A Conversation with Alexandra Savona on the Good Twin Philosophy

A brand built on taste, accessibility, and emotional connection.

At Sipland, we love celebrating those reimagining the way we drink and connect. Recently, we sat down with Alexandra Savona, the vision behind Good Twin, a brand that’s transforming the non-alcoholic space. With an impressive career spanning from Anheuser-Busch to her recent role as CEO of Summer Water, Alexandra is now bringing her expertise and bold vision to a new category of great-tasting, organic sparkling wines. So, grab a glass of something delicious and join us as we dive into Alexandra’s journey, the ethos behind Good Twin, and her thoughts on the future of the non-alcoholic beverage market.

Can you elaborate a bit more on Good Twin’s ethos, especially from a marketing perspective? From what I’ve seen, I love how you and your team at Good Twin aim to differentiate in the space.

The first thing I'll say about Good Twin is that it’s simply a great-tasting product. That might sound elementary, but when you look at the non-alcoholic wine category, it’s one that’s ripe for disruption. While beer and ready-to-drink cocktails have figured their products out, non-alcoholic wine still has a major taste gap to fill. I recently saw a survey from Dry Atlas showing that consumers are increasingly looking for disruption in the non-alcoholic wine space, and that demand is growing year over year. That’s because, quite frankly, no one has really figured out how to make non-alcoholic wine taste like the real thing, and that’s at the core of Good Twin’s ethos. Even with our name, we are the "good twin" rather than the "bad twin" of traditional sparkling wines. This is rooted in the fact that we are made in Italy with real Prosecco wine grapes, we keep it simple with only four recognizable ingredients, water, grape must, sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and we’re 100% organic. That’s the baseline of what the brand stands for, which is pretty differentiated in the category. It’s fun because when we hand someone a glass of Good Twin, they often ask if it’s actually non-alcoholic because it tastes so much like the real thing. There’s even a Reddit thread where people dug through the trash to check the bottle and confirm it was non-alcoholic because they couldn’t believe it! That’s where our tagline comes from - it’s “too good to be true.” It’s pure magic.

So, coming from a CPG and food product standpoint, it’s great to hear that it’s a good and simple product that people want to drink. But from a marketing perspective, how do you get the first consumer to check it out, especially in a world where there are so many options—some of which aren't as delicious?

Great question. I’d say the answer is threefold. First, there’s an issue with taste in the non-alcoholic wine space that we just discussed, so getting people to try Good Twin and taste the difference is a top priority. We do this through demos, events and gifting. Second, price is often a barrier. Most options in the NA space are either cheaper, undesirable-tasting products, or they’re premium-priced at parity or higher than alcoholic wine, and still don’t hit the mark on taste. A huge part of our philosophy, and positioning, is about being accessible. You should have options at every price point. At Good Twin, we’ve priced it at $14.99 a bottle, which makes it competitive and reasonable for repeat purchases. This helps lower the barrier for trial and makes it a product people can buy again and again without hesitation.

The third part of our strategy is emotional positioning. What I love about Good Twin is that we’ve really leaned into this idea of duality. But it’s not binary. Today’s modern drinker wants flexibility—whether they’re choosing to take a night off from alcohol, a month off, or maybe transitioning and "zebra striping" within one night. We’re not about being one or the other. Our branding reflects this with the "twin" concept, where the face iconography can be seen both upright and upside down. Our philosophy as a brand is about individuality and exploring options, not limiting yourself to one choice. This emotional positioning dovetails nicely with the functional proposition of being a really good-tasting twin.

I think that's so smart, and I love your story and background. Can you share a little about your journey? You’ve had a lot of experience in the alcohol space, including being the CEO of Summer Water. How has that informed your thinking for Good Twin?

Yeah, it’s interesting—pretty much my entire career over the last seven years has been centered around the intersection of alcohol and non-alcoholic beverages. After business school, I was recruited by Anheuser-Busch InBev to join their innovation arm, ZX Ventures. There, I worked on disruptive business lines innovations outside traditional beer. It was an awesome experience, learning the dynamics of that market while also thinking about how to position the company for the future, focusing on non-alcoholic drinks, food, ingredients, and more. My role has always been to think outside traditional alcohol and explore what the future of that could be. I then worked on Corona, focusing on launching Corona Cero / Zero, the non-alcoholic extension of the brand, globally.

