In 2024, 41% of Americans planned to cut back on alcohol—a 34% jump from 2023. Among Gen Z, nearly two-thirds intended to drink less. NCSolutions’ (NCS) proprietary data confirmed this shift wasn’t a passing trend—it was gaining momentum. For our beverage brand clients, this presented a major opportunity to innovate in the alcohol-free space.
As a leader in consumer insights, NCS helps consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands, agencies, and media platforms make advertising more effective. Our marketing team continuously analyzes emerging trends to help our clients understand shifts in purchasing behavior. The sober curious movement was one such trend—one that might be reshaping the beverage industry.
The market for beverages was projected to reach $236 billion in revenue in 2024, according to Statista. Any shift in consumer habits has major implications for CPG manufacturers, and our proprietary purchase data showed just how fast this movement was accelerating. Dry January was taking hold, with alcohol sales dropping in January 2023.
Recognizing this shift, NCS teamed up with our agency partners to launch the Sober Curious Campaign—a marketing initiative designed to boost brand awareness and position NCS as a go-to source for beverage industry insights and boost online visibility. While this is a multi-year campaign, for the purpose of this entry we focused on our results and efforts in calendar year 2024. Through original research, data-driven storytelling, and a multi-channel marketing strategy, we didn’t just track the trend—we helped shape the conversation, turning a brainstorm into a viral campaign that exceeded expectations.
This rise in alcohol-free products was also referenced in beverage company annual reports. In 2022, AB InBev cited its no-alcohol beer portfolio as having double-digit growth in the past year. At the same time, companies like Diageo were scaling up products like Guinness 0.0, its nonalcoholic version of the iconic stout. This was the type of secondary research the NCS team reviewed when it began sifting through beverage industry research. How could team NCS validate and lead the conversation around this transformative shift in beverage consumption? We went to the source—the American consumer!
Working with two agencies, Feintuch Communications for PR and Digital Third Coast for search engine marketing and optimization, we designed a consumer sentiment survey that got to the heart of the developing sober curious trend. In January 2024, we published the results of a nationally representative survey of over 1,000 American adults aged 21+, consisting of 30+ questions. This primary research was coupled with NCS’s proprietary CPG purchase data. Together, these insights became the foundation for the Sober Curious campaign.
To maximize impact, we leveraged a multi-channel strategy:
A significant focus was placed on strengthening NCS’s online organic search presence to enhance domain authority. The comprehensive campaign budget was approximately $125,000. This budget spanned agency partnerships, internal resources, and execution costs.
The consumer survey and the subsequent marketing provided unique insights into the sober curious movement that weren’t previously widely available in the market. Some of the key execution tactics included:
One challenge we encountered was managing two agencies with overlapping tactical approaches. To ensure efficiency and avoid redundancy—such as multiple agencies reaching out to the same online media outlets—we established clear lines of responsibility and maintained open communication. This structure allowed both agencies to contribute fully without duplicating efforts.
The result? Our campaign exceeded expectations, capturing the attention of a nation rethinking its drinks.
Our Sober Curious Campaign may have been about zero-proof alcohol, but it delivered 200-proof results—surpassing KPIs and driving unexpected, positive business outcomes. The campaign was measured with Google Analytics, HubSpot, Salesforce, Cision, SEMrush and Ahrefs.
Media Impact – Captured 500 articles, including features in top outlets like The New York Times, CNN, Tasting Table, Craft Brewing Business, U.S. News & World Report, Forbes, Fox Business, and Convenience Store News. Media impressions skyrocketed 1,426%, reaching 6.2 billion in 2024. This significantly increased brand awareness and cemented NCS as a go-to source for beverage insights.
Search & Digital Growth – The campaign boosted domain authority by 14%, driven by 356 high-quality backlinks. Website traffic surged, bringing 16,000+ organic visitors and generating approximately 20,000 total sessions. LinkedIn campaigns also performed on par with the benchmarks, delivering 2,500+ clicks with a 0.57% CTR.
Client & Business Impact – The campaign drove real business results, with 60% revenue growth in 2024 among major beverage brands. CPG companies began to integrate NCS beverage insights about sober
curious into their own marketing strategies, reinforcing the NCS industry thought leader influence. Brands like Crystal Light, Athletic Brewing, and JetBlue notably leveraged our data in product launches and their promotional efforts related to nonalcholic beverages.
With strategic execution and impactful agency partnerships, the campaign exceeded expectations, evolving from consumer insights into a viral marketing program. With such fresh beverage perspectives, NCS is not just following the trend, we’re proud to be leading the conversation.
