Young hearts, run (alcohol) free? They sure do. Millennials and Gen Z are drinking in a more mindful way, consuming much less than generations before, or not at all. Yet, this isn’t just a passing trend. How do we know for sure? Well, sales for no-alcohol beers and spirits are through the roof and show no signs of losing momentum. 

Equally, all alcohol brands are working hard to evolve and diversify their range of alcohol-free beers and spirits, providing more options for this fast moving, ever-expanding market. The proof (sorry) is in the sales.

The million-dollar question… How to stand out amongst the competition within this high-growth industry? After many interesting conversations, we could simply conclude that highlighting the benefits of drinking less is the essential route. However, slick and innovative branding within this space is sure to set you apart.  

It’s also integral to switch the product mindset from substitute to upgrade. Back in the day, (that sounds dramatic, let’s say a couple of years ago) when people chose a low and no drink, others would see it as a substitute for the ‘real deal’ – luckily, perceptions have already changed and continue to evolve. Today, the message is about making a conscious and positive choice, without having to compromise on taste and quality. 

Millennials and Gen Z aren’t keen on drinking from Monday to Friday. Of course, this doesn’t mean they’re less social throughout the week, they simply want to drink less regularly. For many, a life controlled by alcohol is a path they actively swerve and are therefore extremely open to trying alternatives. Past pressures have conjured negative feelings, so now it’s all about respecting personal choices and the wishes of others. 

It’s also a health-conscious choice, understanding the impact that alcohol has on their body and mental health, particularly during the dreaded day after. Happily skipping the hangover, they don’t see boozing as ‘cool’ anymore, instead they’ve observed the side effects and are drinking in a more conscious way as a result. When they do fancy a refreshing tipple, they’re likely to opt for an alcohol-free G&T, because that feeling of not being able to move the next day (we’ve all been there) and wasting a precious weekend, no longer seems worth it. 

Social media also plays a leading role. Way back when, nights out weren’t as readily documented as they are now. Remember the days of a disposable camera in the club? Now it’s a stream of live videos and photos, constantly shared on all platforms for the world to see, including family and potential employers – eek. Finding out the hard way that some things are best kept off the internet, isn’t so much fun.

Onto the next pivotal question. How to nail a relevant tone of voice that remains authentic within the world of social media? With an endless abundance of content, we receive a constant stream of content choices to consume, across a myriad of platforms. After some more research, we discovered that during 2020 (keeping in mind many of us were working from home) every minute there were:

• 319 new users gained on Twitter

• Netflix users streamed 404,444 hours of content

• Consumers spent one million dollars online

• Instagram business owners saw 138,889 clicks per minute

• Facebook users shared 150,000 messages (Source: Domo, 2020)

Alongside this data, users usually take, on average, 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds) to form an opinion on the website of your brand. So, what do we learn from this? First impressions matter and you have a minimal timeframe to make a good one. Once you’ve grabbed their attention, how do you make sure they stick around? Well, we’ll give you the answer - ensure your brand’s tone of voice is memorable and unique. 

Tone of voice is important in every aspect and is constantly relevant when creating any piece of social channel content or communication with your audience. It reflects brand personality, helps to build a community and makes core connections with your audience. As a no and low brand, do you lead with alcohol %, the brand itself, or an element that will really land with your audience’s lifestyle choices? In short, tone of voice builds connection, trust, increased company revenue and most importantly, it creates a memorable image of your brand. 

The meaning of consistent tone of voice? Let’s answer that very quickly for you as well. When most people hear tone of voice, they imagine a spoken conversation. However, tone of voice stands for your brand values and personality. It really describes how your brand gets in touch with your consumers and so, how people view your messaging. To put it simply, it describes how we want to communicate to the audience, rather than what. This can be a challenge but with the right people, anything is possible. 

When successfully implemented, tone of voice can allow consumers to recognise your brand by seeing the content alone. Even when the logo or brand name aren’t visible within the content you create. Of course, the tone of voice may vary from time to time depending on:

• The audience you communicate with if you target more than one type

• The media that you use (keep in mind that content formats and lengths vary)

• The goal you want to achieve

Situational changes are sometimes necessary, but the overall tone of voice should always be consistent for every piece of content you push out into the world.

