Heineken Makes Long-Term Bet on Non-Alcoholic Beer

SPEAKER_1 (0:02)

Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.

SPEAKER_2 (0:08)

You're listening to Bloomberg Businessweek with Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec on Bloomberg Radio.

Tim Stenovec (0:16)

Some good news and bad news for the makers of alcoholic beverages. The bad news is that US consumption of alcoholic beverages is at historic lows right now. The good news though, is that appears to have stabilized. According to a Gallup poll released last month, we've seen the way that lower drinking rates have led to falling sales and stock market declines in recent years for companies, including Brown Foreman, Molson Coors and Boston Beer. The question, Molly, is what is the US CEO of one of the largest beer companies in the world to do?

The answer, it seems, is really lean into non-alcoholic beer.

Carol Massar (0:47)

That's right, Tim. That's why we've got right here with us Maggie Timoney. She is the president and CEO of Heineken USA. Maggie, thanks so much for joining us.

Maggie Timoney (0:54)

Thank you for having me.

Carol Massar (0:56)

Welcome back. How many US Opens have you been to now?

Maggie Timoney (1:01)

A lot.

Carol Massar (1:02)

A lot.

Maggie Timoney (1:02)

But not enough because it's such a fabulous New York experience and a global event.

Carol Massar (1:06)

It's never enough. Never enough. We were counting, we were keeping track of ours yesterday, but we don't want to date ourselves.

SPEAKER_2 (1:12)

No, not at all.

Tim Stenovec (1:13)

It does seem like Heineken has been a staple of the US Open for 30 years at this point.

Carol Massar (1:18)

Yes.

Tim Stenovec (1:19)

But the last few years, something different has happened from a marketing perspective. I've noticed it and you're talking about it today, and we have the beer in front of us. It's the leaning into the zero zero. So talk to us a little bit about the opportunity there that you see and also what you've been able to accomplish so far.

Maggie Timoney (1:34)

So we've been a partner of the USTA for 34, if you can believe it, dating ourselves 34 years.

And it's such an important partnership for us because we get a chance here. I think it was over a million people that came through the grounds last year to sample products. And this is the third year in a row that we have now had Heineken zero zero at the heart of our partnership with the USTA. And we've sampled people around the grounds and they just fell in love with the brand. And so this year we said, let's bring it back and let's do something a little bit different.

Serena Williams is a global Heineken zero zero partner. And what we did was something very unique with her. We collaborated with her and she won six US Open Championships. And if you look at the cans here on your screen, everyone, you will see that we gave a nod to the artwork on the tickets that were there that year that she won. And if you could produce that actual stub, I mean, the young people of today, they don't have stubs, right? Everything's electronic. But people save the stubs from their favorite event years ago. And people could enter to win and come and enjoy experiences, come to the Heineken suite if they could produce the actual stub. And these are limited edition cans. I urge you to go get some and try some because they will run out and are running out very quickly.

Carol Massar (2:46)

And these cans are also available on the alcoholic versions too, or is this just for the 00?

Maggie Timoney (2:50)

Just for because Serena is our global ambassador for Heineken

Carol Massar (2:54)

And I wanted to talk to you about that partnership with her because I think maybe one of Serena's better known partnerships now is for one of a GLP-1 brand. And I think for maybe, obviously, it's different maybe with a non-alcoholic brand of beer. But I think a lot of people still associate beer with maybe being not always the healthiest drink to have. So tell me about the juxtaposition of those two partnerships of hers together.

Maggie Timoney (3:21)

Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, there's studies that show that people who are on GLP-1s also drink alcohol. They say, do they drink less alcohol or more alcohol? It's inconclusive. But if you want to have a beer with alcohol or without Heineken Zero Zero gives you the perfect choice.

We perfected the perfect Heineken Zero Zero liquid 20 years ago.

And we launched it in 2017, tested it in Europe, and now we're the number one brand globally. We're the number one brand by value in the United States. We're number one in the on trade. And it continues to grow. But when you look at consumers, even look at Gen Z, they're actually drinking now, the latest study shows, roughly the same as the adult population. And if they want to moderate, they have a choice. And if they don't want to moderate, they have another choice. So it's not like they're abstaining completely. They're just moderating or what we call zebra striping.