ALCOHOL TRENDS

REPORT FOR 2018

HOW LIVE EXPERIENCE CAN
MAKE THE DIFFERENCE

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OUR BIG BETS FOR DRINKS
AND LEISURE IN 2018
More than ever, consideration of wellness
and sustainability underpins consumer
decision-making. After years of receiving
advice from regulators and alcohol brands,
consumers today are taking a proactive
approach to responsible drinking, aided
by a drinks and leisure sector that is
diversifying and innovating to produce
new and novel premium experiences.
The message from consumers is that they are
more conscious about what they drink, how it
is made, and where they drink it. Their social
lives no longer revolve exclusively around bars
and pubs. They are seeking new spaces and
activities that offer the opportunity to meet new
people, learn new skills, explore untapped
sides of their personality, and feel part of a
community.
INTRODUCTION
For many consumers, leisure is no longer
solely equated with going-out, as technology
continues to augment the at-home leisure
experience, as well as making it easier than
ever to access and experiment with premium
alcohols at home.
A shift in consumer behaviour towards openness
and a willingness to experiment, gives brands
an opportunity to think outside the box and
forge creative partnerships with collaborators
from radically different industries.
Alcohol itself is evolving with new scientific
breakthroughs that promise to deliver the buzz
people love in alcohol – but without the ensuing
headache. While, cross-category innovation
and experiments in biotech are delivering
entirely new dimensions in flavour.
WHY ‘LIVE EXPERIENCE’?
Live experience is fast becoming the go-to tool for
brands to create authentic and emotional connections
with consumers. For alcohol, this has never been more
important as our spending habits shift from ‘owning to
doing’. Experiences are now paramount to establish and
differentiate a brand, becoming an always-on strategy
that is central to how a brand engages with its audience.
At Seen Presents we specialise in creating impactful and
memorable live experiences for brands which stimulate an
emotional response. Stimulating an emotional response is the
most powerful way that a brand can impact on its audience.
We believe that truly understanding the emotions that we want
to inspire is vital to delivering the best possible experiences.
TH I S RE P ORT
Re ad on to g ai n i n s i g hts i n to s om e of
tr e n d s an d top i c s , w e be li e v e , w i ll be
top of the ag e n d a i n 2 0 1 8 , alon g w i th
s om e e x am p le s of how E x p e r i e n ti al
M ar k e ti n g c an s u p p or t the c halle n ge s an d
op p or tu n i ti e s you ’ r e fac i n g for you r br an d .
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 CONSUMER ALCOHOL TRENDS
C ONTENT S

He alth by stealth
M oder n provenance
Cre ative technology
Novel exper iences

CONSUMER LEISURE TRENDS

Fe s tival m akeover
Gam ing goes m ainstream
New hangouts
Hom e enter tainm ent

INDUSTRY INNOVATION &

DIVERSIFICATION
Wi ne in a box
Power of par tnerships
Categor y crossover
Sal es innovation

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 CONSUMER ALCOHOL TRENDS

making experiences work

Consumer alcohol trends

Consumers continue to take a ying-yang attitude to their down time, balancing nights out drinking with
as much (or even more) time dedicated to health and fitness. One in three millennials visit nightclubs
less often than they did before, and one in five are visiting bars and pubs less frequently.*
Scientific breakthroughs are helping consumers to prioritise their wellbeing by offering low-toxicity
alcohols, and advances in technology are adding extra spectacle to the bar experience through AI
service and biotech beverages. Such add-ons are crucial. When consumers do go out, they want to
buy drinks (whether NOLO or alcoholic) that are distinctive, and will choose events that expose them
to novel experiences.
*Eventbrite – Brighter Futures Millennial Report (Sept 2017)

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 The new NOLO categories opening up in drinks give marketers an opportunity to build
new traditions rituals and experiences beyond Dry January (which has more subscribers
than ever before) through year-round mindful drinking events.*
*YouGov (January 2018)

HEALTH BY S TEA LTH

TI C K LE W A TE R: A healthy zero-sugar alternative
to processed sodas, the premium sparkling water
company has extended its range of flavours to
complement a range of spirits and cocktail recipes.
Consumers continue to seek guilt-free drinks that come with additional health perks. Whether a product has
healthy ingredients carries four times more value to consumers than whether the brand is recognised, suggesting
that consumers are crying-out for new and imaginative health offerings.
Low calorie and additive-free formulas in mixers, soft drinks and alcohol are fast becoming an essential element
of the drinks markets. Alcohol brands are trying harder to deliver by centering their recipes around vitamin-
packed vegetables, and tying their products to health-positive events.

