, it offers a lifeline as they face pandemic loan repayments in early 2024, rising costs, and changing drinking habits.

If you’re an alcoholic beverage maker looking to diversify, or someone starting from scratch, we offer five branding and marketing tips that address the opportunities and challenges in getting your NA beverage onto grocery store shelves.

1. Learn what your target market is looking for in a NA beverage

If you’re already established in the alcoholic beverage market, don’t assume you know everything about who will be drinking your new product and why. While some of your current drinkers will be choosing your NA option based on existing brand loyalty, others will be standing in the beverage aisle at the grocery store and have no idea who you are, or what a NA beverage offers in terms of flavour and benefits. Young markets come with challenges, and one of those is consumer education.

At the liquor store, your product is in a familiar environment that offers context for your product. The consumer’s brain is toggling between alcoholic and non-alcoholic choices, and may even see them as complimentary purchases. But in the grocery store, you’re in a completely different environment and competing in the much larger category of “something to drink”. You need to know where your product fits in the competitive landscape, and what your unique offer is.

It’s important to know why your potential buyers would choose a no- or low-alcohol option. Are they cutting back on calories? Cutting out alcohol? Searching for added health benefits? Looking for a way to feel included in a social event featuring alcohol, but needing to drive, or wanting to avoid a hangover?

It’s also important to know what experience buyers are looking for from your product. What flavour profiles and mouthfeel are they looking for? Where are they drinking? What are their expectations around packaging? Do they want the convenience and portability of a can, or the premium feel of a glass container?

Statistics show that most buyers aren’t cutting out alcohol completely, but looking to moderate their intake – they switch between alcoholic and non-alcoholic options as required. Learn as much as you can about your market and make sure your packaging and advertising reflects their needs.

2. Produce a high-quality product

One of the biggest challenges in convincing consumers to try a NA beverage is the perception that its taste will be inferior to its alcoholic counterpart and – at one time – this was likely to be true.

But in the NA craft beer industry, for example, new methods and advances in technology have made it possible to remove the alcohol without sacrificing on flavour. As a producer, it’s important to focus on using high-quality ingredients and processes to create a product that tastes great from the first sip.

NA beverages tend to be more expensive than the soft drinks, energy drinks, or sport drinks that may be next to them on the grocery store shelf – which all have flavour profiles consumers know and like. Producers need to woo potential buyers with a product, design and marketing that says “trust me, this is going to be a high-quality experience”.

3. Create a compelling and confident brand identity

Once you know who your target market is and what they want, how your offer meets their needs, and who you’re competing against, you can create a brand identity that will resonate with potential buyers. Your brand identity is the foundation on which you’ll design all of your major brand assets – from your logo to your packaging.

Successful brands in the NA market don’t position themselves as a second-place alternative to their alcoholic counterparts – there’s no sense that the buyer is sacrificing or settling. They confidently offer a flavour experience in their own right. In their brand stories, some focus on their health benefits, others on their provenance, process, or ingredients. Many offer sophisticated and elegant packaging that consumers would be proud to feature on their bar cart or bring to dinner.

4. Be innovative in your marketing

If you’re producing a NA beverage that would typically serve as a base for something like a mocktail, help your potential buyer along – don’t assume that they will know how to turn your product into a satisfying drink. Invest in recipe creation, host tastings, and consider creating a promotional campaign using local bartenders or influencers.

Even if your beverage type is familiar to users, like a no- or low-alcohol wine or craft beer, consider partnering with local chefs to suggest food pairings. It’s another move that can elevate the perception of the experience you offer.

For example, Libra NA beer partnered with musician Serena Ryder to promote their product while raising money for a good cause. On-trend products that send a healthy lifestyle message are perfect for influencer marketing.

5. Be prepared for the competitiveness of grocery store marketing

The NA market may be growing, but if you’re planning to sell your product beyond your brewery or distillery walls, getting onto grocery store shelves will require a different marketing campaign and distribution system than the ones you’re currently using for your alcoholic beverages. Make sure you have the resources.

Getting product onto retailers’ shelves has always been one of the biggest challenges of product marketing – shelf space is highly competitive. To date, independent grocers and specialty stores have been the most supportive of local NA beverage makers, but the managers and buyers at major grocery and drug store chains are beginning to see the value of this growing market – it’s a process of education.

Road Pop’s journey to the grocery store shelf

The owners of Barnside are savvy business people who know their marketing fundamentals. Before they launched Road Pop, they did their market research and ensured they had a high-quality product.

Road Pop leverages Barnside’s existing brand equity, staying true to its storytelling approach and local identity. The packaging is on brand for Barnside, but different from their regular line – it’s designed to stand out on a grocery store shelf and look like a sophisticated adult beverage. The health benefits are front and centre on the label, and include a nod to the sober-curious movement with the line, “Curious about switching it up once in a while?” Overall, the beverage’s brand story is about fun, freedom and adventure, rather than responsibility.

(FYI: Road Pop is one of our favourite label designs to date – learn more about our design process and the range of marketing collateral we designed to promote the new product.)

In 2023, Road Pop won “Outstanding New Product” at “From the Ground Up”, a BC industry tradeshow. The connections they made at the show helped them to widen their distribution network and take Road Pop from the tasting room to select grocery store shelves.

“Moving into the grocery sector was a unique challenge for us. Our entire business had been built around the production and marketing of unique craft beers, and while having a non alcoholic product was seamless on the production side, we quickly realized that the move into grocery would require several new hurdles. That said, the effort is worth it because of the broad distribution and our timing in being an early entrant in our specific category."
Ken Malenstyn, Barnside Brewing Co.

The NA beverage market offers challenges – along with room to rise

The no- and low-alcohol market is on the rise and, as a relatively young market, it offers both challenges and opportunities. Successful brands will be those who can break through perceptions around taste, offer the experience potential buyers are looking for, and use strategic branding, creative packaging and marketing to get onto – and then stand out on – store shelves.

If you’re looking for help branding and designing a NA beverage, we’d love to talk! Our Chief Brand Strategist, Angela McGregor, thrives on building new brands and helping businesses grow. You can get in touch with her at angela@indalmacreative.com.