Heineken USA closed its NDC (natl distrib conference) with a no-alcohol bang.  It’s going natl across the US Jan 1 with Heineken 0.0, its biggest new product launch in US since Heineken Light back in mid-2000s.  “We are going to change the game,” said cmo Jonnie Cahill, promising “it’s like nothing else in the market.” Heineken launched this new, improved-tasting NA in Spain in May 2017 as CNBC article noted.  And it’s already in 30 countries, getting between 5-20% of brand Heineken volume in a number of mkts. It’s positioned as “beer without alcohol” said Jonnie at NDC, for “beer drinkers who love beer… but sometimes just don’t want the alcohol.”

Heineken 0.0 will be priced the same as Heineken. “It is Heineken,” said Jonnie, and there “is no reason to discount the world’s most iconic beer brand…. It’s a credible premium offering. And it’s worth the money.” What’s more, it’s “entirely complimentary. We don’t see cannibalization.”  It’s an “and, and” strategy, not either/or. To further entice distribs to get behind brand, Jonnie noted “no excise” tax on brand. And HUSA will share the benefits of that, 50 cents per case to distribs, 50 cents per case to retailers. On top of it, Heineken will provide major marketing support behind the brand.  “We are all in” on Heineken 0.0, promised Jonnie. “We will unleash the media,” he added, and “we’re going to blow your socks off.”

The non-alc segment has long been stagnant/declining in US, at about 12 mil cases figures HUSA.  “But we’re going to double the segment by doing it differently,” predicted Jonnie. HUSA targeting 5% of US Heineken volume for Heineken 0.0 by 2023.  That would be about 2.5 mil cases. “This will be good for the mother brand, I promise you,” closed Jonnie. "I can't say where for sure this turns out, but I can say for us this isn't a January to March go," Jonnie told CNBC. "We believe the consumer's ready. We believe this is good for beer, and we're going to go for it. So I don't see us blinking anytime soon."

How has NA beer fared in US? Never easy to get precise number of NA bbls in US, but our data, combined with scan trends, suggest NA mkt cut in half last 20 yrs, dropping from approx 1.8 mil bbls in 1997 (already down from peak of 2.4 mil bbls in early 90s) to 1.2 mil bbls in 2007 and just 900K bbls last yr.  Import NA biz held even around 150K bbls annually over last 2 decades, but AB’s O’Doul’s shrank by more than half, ditto other domestic entries. For 52 wks thru Sep 9, IRI reported volume of just 4.4 mil cases in MULC, 0.3 share of volume and $$. Down 2.3%. In past, NA beers suffered from their taste reputation and offer of no (alcohol) bang for same or premium buck. Unbelievable plethora of non-alc bev options another impediment to sustained growth in past.  Will new generation of NA beers, led by 0.0, jump start another round of growth?