Robbie Williams has joined Australian non-alcoholic beer brand Heaps Normal as a “creative collaborator and investor”.

Heaps Normal co-founder and CEO Andy Miller said: “For a small, independent business, having Robbie advocating for us and spreading the Heaps Normal ethos to his community is wild. It’s a long way from the early days of Heaps Normal when we were getting laughed out of pubs, that’s for sure!”

Williams said: “Teaming up with Heaps Normal is personal for me. I saw what they were doing, creatively and culturally, when I was down in Australia, and I really wanted to get involved. I love the ethos of the Heaps brand, and I’m excited for what we’re going to achieve together around the world.”

The news follows the singer giving the brand a massive shout-out in June on social media to celebrate its UK launch.

Williams posted a video to his Instagram page – which has 3.5 million followers – where he raved about discovering Heaps Normal while promoting his biopic Better Man in Sydney earlier this year.  

After drinking the beer while celebrating the New Year, Williams – who has been sober for 25 years – sent a direct message to Heaps Normal telling the owners how much he loved their beers.

As Heaps Normal wasn’t available in the UK at the time, the brand sent a couple of cases of its Another Lager beer directly to the singer to enjoy.

Williams and the Heaps Normal team have been chatting back and forth on social media ever since.

Andy Miller co-founded Heaps Normal in July 2020 alongside Ben Holdstock, Peter Brennan and Jordy Smith, who together thought there were probably a few people like them who wanted to cut back on the booze, but didn’t necessarily identify as sober.

They were right and the business has since transformed into an empire worth more than $60 million.

“It’s about as exciting as you would expect when a global superstar tells the world how much he likes your product,” Miller told SmartCompany. 

“We knew Robbie was a fan and that he wanted to share some love for Heaps Normal on his social media account, but we didn’t really know what that was going to look like until very recently.”

Heaps Normal said there was a surge of traffic on its social accounts and its website after the shout-out and the team has been chatting with Robbie and exploring other ways they can work together.

Williams said in a post that’s been liked almost 12,000 times already: “I met the Heaps Normal guys when I was down in Australia, and they showed me the mission they’re on to change the way people play. I’m impressed – the love is real. Give it a go. Or don’t. But they rock.”

Heaps Normal is stocked in more than 10,000 retailers and venues in Australia and New Zealand and announced earlier this year that it was also expanding into the US.

It’s also on the menu at Australian comedian Andy Lee’s hugely popular New York pub, Old Mates.