When Lisa King launched Curious AF in the US last year, giant retailers weren’t in her sights. Now, the Aotearoa brand is celebrating a deal that will distribute its alcohol-free products in 700 Target and 800 Walmart stores across the country.
The Curious AF bottle store, in Auckland’s Grey Lynn, is true to its name. Tucked away on the corner of Crummer Road and less than 500 metres from the nearest Glengarry Wines, it is everything a bottle shop is not.
Colourfully packaged drinks, an assortment of dried flowers and other delicate decorations beam down on passerbys from a vast window display. Inside, I’m met by Curious AF founder Lisa King and office dog Noodle.
Before we sit down to talk the details of AF’s major US deal, King takes me through a tasting – there are AF’s OG canned mocktails such as grapefruit magarita and apero spritz topped with a slice of dried orange. Plus newer products: sparkling rose, which smells distinctly like wine, and sparkling sake, delicate and flavoured with yuzu.
The bottle shop is a dream come true for this non-drinker, who has spent years sipping juice instead of alcohol
at events.
King says the idea for Curious AF came to her mind after having that same experience when she cut back on alcohol a few years ago.
Realising the range of non-alcoholic drinks while out at dinner or a bar was slim at best, she was determined to create something to give herself, and fellow Kiwis, more options.
The first 15 years of her career was spent working in FMCG, including in beverages, and this knowledge spurred her on to develop Curious AF – an “adult drink” that was alcohol free.
The result is a low-sugar canned brew that uses New Zealand botanical Afterglow, which gives a warmth similar to an alcoholic drink but with none of the aftereffects.
What’s the point?
“It was driven by: I wanted a gin and tonic without the alcohol,” King laughs.
“Drawing on my past experience of knowing how flavour technology and product development works, I just thought, ‘Well why not use that to create these amazing drinks that taste just like a gin and tonic?’”
Looking overseas, she could see this trend starting to take root in countries like the UK, where you can now find Guinness Zero on tap in most pubs.
At first, there was some resistance from the Kiwi market, with some asking: “What’s the point?”
But after four years of business in Aotearoa, that narrative has changed and AF now has 40% market share of the alcohol-free category.
And one year of AF in the US has resulted in a major brand deal with Target and Walmart.
“The US is just this massive market and we always thought we’ll go in there, do a trial, maybe like 50 stores, see how it goes,” says King.
“A lot of people had said to us this is still a very new emerging category. Target and Walmart won’t be interested until it’s fully proven.”
So, in April 2023, Curious AF first launched in 400 Sprouts stores, a farmer’s market-style supermarket specialising in organic products and alternative offerings – King likens it to a Moore Wilsons or a Farro here – as well as on Amazon.
At the time, there was nothing like AF on US shelves, with Sprouts one of the first retailers to make space for the non-alcoholic category, says King.
Now, the brand is the No. 1 alcohol-free seller in Sprouts. There’s no alcohol-free segment on Amazon, but AF ranks No. 9 under “juice”, she adds.
Then, last October, King was approached by Target.
“They were setting up these non-alcoholic sections in their stores and asked to include us,” says King.
“It was really great to be sought out.”
Within weeks, King was invited to Bentonville, Arkansas – the home of Walmart – to pitch to a panel of buyers.
“It was very Dragon’s Den,” she laughs. “You had 10 minutes to pitch, they taste your products and then on the spot they would say yes or no.”
Golden ticket
Instead of the iconic stacks of cash as seen on the TV show, the buyers had golden tickets to give to the brands they liked. One of these was for King.
She still thought it would take a while before AF hit Walmart shelves, but the cans are already in the storefront, because of how much the buyers loved the taste and branding.
“The look of the brand is premium, it’s modern but it’s still very accessible.”
Further feedback from the US retailers shows a love of the company’s ability to innovate – starting with four drinks in Sprouts, growing to six – as well as its agility.
“Speaking to Target recently, the buyer said to us she loved AF because we are just incredibly flexible and we can respond to their opportunities and demands easily,” says King.
Being able to move with speed is definitely AF’s biggest advantage at the moment. Not only was it the pioneer of the alcohol-free market in New Zealand, it has held its position at the forefront of the category.
The intention from the beginning was always that AF would go global, and this has played into how the brand markets itself, says King.
“We don’t tie ourselves to a New Zealand story or a New Zealand brand, we always set our sights globally. New Zealand’s a great test market, but it’s also very small and limited.”
