RTDs target the healthy living generation

New low-calorie ready to drink beverages hit the mark with the festivals crowd, but they’re still a form of alcohol being marketed to the heaviest drinkers in the population. By Brianna Mcilraith.

Holly McGrath and her partner Daniel Benoy are health-conscious, in their mid-20s, and also enjoy a beverage or two with mates on the weekend.

But there was nothing lowsugar they could get their hands on at the liquor store.

‘‘We were at the age where we were partying a lot but also starting to become aware about nutrition and the impact it has on your body,’’ McGrath said.

‘‘It was a need we had, and we were reaching for a product like this on the shelves that just wasn’t there at the time.’’

So they decided to create the product themselves, and launched Clean Collective in 2017, a ready to drink (RTD) beverage with no sugar, carbohydrates or preservatives, but with natural ingredients.

They sold 30,000 bottles in the first two weeks of launching and a million in the first year.

Two years later McGrath launched Rinse, a vodka RTD, which targeted a younger demographic than Clean Collective.

‘‘We wanted to give people the option to still have a balanced lifestyle and enjoy healthy eating through the week, but when they were drinking and reaching for something it wasn’t horrendously bad,’’ she said.

Both Clean Collective and Rinse became the go-to drink at New Year’s music festival Rhythm and Vines, where they sold 230,000 cans and ran out at 6pm on New Year’s Eve.

They would bring more stock this time, expecting to sell about 6 million drinks across both brands, McGrath said.

‘‘We are the target demographic, so we’re able to embody who we’re trying to sell the product to,’’ she said.

DB Breweries, which makes New Zealand’s biggest beer brands including Heineken and Tui, followed the trend by launched its ‘‘better for you’’ RTD brand.

‘‘Odd Company was launched in February 2019, to tap into a number of growing trends and to meet consumers’ changing tastes,’’ DB marketing director Fraser Shrimpton said.

The consumption of alcohol in general was in decline, and the next generation was leading the charge, he said.

‘‘People in the 18 to 45-yearold age group especially are making more conscious decisions about what they consume,’’ Shrimpton said.

‘‘Many of these consumers are seeking premium beverages which are often vodka and sparkling water-based, lower in sugar and calories, lightly and naturally flavoured, in convenient can formats.’’

Friends Nick Marshall, Mat Croad, Anna Reeve and Jay Reeve put their heads together during the ‘‘better for you’’ movement, and came up with their RTDs, Pals.

They initially started off in the wine business, but were struggling financially, so instead moved into RTDs.

The pastel-coloured cans were all about spending time with your pals while enjoying a drink that was a little better for your waistline, Marshall said.

‘‘We started with a bunch of mates, and we wanted people not to think about it in respect to the drink, more about the memories you make when having a couple of drinks with your friends.’’

Since launching in October 2019, the brand had grown significantly, launching two new flavours and expanding to Australia.

Despite Marshall saying they were ‘‘just trying to keep our heads above water at the moment’’, some Pals drinkers have had the brand tattooed on their skin.

‘‘We’ve certainly never encouraged anyone to get a tattoo of our brand. But we’re humbled people would do so,’’ Marshall said.

The move into the RTD business could not have come at a better time for Pals, he said.

‘‘The beer, wine and cider guys have dominated for a long time, and this shift to the ‘better for you’ RTDs has been something we’re grateful for.

‘‘There’s going to be a lot more competition, that’s for sure.’’

Alcohol Healthwatch executive director Dr Nicki Jackson said New Zealand-made RTDs were the alcohol industry’s response to the preferences of Generation Z’s and millennials, who were more health-conscious.

‘‘Over the past few years we have seen a rapid growth in the so-called ‘clean RTD’, with a host of unique flavours that appeal to this generation,’’ she said.

But she warned that despite the brands being almost sugarfree, they were hiding behind the ‘‘health halo’’ of still being an alcoholic beverage.

Jackson said she was concerned about the package size, as most come in boxes of 10, and the marketing strategy behind the brands.

‘‘With so much advertising being targeted at young adults, who are already our heaviest drinkers, it makes it incredibly hard for a young person to cut down their drinking or be alcohol-free,’’ she said.