Positive change

Learning No/Low lessons of 100% proof brand building

Julia Riddle - November 2024

Nine years ago this month Seedlip, the world’s first distilled non-alcoholic spirit, launched in Selfridges. Today, over 40 other brands have joined them along with countless wine and beer brands and line extensions. Sober drinking and the No/Low category has, ironically, gone from zero to 100% proof, worth over £300m annually and growing over 13% YOY¹.

Against a backdrop of ever-increasing competition for listings and supermarket shelf real estate, just how have brands managed to convert both shoppers and buyers? And what can other ‘no’ categories – more commonly known as Free-From – learn from their successes?

Here are four things you could consider building into your PR and communications campaigns:

1. Be for the curious not just the committed
Sober curiousness is on the rise, with a quarter of Brits planning on reducing their alcohol consumption in 20242. As a result, No/Low drinking has not just made it to the mainstream but is now actually commonplace. However where acceptance has been forthcoming for the drinks sector, Free-From still suffers with a bit of an image problem, being pigeon-holed as only for a small segment of the population.

In the same way that No/Low has embraced those dabbling in non-alcoholic drinking, consider how your brand can:

• Avoid trying to change people’s habits and, instead, tap into how people consume ‘regular’ counterparts.
• Show products being used in ways that feel more relatable to the curious, not just the committed.

2. Making things mindful
The mindful drinking movement has helped encourage mainstream conversations around exploring moderation and intentional drinking. This isn’t the same as advocating for removing alcohol completely. It’s a softer message that uses ‘nudge theory’ well. No/Low brands have seen the power of showing people how swapping some of their drinks into the category can have positive benefits ‘for me’.

In the food sector, whilst ‘meat free Monday’ is now long established, the now 15 year old message could benefit from reinvigorating. Why restrict yourself into one day a week? Alcohol free doesn’t. Would your potential customers react better to the concept of a more mindful approach?

3. Think well outside of your lane
No/Low brands regularly delight in turning up in surprising – sometimes even shocking – places. Promoting (0.0%) drink driving through motor sports partnerships, and even refreshing runners taking part in marathons. When it comes to these kinds of sports sponsorships, alcohol brands couldn’t get close. But No/Low brands know they can play where few else can, offering good old fashioned ‘surprise and delight’.

What can you do that conventional products can’t? Where can you show up that they couldn’t?

4. Let creative juices flow
As with any consumer PR campaign, there’s a lot of competition for cut-through. For shoppers who have specific dietary needs, it’s important to be clear that a product is safe for them, but some of the most successful No/Low campaigns focus more on brand building than labouring the point of their alcohol content. In fact, for many brands, campaigns actively focus on communicating that their drink should be seen as the best tasting in the bar. That it has no booze in it is very much secondary.

Taking a creative approach that really understands the behaviour of the shoppers who could be converted to your brand is essential here. Rather than focussing on reaching the low hanging fruit of existing category regulars, how can you attract shoppers who dabble? What are the tropes you could get creative with? And are there stereotypical behaviours you could disrupt?