SEEN HINTS: The average millennial consumes just five units of alcohol a week, which equates
to about two small glasses of wine or two pints of beer.* Some consumers are abstaining from
alcohol altogether, but not all. Brands should keep this in mind when planning experiences.
*Eventbrite – Brighter Futures Millennial Report (Sept 2017)

B O A RD RO O M S PIRITS: Every bottle of C, the

brand’s vegetable-based spirit, is made from 12 and
a half pounds of fermented and distilled carrots.
MINDFUL: Founded by Club Soda, this
“mindful” drinking festival was held in
the run-up to Christmas in East London to
promote a healthy festive season.
MARK S & SP E NCER:
The supermarket now stocks a premium range of low-
calorie wine which, unlike most offerings, doesn’t scrimp
on the alcohol content. The three wine range contains
half the calorie content of standard wine.

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EXPERIENCES
Adding a ‘behind the scenes’ element to your experience or premises will
give you an opportunity to be transparent with your audience, show off
your ingredients, share your brand’s ethos, and turn your premises into
a destination and experience in its own right. This is the more modern
incarnation of the traditional brewery tour.
NATURAL W I NE : The growing trend for wines made
with minimal chemical and technological interference
(including no added sulphites) has led to an explosion of
independent natural wine vineyards, as well as bars and
restaurants devoted exclusively to natural wines.
O U R VOD K A - Produced by Pernod Ricard,
Our Vodka is a global brand with local roots.
Its multiple micro-distilleries, spread across Europe and
the USA, each have a bar area that is open to visitors.
M ODER N PR OVENA NC E
As the world continues to embrace technological innovation, consumers crave a
counterbalance to the impersonality of screen time. In the past, many alcohol brands
capitalised on their rich heritage; today, younger brands are developing their own modern
origin stories and forging new traditions.
Consumers increasingly feel an affinity towards brands that are linked to real and local places
and people; and consumers are doing more research on brands’ ingredients and production
techniques than ever before.
Opening up your premises is one way to give consumers a way to connect to your brand and
experience your brand ethos. Brands that do will see their efforts pay off – an overwhelming
94% of consumers say that transparency from food brands impacts their decision to purchase
or not.* Label Insight – Food Revolution Study (June 2016)
SEEN HINTS: Globalisation has gone full circle. Consumers are taking pride in
their areas’ produce, favouring low impact, local drinks from microbreweries,
vineyards and micro-distilleries, just as earlier generations would have
consumed years ago.
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 B OMP AS & P ARR: Launching in
2018, the culinary event experimenters
are developing a bar in collaboration
with artists that will explore the creative
possibilities of GMO in beer.

CREATI VE TEC HNOLOGY

For too long, the primary way we’ve conceived technology’s connection to alcohol is through digital marketing
campaigns. In 2018, however, scientific innovations will create entirely new breakthrough categories. Alcohol
makers are getting more conceptual through explorations of biotech, and service is undergoing a technological
reboot with sommelier bots and voice-activated AI bartenders.

SEEN HINTS: Bellion vodka is the first synthetic alcohol on the market to minimise liver damage
and hangover. Dr. David Nutt of Imperial College London is developing a similar low-toxicity
BO M P A S & P A RR: formula in the UK that he believes will replace traditional alcohol entirely in two decades’ time.
Taking GMO (Genetically Modified Organisms)
in inventive directions, the company paid
homage to Roald Dahl and his gruesome novel
The Twits by harvesting microorganisms from the
writer’s seat that will flavour a one-off beer.

EXPERIENCES
Working with creatively led ideas and technologies allows AI B ARTE ND E RS:
L I D L W I NE BO T: Lidl’s Facebook- Revolutioniz ing t he wa y we
brands to create new and innovative ways to connect with based sommelier gives consumers wine order, Diag eo and Dentsu Aeg is
audiences, which lend themselves to live experiences and recommendations based on their budget tr ialled an Alexa voice activat ed
experientially led marketing campaigns and food choices. bar t ender in Cannes last year.
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EXPERIENCES
What real life activities could you integrate into your next brand
experience, which offer a point of difference from competitors and
additional interest for consumers to want to get involved?

S I P + P AINT:
Classes combining watercolours and wine
popped up all over the UK in 2017, promising
to get participants’ creative juices flowing.

N OVEL EXPER IENC ES

For today’s consumers, lifestyle takes precedence over products, so drinks brands should be mindful to
slot their offerings into non-traditional experiences. As consumers become more conscious of how much
and what they drink, they are also becoming more discerning about where they drink it. Brands should
try building a connection in consumers’ minds between their products and particular activities, locations,
moods and mindset.

