Booze-Free Brand Gets the Party Started in New Retro-Cool Ad

Participating in Dry January has some obvious health and wellbeing benefits—like better sleep, less brain fog and fewer calories ingested—but it’s kind of a drag, right? Isn’t it all about deprivation?

That’s the entrenched opinion, even though 25% of Americans over 21 say they took part in the alcohol-free month last year, per researcher Civic Science.

As an antidote to that bad rap, a Brooklyn-based booze-free brand called St. Agrestis has launched a new platform, “The Party is in You,” and a retro-cool 30-second spot called “Happy Hour is a State of Mind.”

The upbeat, color-saturated work aims to “redefine how people view non-alcoholic beverages,” according to Matt Catizone, chief marketing officer and managing partner at St. Agrestis. “The campaign challenges the outdated perception that non-alcoholic options are less fun.”

The spot—propelled by surrealism, spandex, and a talking jackalope—promotes a product called the Phony Negroni, whose name naturally lends itself to cheeky marketing. The cast of the ad, from Los Angeles-based creative director Olivier Agostini, includes a Jane Fonda-era exerciser, a dancer in a track suit who gets his “boogie” on, and Anand Amritraj, a former professional tennis player from India known these days as a style maven.

Though advancing a thoroughly modern idea as the sober curious movement continues to pick up steam, the ad is dotted with midcentury modern furniture, throwback fashion and outmoded technology for old school appeal. It “celebrates individuality and self-expression, reminding everyone that happiness is a state of mind, whether or not alcohol is part of the equation,” Agostini said.

“Happy Hour is a State of Mind” dropped this week on digital, social and streaming platforms. Future extensions are planned for later this year.