In the spirit of all things alcohol-free, we thought we’d give you some examples of the best 0% alcohol beers, low-calorie alternatives, and other non-alcoholic spirits out there – ranked in no particular order. Some of the amazing no/low brand leaders mentioned, took the time to give us insight into the industry, plus how to overcome the challenges by creating a true connection with their consumers. 

1. FUL drinks 

FUL was started by three friends, Julia, Sarah and Cristina, who met at business school in 2019. They came from very different backgrounds, but as a collective they had the same vision to take their idea and make a difference for the planet and our health. From sustainable concept to innovative beverage brand, they’ve created an amazing superfood drink, which gives you a boost of powerful, natural goodness, that’s also blue in colour - which we think is pretty damn cool! 

Why blue? Well, it’s created from spirulina, or as FUL’s team would describe it, “nature's richest superfood.” There are no added sugars, the drink contains less than 20 calories and is made from all-natural nutrition. Pleasingly, it looks like a cocktail when poured into a fancy glass, so it’s perfect for those evenings when you want an exciting drink, but also still want to be part of the mindful drinking movement that’s equally conscious about the environment. Plus, consuming a Ful drink boosts your health system – win, win!

“Spirulina is actually as old as life on earth. It has this fascinating origin story where its ancestors were some of the first living organisms on the planet and essentially converted all the CO2 swirling around in the atmosphere into the oxygen we breathe, which basically enabled other life forms to arise. There have been communities throughout history consuming spirulina, but it has always stayed as somewhat of a niche health item because of its taste. 

“Usually, you eat it in powder form or swallow as a pill. At FUL, we felt if we could get rid of that ‘bad’ taste, it would really allow more people to access its nutritional value. Of course, it also looks beautiful from a visual perspective because it's one of the only natural instances of this vibrant blue. The protein pigment complex called phycocyanin, is an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, so the blue colour that draws you in is actually highly functional! That’s where we saw a big opportunity, to kind of redefine what blue means in the health world.” - Julia Streuli, Co-Founder. 

2. Seedlip 

Seedlip was the first and original non-alcoholic spirit, garnering a lot of attention when it was only available in restaurants. Then, the drink began being sold directly to consumers via its popularity. Currently, they have three flavours of non-alcoholic gin to choose from. Definitely worth a try! 

3. Big Drop Brewing Co.

With standout packaging – we’re seriously impressed! No wonder they won Best Style at the World 2020 Beer Awards. Plus, the alcohol-free beer tastes great, too. We had the honour of trying Paradiso at our latest Paradise Live event and had a great chat with one of the Founders, James Kindred. He founded Big Drop Brewing Co. together with his old school friend, Rob Fink. Fun fact - they also used to play in bands together, what a duo. 

Big Drop is all for supporting and encouraging people to make healthy changes in their life, no matter the reason, whilst maintaining a healthy work-life balance. He gave us some amazing insight during the interview.

“Alcohol-free is not a weaker choice, alcohol-free is a viable choice for anyone who wants it,” said James. 

Big Drop Brewing Co. also made sure people could still have plenty of fun during lockdown by organising hugely popular pub quizzes on YouTube. 

“We had about 15,000 to 20,000 people playing live at one point and the live chat was going insane. We even ended up in GQ as one of the top 10 things to do during lockdown between Gary Barlow and David Attenborough. It was a really good and fun way to get people to take part in something during a difficult time.” - James Kindred, Co-Founder. 

Big Drop Brewing Co. are also mindful of the planet by brewing in territories. “We don't own our own brewery. This means we work with other brewers in different territories. So, we've got three breweries in the UK that we work with, and then for example in Australia, rather than ship all our beer over to Australia, we brew in territory in Australia. So, we brew in Melbourne with our brewing team there. Using local ingredients, we massively cut carbon emissions because we don't put a load of cans on a boat for eight weeks to ship them down to Australia to sell them there.

“We feel it's a standard thing that we do, but actually our standard is probably at a higher level of doing things or thinking about things than most big brands. With the whole brewing process and the carbon emission reduction from that, we’re really making an effort to make sure it's done right, and when we move into new territory, we look at how we can do that whilst making the lowest impact.”

