The drinks aisle has become one of the hardest places in FMCG to stand out from the crowd. A bottle of wine is competing with a canned cocktail, a craft spirit, a premium tonic, a functional soda, an alcohol-free aperitif, a kombucha, a supermarket own-label lookalike and a challenger brand with beautiful packaging and a founder story ready to go. For drink brands, the opportunity is huge, but getting noticed and being picked is no longer just about tasting good.
This means smarter media planning matters more than ever. A brilliant product, beautiful packaging and a passionate founder story are all valuable, but they do not automatically create awareness, trial or repeat purchase. Drink brands need to know who they are talking to, where those people are, what moment they are trying to own and which media channels will help them show up with the right message. At MEERKATworks, we’ve always had a soft spot for food and drink brands – our interest in the category is not just because we enjoy trying different products, but because drink brands are often some of the most creative, ambitious and commercially interesting businesses to work with. From established producers to challenger drink brands, the opportunity is huge.
The UK drinks market is more varied, premium and competitive
The UK drinks market has become much more layered in recent years. Consumer behaviour is shifting across alcohol, low and no-alcohol, soft drinks, mixers and functional beverages, creating new opportunities for brands that understand how people are really choosing what to drink. The old distinctions like ‘alcoholic versus non-alcoholic’ are less useful than they used to be and boundaries are more blurred, which means drink brands need a clearer sense of positioning. A consumer might choose a premium wine for a dinner party, an alcohol-free beer for a midweek social, a functional drink for the commute, a botanical soda as an alternative to a cocktail and a craft spirit as a gift. For marketing teams, this creates a challenge and demographics alone will not tell you enough. A media strategy built only around age, gender or location risks missing the real motivator: the occasion.
Is the brand trying to own Friday night? The post-work unwind? The dinner table? The gym bag? The picnic? The premium gift? The supermarket top-up shop? The festival field? The at-home cocktail moment?
Each occasion points towards a different media mix; that might mean digital audio for commute and cooking moments, out-of-home (OOH) near retail and hospitality locations, digital display to support consideration or regional radio to give a product launch a memorable voice.
Good media planning for drink brands starts by asking where the product naturally fits into real life.
Low and no-alcohol drinks are no longer a side shelf
The low and no-alcohol category has moved from a polite alternative to a serious growth space. It is not enough for a drink to be “non-alcoholic”. The strongest brands are building taste, ritual, sophistication and credibility. This means that low and no-alcohol drinks are not only for people who never drink, they are for people moderating, pacing themselves, training, driving, working early, socialising midweek, hosting or simply wanting a grown-up drink without alcohol. As a result, brands in the space need to avoid apologetic messaging. They are no longer selling something that people are missing out on – they are selling flavour, inclusion and choice.
For challenger no and low alcohol brands, sampling and retail availability can generate trial, but media builds recognition before the shopper reaches the shelf. A well-planned campaign can make a new drink feel familiar before the first sip. People are more likely to try something new when they feel they already understand what it is, why it exists and when they would drink it.
Soft drinks and mixers have gone premium
Soft drinks used to be the supporting act and ‘grown-up’ soft drinks were often an afterthought. How times have changed! Premium mixers, botanical sodas, functional drinks, kombuchas, fermented soft drinks, aperitif-style alternatives and sophisticated canned formats are all part of a broader shift towards drinks with more complexity. Consumers are looking for flavour profiles that feel grown-up: bitter, herbal, smoky, sharp, dry, floral, spiced or savoury. For brands, this creates an opportunity. A premium soft drink can talk about craft, ingredients, pairing, ritual and occasion in the same way as a wine or spirit might. A mixer can be the reason a serve feels special, not just a beverage that fills the glass.
The media challenge is to communicate that value quickly. When a product costs more than a standard soft drink, the brand needs to justify the trade-up. That does not mean over-explaining every ingredient, but using the right channels to build appetite appeal, quality cues and emotional relevance. Out-of-home advertising can make packaging and serving suggestions feel desirable. Audio can create atmosphere and memory, and programmatic can reach specific audiences based on interest, behaviour or location. Then, when a shopper is further along their journey, retail media can support conversion when they are close to purchase.
Some drink brands have a real advantage before the first ad has even been planned: they come from somewhere people already have a feeling about. This is part of the strength of Scotland’s distillery scene. Glasgow, Edinburgh, the Lowlands, the Highlands and the Islands all bring their own associations, from craft and character to landscape, nightlife and tourism. A distillery does not have to invent all of that from scratch. The place, the people and the process are already doing some of the work.
English wine has a similar opportunity, although the story is still being written for many consumers. Vineyards in Sussex, Kent, Hampshire, Cornwall and beyond are building a stronger reputation for quality, but plenty of people still need a nudge to understand where English wine fits. The same challenge applies to distilleries; a brilliant tour, a loyal local following and a beautiful bottle are all valuable, but they only reach so far. If the aim is to grow beyond visitors, regulars and word of mouth, the media plan needs to work harder. It needs to connect the story of the place with the people most likely to care about it.
