Over the past decade, many health and fitness companies have evolved into complete lifestyle brands — local gyms have become studios with unique instructors and routines, sportswear has made its way from the locker to the wardrobe, and health food producers have unveiled entire nutritional lines designed to appeal to a range of dietary preferences. It’s a trend that’s been driven mainly by a generation of urban professionals who’ve refreshed their commitment to self-care, and it’s even influenced industries that traditionally wouldn’t have been considered to have a well-being angle to experiment with health-conscious products.
In 2017, Bill Shufelt, then a Wall Street trader, recognized a unique opportunity to bring the health revolution to one of those overlooked industries — craft beer. At the time, microbreweries had been growing at an astounding rate — according to the Brewers Association, between 2008 and 2014 the number of craft breweries in the U.S. more than doubled, driven by a consumer thirst to find and support local breweries that offered unique beverages. Shufelt wanted to align the artistry and quality of craft brewing with the healthy lifestyle trend. One year later, Athletic Brewing Company was launched, releasing its first product — a non-alcoholic, lower calorie beer designed for the modern, active adult.
For many, extended COVID lockdowns have reinforced the urgency for healthier choices that promote overall well-being — an area Athletic Brewing is all too familiar with. As part of our Office Hours Q&A series on @AmericanExpressBusiness on Instagram, we asked Shufelt to share his key perspective to help us understand how he’s pivoted the company to respond to the pandemic, and how he’s using his insight into the modern, health-focused consumer to keep his products top-of-mind for consumers across the nation.
Athletic Brewing is designed for the “modern, healthy, active adult,” and came from your personal desire to see a craft brewery-quality non-alcoholic beer. Given how the pandemic and social distancing has reinforced just how important self-care is, do you expect to see a trend towards non-alcoholic beer? Will that be part of your marketing plan going forward?
Everything we founded Athletic on still holds true, and trends we expected to see happen across decades are starting to happen across months. With so many fewer distractions, consumers are able to look inward and monitor their inputs and how it makes them feel, their habits, and the ultimate effects on performance. Alcohol really stands out as an unproductive element on this stage.
We're balancing between "new normal" and a resurgence plan if the world all of a sudden starts to look "normalish." We don't want to forget our original mission and true north in anything we do, just make adaptations to the current environment.
You mentioned you pivoted some of your disrupted resources (e.g., bar and restaurant sales reps) towards your direct-to-consumer (DTC) product. Were you able to find a spot for everyone in that pivot? In cases where you weren’t able to redirect say, a sales rep to work on the DTC product, how were you able to redefine what adding value meant for them and keep them focused on it?
Many of our sales team members are still performing their functions, just in reimagined ways - sending out postcards to accounts for leads, sending out physical samples in thoughtfully crafted boxes with information cards, or sampling outside of traditional places. Others are working on technology improvements for when the team returns to the field, building systems, or working on charitable or community work.
You also mentioned that normally, you’re at the finish line of marathons, connecting with the running community by pouring their first drinks after they finish races. How are you keeping the brand ethos alive through digital channels? How are you connecting with communities over digital channels and keeping the spirit and energy alive?
We are doing a ton of virtual races and workouts - and supporting our ambassador community to reach their communities and fans also (through free product or support in a number of forms). We're also doing smaller events, like handing out beers at lakes or stores rather than finish lines. And we're still planning ahead for when races are suddenly back, so that we don't get caught flat footed.
How are you thinking about the “new normal?” Are you actively starting to think about how to kickstart the momentum after the crisis, or is your future planning still restricted to just a few weeks or months at a time? If so, is there a moment you’re waiting for that might signal you’re ready to start long-term planning again?
We're balancing between "new normal" and a resurgence plan if the world all of a sudden starts to look "normalish." We don't want to forget our original mission and true north in anything we do, just make adaptations to the current environment.