4. Kin 

From Brooklyn beginnings, this brand was founded in 2017, with a mission to create a drink that still had the ability to de-stress and give that same warm, fuzzy sensation as alcoholic drinks. Mission accomplished. The Kin Spritz is without doubt our favourite from their range. 

5. TRIP 

TRIP was founded by Olivia and her husband, Dan, in 2019. They are now the UK's leading CBD wellness brand, so how did they start this journey? Back in 2018, Dan had an incredible recovery experience using CBD post-knee surgery. Within weeks, he was back on his feet, walking and dancing, crutches-free. Both Olivia and Dan were amazed and very moved by its positive effects, motivating their researching into the plant.  

Dan wasn’t the only one benefiting from CBD, it also helped Olivia with everyday stress after feeling burnout working as a lawyer. Their goal? To create a product that tasted as good as the calming effects they felt, ultimately bringing CBD to the mainstream. This led to both leaving their careers and achieving the end-goal they set for themselves. 

We picked Olivia’s brain and learned many interesting facts about CBD, including the positive influence it has on people and how you can use this as an alternative to calm your mind on a weekday, or the weekend! No booze needed for this one.

“There is no true health without good mental health. We're inspired by plant-powered wellbeing and the potential to create high-quality products that help people manage stress on their mind and body. With the events of the last year in particular, products to support your stress are finally becoming more mainstream. We wanted a CBD product that spoke to our brand values, but without finding anything available in the market, we decided to create something ourselves. Something accessible, inclusive and beautiful to sit in your handbag or on your desk, without the stigma attached to stress management.

 “We are motivated by the opportunity to help people feel great in everything we do - and are driven by the need to create the highest quality consumer products in a historically confusing category. Whether it’s a nationwide out of home marketing campaign, or an Instagram post talking openly about mental health, our customers look to us as the authoritative voice on being kind to your mind, and this impacts everything we do.

“I’m inspired by the shared stories from our community, how TRIP CBD has helped them manage everyday stress, to pain and sleep issues - as well as social anxiety. In particular, amongst women who have been underserved by traditional medical treatment have found ways to support their wellbeing and find immense relief. I can’t wait to continue creating products to help millions of people enjoy CBD’s natural benefits. We’re encouraging our community to take a TRIP to mark the positive, reclaim any negative connotations of cannabis and support conversations around mental wellbeing.” - Olivia, Co-Founder.

6. Three Spirit

Founded in London, this vegan and gluten-free drink is made in the UK, with blends created by plant scientists and bartenders. Sounds good to us, plus the names are equally pleasing. Try out the Social Elixir, Livener or Nightcap. 

7. Lervig No Worries

The name says it all. If you need an alcohol-free beer, don’t worry because Lervig has got your back. Similar to a pale ale, the drink tastes like a low ABV beer, thanks to the process that has been used to make it. 

“Alcohol-free beer is not just a choice anymore. The brewers have really cracked a code on both flavour and mouthfeel, which makes No Worries a great option and addition for your beer session. Previously, the standard of alcohol-free beer has only been lagers, which wasn’t a very inviting way to explore different styles of beer and breweries. With our No Worries series, we can test out new flavours and styles that fulfil our quest to make beer we want to drink ourselves, presenting exciting styles and flavours to our consumers that they can enjoy anytime, anywhere!” - Hans Ludvig Sletvik, Content Creator.

8. Punchy

 Always wanted to try out a booze-free punch? This might be the option for you. With peach, ginger and chai flavours, Punchy is the perfect alternative to take to parties. We also love the can design.

9. Drop Bear Brewing Co.

Drop Bear Brewing Co. started as an idea in the kitchen of Joelle Drummond and Sarah McNena, after noticing there weren’t that many alcohol-free craft beers available. Feeling inspired, they purchased ingredients from a little brewing shop, opened a YouTube account and gave brewing a go. They’re the first female-founded, alcohol-free beer company in the world, plus their products are vegan, gluten-free and low calorie to ensure everyone can enjoy it. Impressive! 

“I think accessibility is very important. A lot of people currently drinking low and no are into wellness, veganism and the green living movement. We've therefore made sure that our products are all vegan friendly. Many people have health conditions or are conscious of wanting a healthy lifestyle, so we've ensured our drinks are low calorie, low sugar and also gluten-free, because at the end of the day, we've been in a position where we haven't been able to access drinks with all of the above and wanted to create a great product that's accessible to every single person that might want it.” - Joelle Drummond, Co-Founder. 