I then took over at Summer Water in early 2024. I was excited by the opportunity to take a brand that had its peak back in 2017 and modernize it for 2024. Summer Water was a first mover in the rosé category, but it hadn’t evolved. They set the tone for this fun rosé-all-day vibe that was exciting then, but the category norm now. The other part that attracted me is that Summer Water faced a lot of the same challenges as Corona. It was very squarely positioned as a drink for summer—something you have when you're on the beach or on vacation. How do we make it feel accessible and appropriate year-round? So, it was a dream come true to take that opportunity, and within nine months, we took the brand to #12 nationally by revitalizing the marketing strategy, driving up its sales and market share while reducing its seasonal limitations, which are inherent to the rosé category. I believe that if you have a truly emotional brand that connects with people, and a universal truth like wishing you could escape to summer, it will be successful no matter what season it is.

How did you think about creating non-seasonal moments for rosé?

First of all, we definitely scale back of resources and marketing in certain seasons. But I think the other piece of it is that while we do touch on key seasonal moments outside summer—like placing our mini bottles in stockings, hanging them on Christmas trees, and creating influencer content around Friendsgiving with our retailers like Whole Foods—there’s also an effort to take the marketing up a level by leaning into our emotional positioning that transcends seasons.

So we really embrace the tagline, "Summer is a state of mind," which actually makes more sense during winter than summer! So, our approach has been to position Summer Water as your escape—the droplet icon is a portal back to summer, even if you don’t have summer right now. Basically, drink for the weather you want, not the weather you have.

How does that approach translate to Good Twin? Do you see seasonality being a factor in the non-alcoholic space?

We’re confident that while there will be some spikes during key moments like Dry January and Sober October, the overall trend will be steady consumption. All the articles and research we’re seeing point to this movement becoming so pervasive that it’s a year-round trend. I don’t even know if you can call it a trend anymore. So yes, we’re doubling down on resources during key marketing periods, but we expect consumption to be much steadier and more seasonally agnostic compared to rosé. That’s something that excites me a lot.

And how about your sales strategy? You’ve worked with Whole Foods for Summer Water—are you doing the same with Good Twin? Are you focusing on retail, or are you also looking at food service and hospitality accounts?

Yes, the primary foundation for the brand has been in wholesale, and Whole Foods was really the first mover with Good Twin. We’re already in over 300 Whole Foods stores nationally, and 96 Safeways. We also have a more concentrated presence within California. But that’s quickly changing. We recently expanded into all 700 Food Lions in the Southeast, which is huge growth for us. We’re continuing to build those national and regional chain distribution channels.

As for hospitality, that will be a big focus for us this year. Especially as we’re building this new brand, it’s so important to be in the right on-premise accounts. That’s where brands are built. The next piece is digital. It’s been fun for me to transition from alcohol to non-alcoholic beverages—the shackles are off, and there’s so much more we can do digitally. We’ve created our own DTC site that just relaunched about a month ago.

What’s your current sales breakdown across all channels—direct, food service, and retail?

It’s pretty much all in national and regional chains right now. We expect that to evolve over the course of this year, but that’s where things stand at the moment, and it’s been very successful so far. Since our brand refresh Good Twin is already performing 47 percentage points higher than the market in terms of sales performance, which is very exciting.

Where do you see the non-alcoholic beverage market going in the future?

Beyond just becoming bigger, I hope it evolves beyond the obvious "better for you" tactics. I expect non-alcoholic beverages will continue to improve in quality and flavor, and prices become more accessible as brands scale. As this happens, I think NA beverages will appeal to a wider range of consumers, which will expand the category for all of us. I’m very bullish!

Last but not least! Besides Good Twin, what are your favorite non-alcoholic drinks out there?

I love Three Spirit. I’m really intrigued by the functional non-alcoholic category, and I think they’ve done a great job of creating a product that actually makes you feel something. I also really enjoy St. Agrestis products—they taste like “good twins” themselves, especially their Mezcal Negroni flavor. That one is my go-to.

Hope you enjoyed our chat with Alexandra Savona. Cheers! xoxo