Heineken is betting on particular limited-edition tennis-themed cans to drive extra gross sales of its non-alcoholic beer throughout the U.S. Open tennis event.
Final 12 months, the limited-edition cans — known as Heineken’s 0.0 L0ve.L0ve cans — bought out throughout the first week of the U.S. Open, the place they have been bought completely. In flip, on-site NA gross sales on the event for Heineken grew 25% over 2023. Now the beer large needs to carry that buzz outdoors the stadium and onto retail cabinets for at-home tennis followers — the limited-edition can will likely be bought at retail nationwide over the approaching weeks. It’s going to additionally nonetheless be out there all through the grounds of the U.S. Open, which takes place from Aug. 18 to Sept. 8.
The L0ve.L0ve version’s marketing campaign additionally comes at a time when Heineken is rising its deal with capturing an even bigger NA beer market share within the U.S. Heineken 0.0 is at the moment the top-selling NA beer globally. In keeping with Nielsen information, the model skilled 25.2% gross sales progress in 2024, on high of 32.3% in 2023. Heineken’s 0.0 beer has grown considerably in the previous couple of years. Since 2021, Heineken says 0.0 has bought over 11.2 million instances.
Maggie Timoney, president and CEO of Heineken USA, informed Trendy Retail it took the corporate a long time to good its 0.0 beer, which first launched in 2017 in Europe and in 2019 within the U.S. Now that it has been scaled globally, Heineken’s USA division needs to develop it by reaching extra folks by way of cultural moments.
The identify is a nod to what’s generally known as a “love-all” in tennis, or a 0-0 rating amongst two gamers. The can was first made out there completely on-site finally 12 months’s U.S. Open, however this 12 months, retail availability helps carry the Love marketing campaign outdoors of the tennis environment in New York, permitting extra followers to buy these limited-edition cans.
“We’ve been a sponsor of the U.S. Open for over three a long time,” Timoney mentioned. Outdoors of the limited-edition cans, Heineken 0.0. has been bought at U.S. Open matches for the final 5 years. “It is a enormous sponsorship that’s not simply on a nationwide platform in america, it’s a world occasion.”
Timoney mentioned sampling is the simplest strategy to introduce folks to Heineken 0.0, with repeat buy charges at the moment at about 44%. That’s a giant motivator for Heineken to dedicate extra advert {dollars} and advertising initiatives to 0.0.
Timoney mentioned, final 12 months, the concept for the L0ve.L0ve got here up proper earlier than the matches, so the corporate wasn’t ready for the excessive demand all through the two-week event. “The availability was the principle problem, and we ran out of inventory the primary week,” Timoney mentioned.
This 12 months, Timoney mentioned, Heineken labored forward of time to safe stock distribution for the event, in addition to the corporate’s retail companions. These embody main grocery chains and unbiased shops. “This 12 months, we had time to do an entire retail program and current it to retailers late final 12 months, they usually’re actually enthusiastic about it,” Timoney mentioned.
The L0ve.L0ve marketing campaign throughout the U.S. Open is one instance amongst a number of methods Heineken is attempting to interrupt by means of with its nonalcoholic choices throughout cultural moments. “It’s one other strategy to activate and shine the highlight on Heineken 0.0,” Timoney mentioned. “We have been additionally at Coachella this 12 months, the place Heineken 0.0 was up 125.5% over the prior 12 months.” The 0.0 beer was additionally featured prominently within the “F1” movie this summer time.
Being a nonalcoholic product opens up doorways for advertising alternatives in public areas. Relying on the area, it’s typically tough to supply free alcoholic samples. NA beer has allowed Heineken to discover extra activations, which Timoney mentioned is necessary to changing clients.
To help the U.S. Open L0ve.L0ve cans, Heineken is doing a Grand Central Station takeover throughout the event, from Aug. 24 to Sept. 7. The takeover can even embody out-of-home advertisements all through the station and appearances by influencer companions to market it. The corporate can even hand out L0ve.L0ve beer cans at a number of places all through Grand Central, together with the Graybar Passage close to Observe 17 and the eating concourse. Timoney mentioned many match attendees get to the Queens stadiums by way of the well-known transit hub, making it splendid for a sampling activation. “We’re making the commuters’ life a bit extra refreshing by handing it out in a really distinctive means,” she mentioned.
However advertising is only one a part of the equation to drive extra NA gross sales. Heineken is among the brewers that has invested in bettering the standard of non-alcoholic beers over time. The rise in improved recipes and selection has attracted people who find themselves fascinated with chopping again on alcohol with out sacrificing style. In flip, NA beer choices have gotten extra outstanding on menus, as they now attraction to a wider viewers.
“It took 20 years for our grasp brewers to crack the style of a non-alcoholic beer that may be a part of a life-style of various events,” Timoney defined. Twenty years in the past, Timoney mentioned, the non-alcoholic beer off-premise beer market within the U.S. was about 0.4%. “We are actually at about 1.3%,” she mentioned. “We see now that 90% of consumers who purchase alcohol additionally purchase a non-alcoholic beer.”
In keeping with a January 2025 Beer Institute survey, 60% of Individuals see low- and non-alcoholic beer as viable alternate options for long-term moderation, a 2% enhance over 2024.
Beer can be main the class over different NA choices, with 22% of respondents preferring non-alcoholic beer over different NA drinks. In the meantime, 10% favor NA liquor and 13% favor NA wine. Nonalcoholic beer gross sales are additionally starting to eclipse some conventional beer varieties, most not too long ago surpassing ale beer by quantity.
Oren Bitan, chair of Buchalter’s wine, beer and spirits business legislation group, mentioned that NA beer is a “shiny spot” within the declining beer market.
“It makes good sense {that a} huge provider like Heineken would double down within the house and attempt to seize a few of that market share,” Bitan mentioned. On-premise advertising at leisure and sporting occasions is a significant alternative for trial, he continued.
“On premise, extra folks need to have a drink of their hand that’s not essentially alcoholic,” Bittan mentioned. “NA beer nonetheless has that social ingredient to it.”
Heineken USA is betting on these shifts in notion and drinkers’ conduct to drive extra trials of Heineken 0.0. Timoney mentioned that the corporate will proceed to supply its authentic beers at these occasions, however needs to advertise 0.0 as an extra possibility.
“What we need to do is to make moderation cool,” Timoney mentioned, “whether or not you drink alcohol otherwise you don’t drink alcohol.”
