Rosalie Kennedy, Senior Director of Marketing at Athletic Brewing, discusses how the company helped transform non alcoholic beer from a niche category into a mainstream lifestyle brand. Rosalie shares how Athletic Brewing built cultural relevance around wellness, taste, and social connection, why authenticity matters in a crowded beverage market, and how changing consumer behavior is reshaping the future of beer. The conversation also explores category growth, brand positioning, distribution strategy, and how Athletic Brewing is thinking about younger consumers and evolving drinking habits. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Athletic Brewing’s Senior Director of Marketing, Rosalie Kennedy 

Knowledge at Wharton

49% of Americans are trying to drink less alcohol. So we know people are looking for alternatives. Non-alcoholic beer is one of those alternatives, of course. We're up against anything that doesn't have alcohol. There's so many categories that exist right now that play off of flavor, play off of functional benefits.

Marketing matters. Marketing is absolutely critical. You can have the greatest product in the world if no one knows about it. It just doesn't matter. People think out of the box it's going to make you more creative. But sometimes when you're in a constrained situation, that's when a lot of creativity blooms. Barbara, you use Uber Eats, don't you? My husband does. I don't believe in the internet. I didn't know that the internet was faith-based. I'll tell you, you could just buy the car we bought. We have a hybrid. What'd you buy?

I don't know exactly. The power of brands, ladies and gentlemen. This is Marketing Matters on the Wharton Podcast Network. Hello and welcome. You're listening to Marketing Matters on the Wharton Podcast Network. It's our weekly podcast where we analyze the latest in advertising, marketing, customer behavior, new product launches, branding, retailing, everything marketing. I'm Barbara Kahn, the Patty and J.H. Baker Professor of Marketing.

And I'm joined by my co-host, Professor Americus Reid, the Whitney M. Young Jr. Professor of Marketing and the Brand Identity Theorist. And today, we have a very interesting guest. We are joined by Rosalie Kennedy, who's the Senior Director of Marketing, and I'm told the first marketing director really, at Athletic Brewing Company.

She's played a key role in building one of the leading brands, if not the leader brand, in the non-alcoholic beer space. And she's helping define that category as it continues to grow.

Athletic Brewing’s Senior Director of Marketing, Rosalie Kennedy

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Athletic Brewing’s Senior Director of Marketing, Rosalie Kennedy

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.