{"id":35924,"date":"2024-06-06T02:34:32","date_gmt":"2024-06-06T02:34:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/japans-biggest-brewer-asahi-trying-to-attract-sober-generation-z\/"},"modified":"2024-06-06T02:34:34","modified_gmt":"2024-06-06T02:34:34","slug":"japans-biggest-brewer-asahi-trying-to-attract-sober-generation-z","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/japans-biggest-brewer-asahi-trying-to-attract-sober-generation-z\/","title":{"rendered":"Japan’s biggest brewer Asahi trying to attract sober Generation Z"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Mariko Oi,<\/span>Business reporter<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Nommunication <\/i>has traditionally played an important role in Japanese businesses<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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For thousands of years, alcohol has been used as a social lubricant. In Japan, it is known as nommunication <\/i>– a combination of the Japanese word for drink, nomu<\/i>, and communication.<\/p>\n

The idea is that drinking alcohol creates a more relaxed environment.<\/p>\n

Businesses have even tackled difficult issues in pubs, rather than conference rooms.<\/p>\n

The late former chairman of then-bankrupt Japan Airlines, Kazuo Inamori, explained in 2012<\/a> how he used beer to get his employees to open up.<\/p>\n

But there is now a whole new generation that chooses not to drink as much<\/a>. Multiple studies in the UK, the US and Australia show that people from Gen Z are more sober than their parents and grandparents.<\/p>\n

In Japan, faced with declining alcohol tax revenues, the authorities even arranged a national competition, named Sake Viva!, in an effort to reverse the trend in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The sober generation does not only affect Japan’s tax revenues, it also offers a whole new challenge for businesses that make and sell alcohol. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"GettyGetty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Atsushi Katsuki, chief executive officer of Asahi Group Holdings<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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“We have realised that younger people are increasingly choosing not to drink as much alcohol,” said Atsushi Katsuki, the chief executive officer of Asahi Group Holdings. <\/p>\n

However, Japan’s biggest brewer sees this as both a risk and an opportunity. <\/p>\n

“Our firm is quite unique because while the majority of our sales comes from beer and alcoholic beverages, we also have the capability to produce non-alcoholic beverages or soft drinks which gives us a competitive advantage,” he said.<\/p>\n

Asahi is also pushing its non-alcoholic and what it refers to as low alcohol offerings – such as alcohol-free beer or drinks with less than 3.5% alcohol <\/b>– outside of its home market.<\/p>\n

“By 2030, we want to double the share of beverages with zero or low alcohol to 20% of our overall beverage sales,” he said.<\/p>\n

They are already popular in its home market. Mr Katsuki said that <\/b>alcohol-free beers account for 10% of Asahi’s beverages sales in Japan as people avoid drink driving. <\/b><\/p>\n

But the Japanese market is shrinking because of an ageing population and falling birth rates.<\/p>\n

“Alcoholic beverages sales in Japan will continue to decline because we cannot go against the shrinking population, which means we cannot expect the Japanese market to grow massively,” he said.<\/p>\n

That means Asahi’s <\/b>main <\/b>growth opportunities are overseas, and it has been expanding rapidly abroad for 15 years. Today, more than half of its sales are generated outside Japan.<\/p>\n

One major market the firm has yet to tap is the US. The question is: can alcohol-free beer get as popular there as it is in Japan?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"VincentVincent Ball<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Vincent Ball and Samantha Benaitis choose not to drink much alcohol<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Vincent Ball and Samantha Benaitis are a 20-year-old couple who live in Jacksonville, Florida. In the US, laws relating to alcohol vary in different states but the minimum age for purchasing it is 21 across the country.<\/p>\n

While those above the age of 40 in their families enjoy boozy nights, the Gen Zers do not drink much alcohol.<\/p>\n

“I think drinking in moderation is perfectly fine,” said Vincent, adding that he would enjoy having a beer after work but “not crazy parties”.<\/p>\n

“I just find other things more enjoyable, and I don’t find drinking very important, especially in party settings.”<\/p>\n

For Samantha, it was a lesson learnt from seeing others drinking heavily.<\/p>\n

“I definitely was influenced by everybody around me in my life getting way too drunk or hammered, and making mistakes that impact them for a lifetime rather than just for that night.”<\/p>\n

So instead, Samantha drinks kombucha – a fermented black or green tea, which is often flavoured – <\/b>because “if you’re just drinking water, I’ve been asked many times, oh, are you really just drinking water?”<\/p>\n

To avoid peer pressure, would they drink alcohol-free beer? Their answer was a resounding “no”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"LaylaLayla Neal<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Josie Ball, 18, says she understands why some people drink heavily<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Asked how Asahi would tackle new, non-drinking, consumers like Samantha and Vincent, Mr Katsuki said the firm has learned an important lesson.<\/p>\n

“We realised that we have been producing non-alcoholic beverages from the point of view of alcohol drinkers,” he said, admitting that Asahi has not yet been particularly successful in appealing to non-drinkers.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019ve been collecting data in Japan by asking those who cannot or choose not to drink alcohol to understand what kind of products they want.”<\/p>\n

In a sign of uphill battle drinks companies face as they try to win over Gen Z, Vincent’s younger sister, Josie, explained how she feels about people getting drunk.<\/p>\n

“I definitely understand people who overdrink. Would I do it myself? I hope not because people kind of tend to make a fool of themselves when they overdrink.”<\/p>\n

If you, or someone you know, has been affected by issues with alcohol, <\/i>the BBC Action Line<\/i><\/a> has details of organisations which may be able to help.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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3 hours ago Mariko Oi,Business reporter Getty Images Nommunication has traditionally played an important role in Japanese businesses For thousands of years, alcohol has been used as a social lubricant. In Japan, it is known as nommunication – a combination of the Japanese word for drink, nomu, and communication. The idea is that drinking alcohol […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":35925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[53],"tags":[13780,13781,2888,13779,7045,539,6728],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35924"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35924\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35926,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35924\/revisions\/35926"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kede.com.br\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}