Lucky Saint has never just seen itself as a “secondary or less than variant” of beer. Instead, despite being a relatively young brand, it has ambitions for its category to reach far beyond the occasions that traditional alcoholic beer brands occupy.

“We are aiming to build a brand that people feel really proud to drink, that they don’t feel like this is a compromise or is the zero version of the real thing,” marketing and ecommerce director of the brand Kerttu Inkeroinen tells Marketing Week.

From the brand’s beginning in 2018, this focus and pride in alcohol-free beer has been central. At this stage and for the first five years of the brand, Lucky Saint had just one product, its core lager.

But in recent years, the brand has expanded its range. Today (30 September) it has launched Weissbier (wheat beer), which is Lucky Saint’s fourth product, joining lemon lager, IPA and its original lager as part of its range.

Growing the alcohol-free beer category has been the central motivation for the introduction of each new product, notes Inkeroinen.

We are not just trying to grow our share within the category; we want to grow the category itself.

Kerttu Inkeroinen, Lucky Saint

“The reason for adding innovation in the last couple of years has been really looking into how we can actually grow the category itself,” she says. “So, we are not just trying to grow our share within the category; we want to grow the category itself.”

Growing the category requires bringing new people into, or expanding the occasions it’s relevant to, and, therefore, any new products Lucky Saint introduces is aimed at that.

IPA was the brand’s first innovation, which Inkeroinen calls a “natural expansion” for the business to capture more of the craft beer market.

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Then, earlier this year, the brand launched lemon lager. Lucky Saint was initially developed in Germany and takes much of its inspiration from the country’s beer. Radlers (or shandies here in the UK) are very popular in Germany and served as an inspiration for the lemon lager.

With its refreshing and lighter taste, the product has proved incremental for the brand, and indeed for the category itself.

“[The lemon lager product] over-indexes in things like lunch occasions, barbecues, where you might not have alcohol-free beer otherwise, so it’s stretching into those occasions, and also reaching people who might not be beer drinkers otherwise,” says Inkeroinen.

Looking for white space

The Weissbeer product again harks back to Lucky Saint’s German roots, with the white, wheat beer being traditional in Germany. Lucky Saint is producing 500ml bottles of the product, with Inkeroinen stating that the brand intends for it to serve the sharing occasion.

While there are some great options for alcohol-free wine emerging, there is still something of a “gap in the market” on what beverage to accompany dinner when consumers want something elevated but still alcohol-free, she says.

When it comes to driving innovation, this is how Lucky Saint approaches it. Rather than necessarily looking to create a specific product type, it looks to consumer needs and new areas.

“We think about where the white space is, and where there is, I guess, a problem we could solve with that product,” says Inkeroinen.

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Another way the business looks at innovation is by looking at consumer trends; for example, the growing trend towards fruit-flavours in the beer category.  A third way might be to seek out a new audience for the category.

“The overall business driver is, how do we lead in the category and grow the category itself? How do we find new growth areas within it?” she says.

Despite being relatively small compared to big brewers, Lucky Saint has seen significant success in the category. It recently broke into the top five low and no brands in the UK, according to Circana data, meaning it is sitting among the ranks of much bigger brands.

With Lucky Saint having grown 58% year-over-year (faster than any other brand in the top 20), its innovation strategy has been successful in propelling the brand forward. Inkeroinen particularly credits the lemon lager with driving growth over the last year.

The new product has thrived during the summer, opening the brand up to a new audience and growing the category as a whole.

Changing behaviours

Whether it’s lunchtime meal deals or partnering with half-marathons, Lucky Saint is able to play in spaces where alcoholic beer would be out of place.

While Lucky Saint will always use the taste of its products as its number one message, with the brand believing this will be the foremost driver of consumer choice, Inkeroinen says that it is also emphasising the position of the beer as a healthy choice.

Non-alcoholic beer is “low calorie, low sugar” and made from natural ingredients, she says, making it one of the healthiest soft drink options. People will probably initially pick up a Lucky Saint product because of its taste, she says, but the discovery that it represents a healthy option can help to build the brand into consumers’ habits and make it a more regular choice on different occasions for them.

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As part of its ambition to drive category growth, “changing behaviours” is crucial, says Inkeroinen. As a marketer, this presents an extremely exciting challenge versus just looking to compete against other brands, she notes.

“There’s £800m a year missed by venues in the UK because almost a quarter of customers just [get] tap water instead of being offered a low and no option,” she says. “So again, that is about not necessarily competing with other brands, but driving the category.”

To see more stories about how brands are facing into category challenges, read Marketing Week’s Good to Grow series.