The future looks blindingly bright for BERO, a new non-alcoholic beer fronted by the actor Tom Holland that launched in 1,200-plus Target stores across the U.S. — just in time for Dry January.
That massive retail push — the first for the new-to-world brand — was maximized through a partnership with Relentless Advantage, a new collaboration between Advantage Solutions and L.A. Libations designed to help emerging and insurgent brands scale with speed.
BERO, a start-up with just 10 employees, launched into a fast-growing sector with a premium brand proposition and an authentic story, but the company realized success would be defined with in-store execution and lacked the bandwidth to execute in-store merchandising and inventory management required to power a national launch.
“That’s where you guys came in,” said BERO CEO John Herman, referring to Relentless Advantage. “You gave us scale. You gave us the ability to make sure that our vision was being executed. And you’re the feet on the street to really communicate the learnings real-time, because we’re not going to get it all right, and those insights have been invaluable.”
Though it’s still early days, Herman said, BERO’s category-expanding debut in Target stores is “greatly outperforming our wildest expectations.”

To execute BERO’s vision, the Relentless Advantage team prepared throughout December in order to be ready to execute the end-cap displays, ensure promotional compliance, and assist with inventory management to capture sales during one of the busiest non-alcoholic sales months of the year.
In many ways, BERO’s launch presented a perfect opportunity to flex the nationwide capabilities of Relentless Advantage, which combines the brand incubation savvy of L.A. Libations with the deep retail scale and expertise of Advantage Solutions.
“What we’ve been able to execute for BERO really speaks to the flexibility and expertise of the Relentless Advantage team,” said Andy Keenan, executive vice president and general manager of branded retail services for Advantage Solutions. “Speed in execution matters a great deal, but it matters even more for emerging brands.”
Ultimately, BERO’s success is a testament to how the brand is resonating with consumers. Even before it hit brick-and-mortar retail, BERO was blowing up online, building a massive audience on Instagram and TikTok, and creating awareness that has translated directly to sales.
Holland’s journey to sobriety is foundational to the BERO brand story — and the idea that anyone should be able to drink a non-alcoholic beer in a pub with their pals that’s uncompromising in its flavor.
“Tom has rewritten the rules for how a celebrity launches a brand, and it’s really about his authenticity,” said Danny Stepper, CEO and co-founder of L.A. Libations. “This is Tom’s passion and he’s given us access to that.”
As challenges inevitably arise — such as low inventory or incorrect price tags — Relentless Advantage functions as the “eyes and ears” of BERO in stores, Stepper said.
“For an emerging brand, it’s invaluable to have that ability to know what’s happening and to make really quick adjustments,” he said.
For BERO’s retail launch, one of the goals was to capitalize on Dry January, Keenan said, the annual occasion for a growing number of consumers to cut out alcohol for a month.
While Dry January is winding down, the growth trajectory for non-alcoholic beer, wine and spirits in the U.S. appears to be just getting started. In 2024, non-alc sales exceeded $823 million — an increase of more than 27%, according to NielsenIQ’s Year in Review, which recaps off-premise beverage trends.
Increasingly, non-alcoholic beers are not just for those who don’t drink alcohol.
“The opportunity for the category isn’t that all of America is going to be sober,” Herman said, himself a social drinker. “The opportunity for the category is people are going to make decisions on maybe they want a night off, maybe they want a month off, or maybe they’re just going to mix alc- and non-alc beverages on a given night.”
Despite the velocity of growth for the category, non-alc beverages are still less than 1% of total alcohol sales, per NielsenIQ. Expect that percentage to increase significantly in the years ahead.
Beyond Target, BERO continues to grow both online and in stores, Herman said. The brand is in about 3,000 stores total at this point, including Sprouts Farmers Market — the first retailer to launch the brand — and Total Wine stores, and also recently began sales on Amazon.
To be clear, no one at BERO or at Relentless Advantage is declaring mission accomplished. For an emerging brand like BERO, there are always new challenges to overcome as the brand works to stake out a lasting spot atop a growing category.
Herman likened BERO’s current reality to the metaphor of a duck appearing calm while swimming, while just beneath surface, its legs are frantically kicking.
“I’m trying to be grounded and say, what’s the bad thing around the corner that we need to be prepared for?” Herman said. “Thus far, though, my overall read is far more positive than we could have hoped for.”