Alcohol marketers who have already been working to address a generational shift in consumption patterns are now contending with new recommendations from the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction (CCSA).

The guidelines were released as part of the CCSA’s report on Jan. 17 – the first it had published since 2011, with research funded by Health Canada – and they represent a massive shift from the organization’s previous position. The CCSA had advised that women consume no more than 10 drinks per week and men no more than 15; in the latest report, the NGO now clarifies that “even a small amount of alcohol can be damaging to health.” Instead of providing strict rules around amounts, the report instead presents a scale of risk, with two or fewer drinks per week presenting a small-to-negligible risk, and six or more being presented as “high risk.”

“Research shows that no amount or kind of alcohol is good for your health. It doesn’t matter what kind of alcohol it is,” the report states. “If you drink, it’s better to drink less.”

The new recommendations come amidst an overall consumer shift away from alcoholic beverages, led in no small way by a generation that is consuming less alcohol and a cultural movement that seeks to ‘denormalize’ drinking.

The confluence of factors mean that this is an “interesting time” for alcohol marketers, says Ashley White, VP and partner at Mint, who has worked with brands in the sector for the past 15 years.

“Alcohol has always been a heavily regulated industry, but this is definitely an even bigger shift, and we’re going to see an impact should these guidelines be implemented [as regulations],” she explains. “However, from what I’ve seen in the past three to five years, there’s already been a generational shift in terms of how people are consuming alcohol. So this is something most brands and marketers have already been very mindful of, even ahead of this report.”

According to White, some of the pre-emptive measures the sector has taken to this rising pushback against their products have involved innovating lower ABV and zero-proof options – Duvernois’ zero-proof gins and Partake’s non-alcoholic beers are two such examples. It’s clear that these trends are nothing new; however, they have largely been driven by that generational shift in attitudes toward alcohol.

But innovation is only one piece of the puzzle, and it’s not enough if the new beverages aren’t being promoted, as no-alcohol offerings from brands like Corona and Peroni have been in recent years.

“They’re leading the charge and showing up in a big way with their 0% SKU,” she says of Peroni specifically, pointing to the brand’s recent sponsorship of the Toronto International Film Festival, which promoted its zero proof offering, Peroni Nastro Azzurro. The same product was promoted through its sponsorship of the Aston Martin Formula 1 racing team.

“I think we’re going to see increasing innovation in the beverage category and we’re going to see a broadening of definition for alcohol brands,” White says. “Zero percent SKUs are on the rise.”

But the alcohol industry is still in the business of, well, alcohol. And new guidelines – some of which may or may not become regulations – won’t stop everyone from consuming. So, White says, marketers need to be keen about shifting their focus. Some already have been.

“What we’re anticipating, and what we’re seeing some marketers do, is a shift of focus to the occasion instead of the consumer,” White elaborates. “They’re focusing on specific occasions where the product lives, and why it lives there, selling the occasion to the consumer.”

Ultimately, “the consequences of alcohol aren’t net new news for anybody,” she adds. “There’s a lot of responsibility that goes into marketing products of this nature, and I don’t see that changing. If anything, it’s going to get tighter in terms of how these brands can show up and the occasions where they show up.”

It might also spark new conversations with brands in the category – or amplify those conversations on the part of brands that have already been pushing them.

“The headlines over the past couple of weeks will accelerate trends that were already underway,” says Ben Leszcz, co-founder of Wilda, a Toronto-based, low ABV natural spritzer brand.

While Wilda, which launched last year, has been producing low-alcohol spritzers that, “from day one, have voluntarily disclosed our ingredients on our container,” the updated recommendations have driven the brand to take what it sees as a logical next step – potentially becoming the first brand producing alcoholic beverages to incorporate clear consumer advisory labels on its line of beverages.

The alcohol sector is one of the few in the CPG space where disclosing ingredients is not a legal requirement, Leszcz says. That fact is part of what birthed Wilda: a desire to see more transparency in a sector that has opacity “baked into the business.”

“If you walk down a grocery aisle and pick up a package of crackers, jar of peanut butter or carton of juice, you’ll be able to turn the container and read the ingredients,” he says. “You can’t do that with a bottle of wine.”

Wilda was founded in part to “lead the conversation” about transparency in the alcohol industry. As the conversation is now shifting toward the potential impacts of alcohol, the brand is looking to play a role in that discussion, too. Its proposed advisory labels include units of alcohol, which was among the CCSA’s core recommendations, alongside a clear disclosure of ingredients and the beverage’s carbon footprint. The labels have been sent to Health Canada for a review.

It’s unclear what strategy will be the winning one – or even if the CCSA’s recommendations will lead to action from Health Canada. The uncertainty presents a new suite of challenges for brands that are already dealing with a generational shifting of the goalposts.

But that kind of challenge is precisely what makes the sector interesting to work in. “That’s the fun part of alcohol. There has always been so much diversification within it and it is a category that continuously innovates,” White says. “If you go into the LCBO today versus four years ago, it looks very different, in terms of how products are laid out and the types of products. If we look into the past to predict the future, that cycle will continue.”