Best Nights VC reveals future needs and trends for nightlife 2030
- Why identification, wellbeing and consumers’ own communities play an important role for future nightlife
- How nightlife start-ups, brands and companies can respond
Wolfenbüttel, 17th of May 2022 – Nightlife in the future will be very different. Young nightlife lovers want best nights to support their self-discovery journey. Mindfulness will be an essential part of that journey: individual spaces and in- group experiences will reinforce consumers’ emerging identities, but also help them support people, venues, and the planet. Consumers will move from physical to digital spaces but still wish to experience real events, together with fellow party-goers in clubs or bars, at festivals or other events. Real nightlife events will be supplemented by digital options in the future, as consumers design their own best version of a best night.
The trend report “Best Nights 2030”, a joint publication by Best Nights VC and The Future Laboratory, details the survey results of more than 2800 consumers, aged 21 to 35, in Germany, the United States and China, on questions related to the future of nightlife. Qualitative interviews with nightlife experts round off the report.
Offline versus online communities
Digital acceleration rolls on: looking ahead to nightlife 2030, tech will keep driving new community experiences in the form of VR interfaces, digital events, concerts or gaming. And yet, Best Nights VC has identified a completely opposite trend:
“Although digital technologies offer multiple opportunities for connecting across geographic boundaries, the true value of best nights for young nightlife lovers can be found in real experiences in the offline world”, explains Lia Schmökel, Investment-Manager at Best Nights VC. “When younger generations go out, they want to express themselves. They choose locations that meet their needs in terms of identification, mindfulness and wellbeing. Adopting a ‘purpose before profit’ mindset will be the key for innovative business models along the consumer journey of best nights.”
Going out means finding yourself
Future nightlife is more niche. Less frequent, but with higher quality expectations for venues and drinks. For more than 30 percent of Gen Z consumers, best nights are a vehicle to finding a sense of self. In other words, young consumers engage with nightlife in hopes of gaining deeper understanding of who they are. The experience economy of the future should then focus on that need for personal transformation and offer authentic solutions for self-expression and identity building.
Gen Z and Millennials have other new nightlife needs
Future generations care about how consumption and nightlife impact the planet. Sustainability and a fundamental sense of wellbeing (personal, social, global) will need to be crucial considerations for nightlife venues, start-ups, and companies in the next decade. New concepts developed to meet these needs also must be perceived as authentic and meaningful in order to track with consumers.
Innovative start-ups, brands and companies
“Mindfulness is a real megatrend that is having a growing influence on our nightlife and drinking culture. Companies should take the needs of their community seriously, stay close to their consumers and involve them in decisions,” says Lia Schmökel. The market is offering more and more product categories in nightlife, with non-alcoholic and low-alcohol drinks becoming increasingly popular and inject a lot of diversity into our bars.
Going out to fight stress and isolation – more important than yoga and meditation
The social side of best nights is already irreversibly connected to wellbeing. Impressively, the Best Nights 2030 report shows that “going out with friends” is one of the top three answers provided by more than 44% of Chinese, 36% of German and 27% of US consumers when asked about their preferred means to combat stress and isolation, putting it ahead of even yoga or meditation.
Best nights today and tomorrow
Best Nights VC uses the results of the new trend report to offer people the best nights today and in the future. Together with partners who share the best nights mission, the innovation specialists develop future-proof ideas while linking various facets of the night. The results of the report reinforce the investment hypothesis of the venture capital.
The latest invest of Best Nights VC is the event platform Feast It from the United Kingdom, which unites diverse service providers on an online platform for planning physical events such as weddings or birthday parties. The consumer journey starts virtually and continues through to the actual event.