There was of course an opportunity to go across the ditch to Australia first, but for the “size of the prize” and the same amount of effort, the US made more sense, despite the team not being as familiar with the market.
“The numbers and the scale is crazy, there’s nothing in New Zealand that could even compare,” says King.
In this new brand deal, AF will be stocked in 700 out of more than 2000 Target stores, and 800 of 4000 Walmart stores nationwide.
Speaking to AF’s success, she says this comes down to its investment in brand and marketing.
“Our creative team is incredible. Between them, they’ve had over 100 years of brand building experience.”
While the creative team, made up of Arch MacDonnell, Nick Worthington and James Hurman, agree, they say the secret to its success is the product’s duality – it both tastes and looks great.
That, and using ‘AF’ in the name – it stands for alcohol free but is also an acronym widely used in our vernacular.
“It gives the product attitude, and that also can be transferred over to people and personalities,” says MacDonnell.
In fact, this was one of the reasons he jumped on board. The sample deck from Worthington and Hurman included the idea for the Drunk AF podcast – interviewing celebrities about their relationships with alcohol and included pictures of Bradley Cooper and Pharrell Williams with the taglines ‘Funny AF’ and ‘Cool AF’.
You also don’t get calls from ad legends like Worthington and Hurman very often, so MacDonnell knew this was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
Product family
As a team, the creatives also jumped at the opportunity to work with King, a dynamo with a track record of making exciting projects come to life.
“Her tenacity, her patience and her pain tolerance is just way higher than all of us,” says Hurman.
As the designer, the challenge for MacDonnell was creating a design system that would grow with the brand and allow for a family of products.
The resulting marbling pattern that decorates AF’s cans was a hands-on affair created with an Auckland printmaker. It acts as a metaphor for mixology and changes colours to represent each flavour, he says.
When the goal was designing a brand that could resonate anywhere in the world, the team find it extremely gratifying to see it do just that in the US. But this still doesn’t make it easy to comprehend, says Worthington.
“It’s been so beautiful building the brand as a really tiny team, but as it gets bigger and offshore, it gets harder. Everything is lining up how we planned, but when the actual plan turns up, you go, ‘Goddamn’.”
AF’s modest beginnings here have provided great lessons to inform the US launch, but there’s also been a
lot to learn about Americans as consumers.
The widespread nature of the US meant Curious AF had to understand the cultural nuances, research each state carefully, then be targeted in its marketing. Using this knowledge, it is trying to maximise return on its spend.
There are so many more regional media outlets and Americans are so much more influencer and celebrity driven compared to New Zealand, with large audiences consuming content on TikTok.
Curious AF is embracing the social media platform, and has been invested in creating a local network of people who represent the brand well, as well as encouraging the public to try it at instore samplings.
Shopping behaviour is so different over there too, explains King. People might shop at multiple spots through the day: Amazon to get milk delivered, Sprouts to get something nice for dinner and Walmart for their basics.
A goal is to make not drinking aspirational – King refers to the podcast Drunk AF, saying it makes you realise there’s lots of people who aren’t drinking or don’t want to and that this doesn’t mean they’re boring with no social life.
But the idea of AF isn’t to stop people drinking entirely.
King herself still enjoys a glass of wine from time to time, but for her and the team it’s about changing culture and encouraging reduction and moderation.
Aspirational moderation
“When you go out and you don’t order something alcoholic and everyone’s like, ‘What’s wrong? Are you pregnant?’ I found it so weird. Why do I have to feel embarrassed or justify myself for not drinking?
“The more research I did into alcohol, it’s one of the most dangerous drugs in the world, but it’s so commonly accepted and normalised to a large extent.”
King thought this mindset would mean those going sober would be her sole customer base, but she’s found AF has had the desired effect in creating alternatives for all people.
“The majority of our customers still drink alcohol… From the States, 94% of people who buy these types of products also buy alcohol at the same time.
“Which makes sense, because there’s always times when you’re not drinking, you’re driving or on medication, doesn’t mean you want to go completely alcohol free. The total addressable market is incredibly wide.”
It’s been a surpringly short journey from wondering what the point of a product like AF is, to now when no one is questioning it, says King. Cheers to that.
This was first published in the 2024 June-July NZ Marketing Magazine issue. Subscribe here.