 After gathering the interviews here, it’s been great to see how important sustainability is for these brands, with all being keen to make a positive impact on the world and pollute as little as possible. 

Let’s chat about another interesting trend that’s rising as fast as the no and low sector…

Another area worth covering is the hard seltzer and low-calorie drinks industry. If we don’t go for no and low, then this is the next best thing! We’ve loved seeing these drink brands at festivals and other events, giving people an alternative with fewer calories. When we look at numbers in this industry, we can see that 78% of 18 to 35-year-olds are more aware of the calories that are in their alcoholic drinks, meaning they are looking for alternatives that are a better fit with their lifestyle. This awareness is up more than 30% compared to 2012. 

As a result, low-cal alternatives are slowly making their mark within the UK and trying to follow the surge in no and low brands. This sector is steadily booming as more consumers understand and inform themselves about sugar, carbohydrate and fat content. 

10. High Water 

We recently spoke with some amazing brands who are doing extremely well in this sector, and of course we tried their highly recommended drinks. 

High Water came to life when Founder, Nick Britton, traded in 15 years at Danone Waters and Diageo to start his own business. After gaining extensive experience within the beverage industry, he thought, “I know booze, I know water and hard seltzers are basically boozy water,” said Nick Britton. 

He started the journey of High Water, in the midst of the pandemic, and has spent the past 18 months creating the ultimate hard seltzer.

“There's this real gap for a tasty, but lower calorie alternative alcoholic drink, and that's what a hard seltzer is. Do people want something tasty and delicious? Yes. So, one of the things from my perspective was if people are making this choice to choose a lower calorie drink, then I wanted to make sure that it was a liquid of the highest quality that they were drinking, without compromising on anything. High Water is made with natural flavours, triple distilled vodka, and Cotswold spring water. There are no preservatives, there are no sweeteners, we actually only sweeten our product with a small bit of fruit juice.

“High Water is about celebrating the best of life at the waters edge, whether being lucky enough to actually be there, or just enjoying the can designs and imagining you are there. “ - Nick Britton, Founder.

11. &SODA

When we came across &SODA, a vodka soda brand, we felt immediately intrigued. We were also fortunate enough to talk to the Brand Manager of &SODA, Hebe Howorth, who gave us some more information about this tasty drink that’s made from triple distilled vodka (one of the cleanest spirits you can get), sparkling water and natural fruit flavours. &SODA is also vegan, gluten-free and only contains 90 calories, which is pretty dreamy. 

You know exactly what you get with this drink, transparency is important to these guys, plus &SODA gives a super-simple, premium proposition to their consumers and looks sick design wise!

“At &SODA, one of our key brand pillars is creativity and collaboration. We're founded by designers. We want to promote and collaborate with young artists, makers, designers, and that's essentially our whole product. When you look at our can, it's quite unique compared to most alcoholic RTD’s. We thought it was very important to be completely inclusive and open to everyone, most RTD’s come in skinny cans and we wanted to create an agenda neutral one. Same goes for our logo, the ampersand is about inclusion and having everyone enjoy whatever they want to drink. 

“People nowadays, especially Gen Z and Millennials, want to see what a product is and get clear communication. They want to see brands who have a purpose, a story, with a clear message. &SODA is all about championing talent and creativity. We’ve worked with some amazing artists and have loads more in the pipeline for cool collaborations.” - Hebe Howorth, Brand Manager.

As the no and low and more health-focused, low calorie alcoholic drink landscape grows, it has never been more important for new and existing brands to put the consumers at the heart of all communications. 

As we’ve seen, there are many ways to champion the shift in trend and to tap into a demand for more healthy drinking that the younger audience is demanding – either by leading with a refreshing content angle, or by embedding their brand within this new experience and culture-led narrative.

To really capitalise on this movement and drive commercial success, Paradise believes brands need to clearly communicate their values, be bang in the centre of the culture, have stand-out creative and a well-developed tone of voice across all comms and content, to entertain their audience at all moments, channels and buying stages.