Recess, the functional beverage brand, is calling for an end to Dry January, the trend that sees consumers quit alcohol for the first month of the year to reset their health and wellness, per details shared with Marketing Dive. A new campaign, which launched the first week of January, focuses on moderation and comes as other functional and nonalcoholic brands — including Athletic Brewing, Hopwtr and Seedlip — make renewed pitches to those abstaining from alcohol entirely.
“Every other alcohol alternative brand is going to say, ‘just drink me instead of alcohol all month,’” Recess Founder and co-CEO, Ben Witte, said of the campaign’s origin. “Dry January has become the biggest New Year’s resolution for so many people, and like most New Year’s resolutions, most people that say they’re going to do it, don’t end up completing it.”
Central to the campaign is a full-page ad that ran in the New York Times on Jan. 11, timed to the weekend of Quitter’s Day, when many people give up on their New Year’s resolutions. The ad takes the form of a manifesto by Witte that maintains, “You’re not broken. You don’t need a new you,” and positions Recess as an “antidote to modern times.”
“It’s not obviously political, but I think everyone wants moderation in all facets of life these days,” Witte said of the manifesto. “We live in a world of extremes right now — extreme change, extreme politics — and I think what people are seeking is balance, moderation and equilibrium. Having a brand that stands for that and helps lead you there is what we’re trying to do.”
The effort was created in partnership between Recess’ in-house marketing team and agency Better Half, which worked with Equinox in 2023 on a similarly iconoclastic campaign, “We Don’t Speak January.”
All things in moderation
Along with a Quitter’s Day event on Jan. 9 at The Snow Lodge in Aspen, Colorado, that featured a sponsored DJ set by Hugel, the campaign includes an owned media push, influencer partnerships and traditional and digital out-of-home advertising. The media approach is meant to be moderate, in line with the campaign’s tone.
“I look at the campaign as more of putting a stake in the ground with what our positioning is as a moderation brand. I don’t look at this as a massive national campaign,” Witte said.
Recess launched in 2018 with a line of sparkling waters infused with hemp extract and adaptogens and packaged in pastel-colored cans aimed at soothing stressed-out millennials. The company has since shifted focus from CBD-infused beverages to additional lines, including functional Recess Mood beverages and Recess Zero Proof craft mocktails.
The brand’s chief use cases have been acting as an evening replacement for a glass of wine, as a drink between drinks or as an alcohol alternative while socializing, Witte explained. Those occasions align with drinking trends driven by younger consumers who are imbibing less frequently. The shift — while less significant than total abstinence — is still having a sizable effect on the alcohol industry.
“I don’t like this term sober-curious, because I think while there are more people [who] are not drinking at all ... the biggest trend is around moderation, not elimination,” Witte said. “This whole conversation on the ‘death of alcohol’ is dramatically overstated, even amongst Gen Z.”