A L C O H O L A ND F I T NE S S : SEEN HINTS: Younger millennials are steering clear of dating apps and seeking ‘real
London’s hippest studios are offering energetic life’ experiences, with only 4% saying they would rather meet someone through an app.
post-workout sessions replete with booze and
*Abodo – Swipe Right for Love (March 2017)
live DJ sets. London studio 1Rebel provides a
full-scale cocktail bar after classes.

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 CONSUMER LEISURE TRENDS

making experiences work

Consumer alcohol trends

As an alternative to big-ticket leisure activities, consumers spent more on in-home entertainment,

culture, and pubs and bars in 2017 than holidays abroad, according to Deloitte. For many people in
the UK, whether they’re into food, drink, music or culture, festivals have become an essential fixture
on the social calendar.
The changing entertainment landscape in the city has also seen interest in new hangout spaces gather
pace. Watch as more consumers choose to spend their spare time in cultural centres, fitness studios,
and members clubs, over pubs, clubs and bars

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EXPERIENCES
With new festivals popping up each year, brands have even more options
now, in terms of where and how they can show up and align their product
with a variety of passion points which their consumers care about.
LOVE FIT: A new festival combining fitness
sessions, such as hot box yoga and kickboxing,
with boutique after-parties.

FESTI VAL M AKEOVER

The definition of “festival” is broadening to accommodate the tastes of a range of demographics. This year, 2018, will
see the launch of a whole new raft of wellness and fitness experiences that combine beautiful rural locations with health-
conscious activities. While, food festivals will overtake music festivals as having the widest demographic appeal. A desire
for diversity among Millennials means they are just as likely to attend a food, fitness or wellness festival as a traditional
weekend-long music festival, research by Eventbrite finds.

WILDERNESS X AP P L ET O N E S TA T E :
SEEN HINTS: For many Millennials, festivals are a way to escape social media; with some 40% saying
Seen Presents daytime workshops for festival goers
to unwind while enjoying an Appleton Serve
they switch off their phones.* Eventbrite – Brighter Futures Millennial Report (Sept 2017)

W E L O V E F O O D: An offshoot of a music events

company, We Love Food is launching a series
of food festivals in 2018 in cities around the UK
covering all manners of world cuisine and dishes.

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 EXPERIENCES
Whether brand-related or art or gaming-led, VR, AR and other technologies C I TY SOCIAL: The “Mirage” cocktail menu at
Jason Atherton’s bar created augmented reality
will cater for teetotal consumers looking for rich, multisensory, dating,
experiences around a series of new cocktails, providing
socialising or networking experiences.
a visual garnish rather than a distracting gimmick.

HEI N EK EN : Using data shared by hotels and airlines

partners, Heineken identified young men who had
booked trips to Amsterdam and provided tailored travel
tips and a personalised gift on arrival.

G AMING GOES MA INS TR EA M

It has been widely reported that younger consumers are drinking alcohol less frequently or
abstaining altogether. As a result, in-bar tech entertainment offering new experiential thrills for
non-drinkers will become increasingly important.
Already, the UK gaming market is outperforming every other category, growing 12.4% to
a record £5.11 billion last year, reports the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment,
showing a growing appetite for computer animated and gamified entertainment.

SEEN HINTS: Patrón tequila has a VR viewer that connects to an app which
takes viewers on a virtual tour of the brand’s distillery.

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 NET FL I X GE NE RA TI O N:
Reporting a 2018 trend towards more home
entertaining, this year could see an uptick in
the purchase of alcohol from retailers, over
orders at bars and restaurants.
EXPERIENCES
Working with creatively led ideas and technologies allows
brands to create new and innovative ways to connect with
audiences, which lend themselves to live experiences and
experientially led marketing campaigns
HOM E EN TE R TA INMENT
Consumers are spending more on home entertainment than ever before. The soaring popularity of services like
Netflix, Amazon and Spotify as well games consoles and vinyl has pushed the amount consumers spend on home
entertainment products past the amount spent on books, magazines and newspapers.
Overall consumer spending on home entertainment rose 8.8% last year, the Entertainment Retailers Association
(ERA) finds – faster than other leisure sectors including eating out (up 7.7%), alcoholic drinks (up 6%), and overseas
holidays (up 4.4%).*
*ERA – Streaming boom powers entertainment market to new all-time-high of £7.24bn in 2017 (Jan 2018)
SEEN HINTS: According to Kantar Worldpanel, games sales surged 26% compared to sales
declines of 5.4% and 4.8% in music and video respectively.
*Kantar – Physical entertainment back in growth (October 2017)
M O E T H E NNES S Y : The brand’s Bottles
and Bubbles app teaches consumers more
about drinking champagne at home through
Amazon Alexa.
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 A S S EM BLAGE:
A new members club dedicated to self-care,
wellness and social connection has opened
in New York.

