Bottoms Up, Partiers: Booze-Free Brand Says ‘Drink Like You Mean It’

People who rage late into the night aren’t usually the ones to rise early the next morning. And those who drink themselves silly aren’t often thinking about their health.

But a campaign from an alcohol alternative called Free Spirits says that those diametrically opposed actions can, in fact, go together. In its most significant marketing push to date, the young San Francisco-based brand debuts a long-form commercial with a provocative tagline: “Drink Like You Mean It.”

By using a phrase that would seem irresponsible if it came from Big Alcohol, Free Spirits aims to grab the attention of a range of consumers, from the fully sober to the sober curious. The message, though, is to imbibe intentionally, not overindulge.

“We’re talking about taking control of your life and your social life,” Milan Martin, Free Spirits CEO and founder, told Adweek. “You can drink more cocktails but less alcohol. It’s choice without compromise.”

The campaign, developed by the brand’s in-house creative team, tries to prove the point that the modern temperance movement can go hand-in-hand with a good time. And the ad concept is rooted in well-worn consumer behavior, Martin said.

“We go out for drinks with friends, we’re having a great time, and a few rounds later, we’re drunk, which for so many of us was never the intention,” Martin said. “Until recently, you had two choices in that situation: You could switch to water, soda or juice, or you could stop drinking anything. Both options, the world seemed to vote, were boring.”

Or rather than abruptly ending the night, Free Spirits suggests leaning into the non-alcoholic category, with its own no-ABV gin, bourbon, Milano and tequila as potential swap-outs for booze.

Poking at Big Liquor

The campaign, which will air digitally via paid ads and social, launches during Sober October, an increasingly popular challenge where drinkers abstain for the month or some part of it. It’s also timed to a new Free Spirits package redesign rolling out ahead of the busy holiday and pre-Dry January period.

The brand’s 90-second spot intends to empower consumers by showing a variety of festive situations that are enhanced, not hobbled, by non-alcoholic beverages, a category traditionally saddled with a wet blanket image.

Free Spirits also takes a poke at the entrenched liquor industry—and its pervasive advertising—for planting the notion in the collective consciousness that booze is required party fuel.

“For too long, the world has been working to convince us that alcohol needs to be the star player of a great social life, the guest of honor at every gathering. Without it—and a lot of it—we’re missing out,” says the ad’s narrator. “Let’s refuse to follow any kind of industry or societal expectations.”

In that context, “rage later” and “drink yourself silly” take on a purposely different meaning.

The ‘soberest generation’

The language and approach may appeal particularly to millennials and Gen Z, who are largely responsible for driving the NA trend, with the latter often referred to as “the soberest generation.”

Brands in the segment like Athletic Brewing, Surely, Proxies, Ritual, Seedlip and Starla are quickly expanding their distribution into groceries and other mainstream retailers, under the same roof with NA products from liquor behemoths such as Diageo and Heineken.

Young NA brands also are finding themselves invited to a number of unexpected places these days—the New York Mets’ Citi Field, AEG’s Coachella music festival and JetBlue airlines among them—as the category gains momentum.

Still a nascent segment—making up less than 1% of total alcohol sales—booze-free beverages logged $510 million in sales during the 52-week period ending July 29, 2023, a 31% increase over the previous year, per Nielsen IQ.

Sales of low- and no-alcohol drinks topped $11 billion in 10 global markets in 2022, a 7% year-over-year growth, per IWSR. The non-alcoholic category accounted for the lion’s share—90%—of that figure, with the researcher predicting double-digit growth in the U.S., Australia and Canada by 2026.

A recent study of Amazon data found that NA beer sales have increased by 30% over last year, spirits substitutes have surged by 48%, and NA wine and champagne have bumped up by 43%, per Jungle Scout. 

“There was a stigma for a lot of years,” Martin said. “But it’s becoming much more accepted and respected when people are drinking in a moderate way.”