MEERKATworks has a ‘burrow system’ across the UK, including Scotland, so we understand how location can shape a campaign without letting it box in the brand. For a distillery looking for a media agency that can serve Edinburgh, Glasgow and far beyond, or an English wine producer ready to reach drinkers outside its home county, the answer is not usually to buy the obvious media space and hope for the best. It is to be clear on who needs to notice, where they are making decisions and what should happen next.
Challenger drink brands need sharper media planning
Challenger drink brands are often brilliant at product and personality. They know what makes them different. They have founders with energy, packaging with shelf appeal and a clear sense of why the category needs them. The problem is that the market is busy and being distinctive is not the same as being noticed. Consequently, ambitious brands need to think carefully about reach, frequency, geography, context, channel roles and measurement.
Different objectives need different media. For example, OOH can give a drinks brand presence in the places where people are travelling, shopping, socialising or heading to events, while audio advertising can add personality and make the brand more memorable during everyday routines. Digital display and video can support more targeted awareness and retargeting, with print, partnerships, TV or Broadcaster Video on Demand (BVoD) adding credibility and scale where they fit the brief. The strongest plans are not built by ticking off channels, but by giving each channel a clear job.
Give sustainability a proper seat at the bar
Sustainability has become a serious consideration in the drinks category. It is no longer limited to recyclable packaging or a line on the back of a bottle. Consumers are increasingly aware of sourcing, production, waste, ingredients, transport and broader environmental impact. For drink brands, this creates both opportunity and risk. The opportunity is to build a brand story with more depth. If sustainability is genuinely embedded in the business, media can help communicate it in a way that strengthens trust. This could include ingredient sourcing, lower-waste production, regenerative thinking, local supply chains, refill formats, lighter packaging, responsible partnerships or community initiatives.
The risk is treating sustainability as a decorative claim. Drinks audiences are increasingly highly aware and sharp. Vague green language can feel insubstantial and ‘thin’ very quickly. From a media perspective, sustainability messages need careful placement and proof. They may work well in longer-form content, partnerships, earned media, print environments or targeted digital campaigns where there is enough space to explain the point properly. They may also support trade conversations and retail pitches, particularly when buyers are looking for brands with a clearer sense of responsibility.
The key is to make sustainability part of the brand’s commercial story, not a green-washed paragraph that nobody reads.
What drink brands should look for in a media agency
Choosing a media agency is not just about who can buy space. Drink brands need a partner who understands how awareness, distribution and sales connect. A useful media partner should be able to challenge the brief without trampling over the brand. They should ask about commercial goals, margins, retail listings, seasonality, audience behaviour, regional priorities, creative assets, previous performance and what success actually looks like. They should also be channel-neutral and free from contractual ties to any one media owner.
For drink brands, it is especially important to work with a team that understands timing. Drink-focused events such as Dry January, summer socialising, Christmas gifting, sporting occasions, festival season, food-led moments and Bank Holidays can all influence the plan.
A good UK media planning agency will help drinks brands decide when to show up, where to show up and how to avoid wasting budget in the wrong places. This is particularly important for challenger brands, where budgets need to work especially hard.
How MEERKATworks helps drink brands get noticed
MEERKATworks is an independent media planning and buying agency with over 20 years of experience working with businesses of all sizes across food and drink, FMCG, travel, charity, education and events.
Our drinks-sector experience includes work for a variety of businesses. In the case of Ridgeview Wine, for example, the MEERKATworks team planned and bought advertising campaigns for their English sparkling wines utilising different digital display formats to reach new audiences and reconnect with people who had already shown an interest in the brand. Programmatic advertising was a particularly strong fit for Ridgeview as it worked across different stages of the customer journey, from first awareness through to renewed consideration.
For Pickering’s Gin, the MEERKATs supported the launch of their Pink Grapefruit and Lemongrass Liqueur. Radio advertising was selected as a particularly effective way to create appetite appeal, build recognition and give the product launch a voice of its own. We wrote and produced a radio campaign which introduced the new drink to the marketplace, giving Pickering’s a clear, characterful message that matched the flavour and personality of the brand. The advert ran on Forth 1, reaching local listeners and building awareness.
The MEERKATs also work closely with Bread & Jam – a company that supports the growth of food and drink brands and celebrates the industry’s entrepreneurial spirit. For example, MEERKATworks is sponsoring the Bread & Jam Festival 2026, a major event for FMCG challenger brands. This reflects our interest in ambitious brands that are building something with energy, purpose and commercial hunger. We like working with brands that are ready to grow but still care deeply about the detail – that is where the MEERKATs work best. We dig into the brief, sniff out the strongest opportunities and build media plans that are creative, commercially sensible and properly targeted.
Ready to make your drinks brand more visible?
The UK drinks market is full of opportunity, but it is also full of noise. If you are launching a drinks brand, supporting a new retail listing, growing beyond your home region, building awareness for a distillery or trying to make your media budget work harder, come and talk to the MEERKATs.
We are friendly, curious and commercially minded and we know media planning and buying like the back of our paws. When it comes to drink brands with ambition, we are very happy to raise a glass to the challenge.
Get in touch with the team today.