H OME : Located on the site of the legendary

Haçienda nightclub, hopes are set on the new
£25m arts centre becoming Manchester’s new
cultural pulse, providing a single location for
NEW H ANG O U TS the Cornerhouse cinema and gallery, and the
In times past, the pub was the focal point of social life in the UK. Today, coffee shops are the new ‘local’ Library Theatre Company.

and venues such as mixed-use arts centres are replacing malls as preferred hang-outs for all generations.
Pubs aimed at millennials are updating their fare to reflect contemporary ethical and lifestyle choices.
As of early 2018, London’s first vegan pub launched offering animal-friendly alternatives to the old
favourite pork scratchings.

EXPERIENCES
SEEN HINTS: At the end of 2016 there were 52,750 pubs in the UK*. By 2030
Pubs are still a vital part of the social fabric of the UK, but publicans and
there will be more coffee shops in the UK than pubs**.
drinks brands shouldn’t be afraid to update their offering. As our social
Source; *Camra 2016, ** Allegra (www.ukcoffeeleadersummit.com/yet-growth-uk-coffee-
time is spent differently, it’s important to think about where you can create
shop-market-coffee-shops-become-new-local/)
new and innovative brand experiences and even partner with unexpected
brands to create opportune engagement points
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 INNOVATION & DIVERSITY

making experiences work

Consumer alcohol trends

Drinking, eating and entertainment are innately cultural activities, and as such are enriched by diversity.
Brands should make a greater effort to reach as yet underserved consumers and cater to specialist
tastes and considerations. For example, new research has shed light on East Asian and West African
intolerances to alcohol. Smirnoff has made a deliberate attempt to reach out to and recognise its
LGBT consumers with its ‘We’re Open’ campaign which features non-binary artists and performers.
And the Second Avenue Deli bar on New York’s Upper East Side offers Kosher cocktails featuring
traditional Jewish ingredients such as Manischewitz wine.

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EXPERIENCES
Clever brands are ensuring their packaging is insta-friendly with unique
designs and colours. These portable and user-friendly packages are W H EN IN ROME : The premium brand
successfully brought wine in a box to the UK and
calling out to be advertised on or taken out on the road as part of
is now stocked in Harvey Nichols and Waitrose.
summer time experiences.

A M A ZO N: The online retail giant saw a
summertime surge of wine in a box sales,
with a 212% increase.
WINE IN A B OX
In 2017, wine in a box moved past associations with cheap and unsavoury plonk, carrying
favour with younger consumers who are keen to buy into environmentally friendly packaging.
In 2018, we should expect canned and bagged wines to undergo a similar rehabilitation.
Younger wine brands are keen to be perceived as accessible to younger drinkers. Expect
wine brands to start using marketing channels, such as music, street art and street food, that
are already a mainstay of other alcohol categories.

SEEN HINTS: This trend for new packaging is sure to shake up the alcohol
industry more broadly, however brands must continue to put product quality
before packaging innovation.

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 EXPERIENCES
Experiential marketing and event based experiences are great at bringing to KI LCH OMAN: The first new Islay distillery to
open in over a century, partnered with luxury
life partnerships which often live primarily online and allow both both brand to
British perfume makers Floris to create a unisex
show their synergy and impact consumers in a face to face setting scent that pays homage to the single malt’s terroirs.

POW ER IN PA R TNER S H IPS

BA DE RBRA U BRE W ERY A ND L Y F T :
The partnership between the the ride-sharing app
and a Chicago-based brewery promotes safe
travelling to drinkers after a night out.
The drinks sector has a long history of partnering with interesting brands from fashion, sports,
music and art markets. More recently, drinks companies are thinking outside the box by
forging unexpected collaborations that help consumers in practical ways, such as getting
home safely after a night out or tracing the authenticity of the bottles they purchase.
SEEN HINTS: With new start ups appearing at such a fast pace across all
sectors, there is a real opportunity to create unexpected and interesting brand
partnerships.

C R UCI BLE: This London co-working and
“makerspace” is the first of its kind, offering
its bar staff members a place to further their
craft, network and innovate.
P A TRO N: The tequila brand collaborated
with Douglas McMaster, the chef behind the
zero-waste restaurant Silo in Brighton, on a
sustainable Secret Dining Society event.
P E RNOD RICARD : The alcohol giant is
collaborating with Internet of Things experts
to transform the bottle into a digital platform,
building on the brand’s experiments with QR
codes in China to prevent counterfeiting.

