Breakthrough Brand Of 2021, Non-Alcoholic Startup Heaps Normal, Reveals Fresh Plans For 2022

Heaps Normal has been named one of ten ‘Breakthrough Brands’ in Interbrand’s 2021 AU+NZ Breakthrough Brands Report.

 It comes almost one year after being named as ‘One to Watch’ in Interbrand’s 2020 report. Interbrand’s regional report highlights the Australian and New Zealand brands that have the potential to reshape categories, influence culture, change consumer expectations and are on their way to becoming global brands.

The other nine ‘Breakthrough Brands’ for 2021 include category leaders Go-To, The Oodie, Bluey, Airtrasker, Airwallex, Go1, Lyre’s, Linktree and Sharesies.

The report has been released just a fortnight after Heaps Normal’s signature 0.5 per cent ABV Quiet XPA has been named ‘Country Winner’ for Australia in the ‘no and low-alcohol’ category by the World Beer Awards — an industry benchmark-setting award presented by The Drinks Report.

Both the World Beer nod and the inclusion in the Breakthrough Brands report marks the conclusion of a stellar year for Heaps Normal. After launching in July 2020 and selling out of 500 cases in its first week of trade, Heaps Normal has grown its stockist list to more than 1500 Australian retailers and venues, where its Quiet XPA is outselling both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer around the country.

Heaps Normal’s co-founder and head of brand Peter Brennan said the recognition hints at the broader ambition for the brand.

“Our mission has always been to change drinking culture and to open up conversations about what ‘normal’ can look like to you. We don’t measure our success on awards or the like. With that said, we’re incredibly grateful to be recognised as helping shape a rapidly growing category. It’s really good to see our message resonating and we’re just stoked that both our brand and our product are getting this sort of recognition alongside others that we admire so much,” said  Brennan.

For its 2021 Breakthrough Brands report, Interbrand analysed over 200 brands against its Brand Strength framework. Criteria include Relevance, Alignment and Presence, along with a view on the financial performance and growth of your brand.

Interbrand CEO Nathan Birch says this year’s report is a real testament to the calibre of innovators and entrepreneurs across Australia and New Zealand.

“I couldn’t be more delighted to recognise and celebrate the brand’s 12 months of incredible growth. Heaps Normal is a phenomenon that’s only going to get bigger and bigger,” he said.

The acclaim for Heaps Normal comes as a recent study by London-based research group IWSR Drinks Market Analysis found Australia was among the countries where growth of no-alcohol and low-alcohol beer consumption is projected to be among the highest over the next four years. The group forecasts that volume growth in Australia out until 2024 in the no-alcohol and low-alcohol category was expected to be about 16  per cent.

The study also revealed that 71 per cent of Australian consumers intend to increase or maintain their no- or low-alcohol consumption next year, and 65 per cent of consumers in the country intend to discover new no-or low-alcohol brands in 2021.

Sydney-based online beer retailer Beer Cartel’s founder Richard Kelsey says Heaps Normal has been a game changer in the alcohol-free movement.

“Heaps Normal’s Quiet XPA is an alcohol free beer that tastes like real beer. It’s got huge flavour, and is on par with full strength beers with that flavour profile. We’ve seen a massive increase of sales in Heaps Normal from when we dipped our toe in the water with it last year and ordered a few cases to now selling pallets of it each month. The uptake of it has been huge. It’s now our top selling beer—period,” said Kelsey.

Heaps Normal launched into the market at a time when the global non-alcoholic beer market is expected to grow annually by 11.95 per cent, with non-alcoholic beer volume expected to amount to 52.9 ML by 2025.

Along with revenue growth of 200 per cent since December 2020, Heaps Normal’s new customers have doubled month-on-month since the beginning of 2021.

Heaps Normal’s CEO and co-founder Andy Miller says the endorsements from Interbrand and the World Beer Awards has capped off a year of growth that has outpaced his expectations from the start.

“We came to this wanting to change the conversation around mindful drinking and sobriety with a product that could stand up to our favourite full-strength brews. We could not have imagined we would be where we are now. The appetite for non-alcs has only grown in Australia over the last year and we’re so stoked to be part of this shift,” said Miller.

In the next 12 months, Heaps Normal plans to build Australia’s largest non-alcoholic brewery