💰 Turning Quitters Into Customers

G'day Sellouts!

Ever felt left out in a crowded room?

That’s how millions of customers feel in oversaturated markets.

In this week’s episode we’ll explore how two smart brands are bringing them back in.

But before the fun starts, let’s dive into this week’s finds:

Turning quitters into customers

This is a reflective time of year in the US, especially with Thanksgiving this week and New Year’s resolutions only about a month away.

It's gotten me thinking about the decisions consumers make to leave a sector. 

Thoughts of self-improvement often lead to decisions to cut away vices, products and distractions.

Once a consumer stops spending on a category, the market often refocuses efforts onto remaining customers.

Quitters just disappear entirely from consideration.

But what if the biggest opportunity is expanding the market by addressing the needs of these abstainers? 

The Rise of Non-Alcoholic Craft Beer

Bill Shufelt and John Walker started Athletic Brewing, in response to a big shift in the way Millenials and Gen Z relax and socialize. 

From 2001 to 2021, young adults weren't just drinking less—many had quit alcohol entirely. There'd been a 10% decline in young adult drinking.

The bulk of the alcohol industry responded by changing marketing to align with common Gen Z values, fighting for the largest share of a shrinking market.

Athletic Brewing saw opportunity in the missing segment: sober and sober curious.

They created craft non-alcoholic beers that maintained the social experience and taste of traditional craft beer without the alcohol. Their target wasn't the occasional non-alcoholic beer drinker—it was people who'd left the category entirely:

• Drink quitters who missed the social ritual

• Occasional drinkers wanting healthier options

• Health-conscious consumers who'd abandoned beer

• Consumers who had shifted to newly-legalized alternatives like marijuana

Since adopting this strategy, they've become the 13th-largest craft brewery in America without a single alcoholic product.

From Slim Jim Skeptics to Chomps Champions

Chomps saw a similar ghost market in meat snacks. Co-founders Pete Maldonado and Rashid Ali recognized millions had abandoned the category due to increasing health consciousness.

They created a meat snack without artificial preservatives or excessive salt and sugar.

The Chomps brand was built by going to these micro-audiences who should be excited by high-protein snacks but were also highly sensitive around processed foods:

1. Started with CrossFit enthusiasts

2. Expanded to Keto dieters

3. Connected with Whole30 followers

If you Google the brand, you’ll see their website is 100% optimized for these audiences.

They sowed the common ground between these health-conscious tribes, all of which needed high-protein, healthy snacks.

They became the only meat snack positioned to emphasize sustainability, animal welfare, and clean ingredients – messages that resonated with health-conscious consumers who'd previously written off the category.

That means bringing them together and expanding the meat snack category without ever needing to directly compete against Slim Jims or Jack Link’s.

In fact, 53% of first-time Chomps buyers had never purchased a meat snack before.

What This Means For Your Brand

While billion-dollar brands go for the mass-market, you can build a multi-million-dollar brand by going for those left without options.

This means looking beyond existing consumers and finding the people who would be in the market… with the right brand to take them in.

1. Look Beyond Current Buyers: Don't just analyze who's buying—understand who isn’t buying and why. These non-customers often represent an untapped market waiting for someone to solve their original problem.

2. Double down on dropouts: If a consumer actively quit your product category, that is an opportunity to recapture them by addressing the reason they quit.

3. Start Small, Think Big: Know the specific communities your brand will appeal to at launch and why those communities have an affinity for your product.

4. Lead With Purpose Both brands succeeded not just because of their products, but because of their missions. They didn't just sell better products—they sold better ways of living.

5. Adapt to Your Findings! 70% of Athletic Brewing's customers are women, a demographic long missing from beer sales. They didn’t originally target women, but they successfully leaned in as they discovered the untapped market potential.

The best market gap might not be in your competitive analysis or market research. People who don’t spend in a category aren’t identified in that consumer data.

The best thing about this strategy? Because these consumers aren’t in your category’s consumer strategy, ads targeting them are cheaper and stand out more. 

Keep selling out (in the best way possible),
Luke

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