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 GLE NFID D ICH: The single malt scotch
brand became the first to produce a whisky
in IPA craft beer casks.
L ONDON BEER WEEK:
Hosted brands such as Kentucky Bourbon Barrel
Ale and Jameson Caskmates that produce
whisky-aged beer and beer-aged whisky.

CATEG ORY CRO SSOVER

Alcohol brands are becoming increasingly daring and offering new and novel cross-category offerings. Mixing
drinks was once strongly discouraged, but under the careful supervision of Malt Masters and expert brewers new
whisky and beer combinations are finding an eager audience among early-adopter consumers. The move offers
a rarefied spin on the classic whisky chaser.

SEEN HINTS: While global demand for whisky is strong, innovations in vodka and the
continued popularity of gin, rum and tequila will mean whisky brands will need to work harder
to retain their market share.

JE FFRE Y ST WHISK Y AND TOB ACCO :

Events specialising in beer and whisky
pairings have popped up across the UK.

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 EXPERIENCES
In order to promote subscription models, brands could consider a “sampling
B LACK ROCK : The team behind the London
tour” to engage new consumers and sign them up to your scheme. The bar have launched a whisky subscription
Economist have developed a similar model for driving magazine subscriptions, service called Whisky-Me that delivers pouches
which could easily be adopted in the alcohol and leisure sectors. of single malts to members’ homes.

SA LE S INNO V A TI O N
How do you introduce consumers to premium categories that they may lack the confidence to explore? Expert
curated subscription models have proven a hit in categories such as beer and cider. In spirits, they offer the VINOMOFO:
Launching soon in the UK, the online
perfect way for consumers to get to know and develop their palette in a pressure-free environment. While, for the
Aussie wine retailer has updated the wine
spirits-cognoscenti, innovators in the sales department have introduced dynamic pricing plans that respond
club concept idea with a no-BS approach,
to scarcity and demand. designed to appeal to Millennials.

SEEN HINTS: Orchard Box offer a choice of gluten-free and vegan cider boxes. Each delivery
also comes with a selection of snacks to complement their flavours.

W H I S KY F O U ND A TI O N:
Pricing of the rare 24-year-old malt The Maltman by
Springbank (of which there are only 244 bottles in
the world) starts at £0.75 ($1, €0.85) after which
the price fluctuates in response to interest.

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LIVE EXPERIENCE PRINCIPLES

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 LIVE EXPERIENCE PRINCIPLES

At SEEN we specialise in creating environments and experiences that become the living and breathing
embodiment of your brand, and are designed to make a person feel something specific; whether that
be trust, excitement or curiosity, the feeling that an experience creates is central to a brand’s ability
to connect with its audience.
Identifying the emotional response, we want to create and using our Emotional Response Methodology
to determine how we can deliver that response within our live experiences, enhances the quality of
our thinking, our creativity, our execution – and most importantly our results.
Here are 4 principles we use to develop our event concepts, read on to discover more:
1. STORYTELLING

2. EMBODIMENT

3. THE 5 SENSES

4. THE POWER OF THE SQUARE

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1. STORYTELLING
Stories are 22 times more memorable than facts or stats
alone. Brands and advertisers have been telling stories for
years, what is different now is that the audience plays
a central role in telling the story. So if stories are
more memorable and stories with emotion are even more
memorable, we need to consider the value of emotion
and narrative within brand experiences.

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2. EMBODIMENT
We don’t just pay attention to our environment, we use our
bodies to make sense of it. So it’s important to think
about not just how the physical environment you build or
curate looks but how it will make someone feel.

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3. THE FIVE SENSES
We use our five senses to understand the world surrounding
us. Through the strategic use of sensorial stimulus we
can start to focus the audience’s undivided attention
to an experience and even direct them towards specific
emotions and memories to support. The five Senses can be
heightened and manipulated to unlock old or create
new memories to enhance the emotional impact of an
experience.

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4. T
 HE POWER OF
THE SQUARE
With the rise of social media, people now expect to
co-create meaning and become active participants in
the world around them, using their devices to modulate their
worldy experiences. We use the phrase ‘power of the
square’ to consider how still and moving images of an
experience can be shared on platforms from Instagram to
Facebook to maximise shareability.

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 INTERESTED IN WORKING TOGETHER?

Thanks for reading our report. We would love to find out more about you and the challenges your brand is currently facing.
As well as demonstrate how experiential marketing and SEEN’s emotional response methodology can help you to create
meaningful connections with consumers, driving advocacy and sales.

Contact Frankie Speakman on:

Frankie.speakman@seenpresents.com
T: 020 7749 2632
www.seenpresents.com

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