Rival House

We helped Rival House rise not by rejecting tradition—but by rivaling it with taste, design, and purpose. A new king for a new kind of celebration.

Rival House: The Great Liberation Toast

Client Category
Food & Beverage · Alcohol-Free · CPG

Services Provided
Naming · Brand Strategy · Visual Identity · Packaging Design · Campaign Creative · Digital Content · Social Media · Positioning & Messaging · Retail Launch Strategy · Website

Business Challenge

Rival House entered a category defined by compromise.

For decades, alcohol-free drinks were trapped in a losing narrative:
the lesser version,
the substitute,
the sad apology sitting at the end of the bar.

Consumers who wanted to drink less—whether for health, clarity, or lifestyle—were forced into products that tasted inferior and signaled exclusion. The category conditioned shoppers to expect less and feel left out.

Rival House wasn’t fighting alcohol.
It was fighting a decades-old culture of compromise.

To win, the brand needed to rewrite the rules entirely.

Strategic Insight

The real social shift wasn’t about removing alcohol.
It was about removing exclusion.

Modern drinkers wanted:

• celebration without stigma
• choice without explanation
• premium experiences without compromise
• a seat at the table without needing to justify sobriety

Our breakthrough:

Don’t create an alternative to alcohol.
Create a rival to it.

A brand that competes on taste, sophistication, and social energy — not apologies.

Creative Solution

We built a bold challenger empire around one idea:

“Cheers to Choice.”

A brand that doesn’t whisper its way into the room — it walks in confidently and earns its place beside premium alcoholic beverages.

Category Challenger Naming

• Rival House signals competition, not compensation
• Immediately reframes the brand as an equal, not an alternative

Premium Positioning Architecture

• Visual identity built with the cues of elevated alcohol brands
• No “alcohol-free softness”
• Confident typography, rich colour palette, and design meant for bar carts, not wellness aisles

Inclusive Empire Messaging

• “Now everyone can join in when it’s time to raise a glass”
• Celebration without judgement
• Sophistication without sacrifice

Market Territory Expansion

• Retail strategy focused on premium alcohol-free beer sets
• Positioned Rival House as a leader in the rapidly growing NA category
• Built credibility with both sober and sober-curious consumers

We didn’t build a workaround.
We built a worthy rival.

Results

🏬 National retail distribution across key alcohol-free sets
📈 Significant share growth in alcohol-free beer category
🔁 High trial and repurchase rates validating premium taste and positioning
🔥 Brand awareness surge among sober & sober-curious communities
👑 Category leadership positioning as a premium challenger brand

Rival House didn’t inherit the throne.
It built its own.

Category Takeaway

When a category is built on compromise, the brand that refuses to apologize becomes the standout.

Rival House won not by rejecting tradition, but by rivalling it — with taste, design, and purpose.

That’s how Rival House became the King of Sober Celebration, proving that choice doesn’t have to mean sacrifice.

In a world craving inclusion, the boldest brands are the ones that toast to everyone.