1st BATCH OF FILES AVAILABLE NOW!

Leading NA beer brand Athletic is turbo charging its events biz in 2025 and beyond, landing a multi-year partnership with Live Nation to become "the official non-alcoholic beer partner" for over 100 concert venues and four major festivals across the US, co announced this morn. That includes "renowned locations" like Brooklyn Paramount, Shoreline Amphitheatre and The Gorge Amphitheatre, as well as big festivals Bonnaroo, BottleRock Napa Valley, Festival La Onda, and Two Step Inn. Athletic sponsored BottleRock last yr and has been sponsor of Hartford Amphitheater for a while, among other event-based initiatives. But partnership with Live Nation was "really more of a concerted effort for us to say, 'okay, let's take what we've been doing and then really kind of hypercharge this," CMO Andrew Katz told CBN. Co will do over 100 sampling events over the course of 2025, expecting to give away over 100K samples, Andrew and sr comms manager Chris Furnari highlighted. Live Nation partnership will be "anchoring our summer program," enabling Athletic to reach "millions of new consumers" while building on its connection to live music and filling a gap for concert goers seeking more NA options. Deal provides Athletic with "pouring rights and marketing rights in the NA [beer] category across 117 venues" and the four festivals, Andrew highlighted. "And we're working on some other ancillary deals to tack onto this one as well," making the Live Nation partnership "even bigger by the time summer rolls around," he hinted. Athletic will look to bring the partnership to life thru experiential mktg at venues with oppys to sample product, "participate in giveaways, snag limited-edition merch, and more." Asked if Live Nation presence could give Athletic a roadmap to "amplify" its roster of musician partnerships, Andrew responded that the "phenomenon" in consumption habits is very prevalent among artists, and that part of the deal with Live Nation also allows Athletic to have product in the green rooms and backstage. So ya never know if a musician might walk out on stage with a Run Wild or take a pic or video with the brand that's posted on social media, and what that might lead to next. So far, its most known music partnership is with Walker Hayes on the "Fancy" collab brand launched last yr, and Athletic has partnered with other artists like Trevor Hall, Dylan Francis, Julia Cole and Mitchell Ferguson, Andrew rattled off.Run Wild IPA and Free Wave hazy IPA 19.2oz cans will be the focus SKUs at these venues, said Andrew, acknowledging that "no one likes to go back to concessions more than they have to" at concerts. Those are Athletic's top 2 brands in tracked off-prem channels. And "we're certainly looking to add more to that 19.2 lineup as it makes sense for us," he noted. Co will offer a range of its most popular brews depending on the venue, from Run Wild to Upside Dawn golden ale, Free Wave, Athletic Lite and more. Draft is not part of its deal with Live Nation, Andrew acknowledged, "but there are venues where we are on draft already just preceding this deal." Co's still "testing and learning our way into that," and "draft continues to be something that our customers are asking us for."All in, "I think we continue to invest because we believe in the power of marketing," said Andrew. "I think the brands that spend behind their proposition generally outperform those who don't," he continued. And "we still are doing a tremendous amount of education" and "awareness building," as Athletic is "far from a household name yet." That's even as Athletic became the 37th largest beer brand family (5th largest craft family) and 19th largest beer supplier by $$ in tracked Circana multi-outlet + convenience data in the first 4 wks of 2025 thru Jan 26. It's already the largest NA beer brand family in the country at just about half the brand awareness of other category leaders, co pointed out. January was "really solid for us," Andrew commented, and "we continue to build on top of the successes we've had in previous Januaries." While Athletic is maintaining focus on its existing core, expanding its 12pk SKUs is co's biggest point of emphasis in 2025 "innovation."

Athletic Partners w/ Live Nation as Official NA Beer for 117 Live Music Venues & 4 Fests; 100+K Samples

Publishing Info