Between Drinks

The art of connecting

With psychologists across the globe stressing the importance of socialization, especially post pandemic, Diageo, maker of Johnnie Walker, Don Julio Tequila and Guinness, unveiled its annual global trends report, which analyzes why and how consumers will socialize during the next year.

Based on AI analysis of more than 160 million online conversations across the world, the “Distilled 2025” report offers detailed insights into what is driving discussions globally and the current trends shaping consumer decision-making, according to Diageo.

Distilled 2025 offers foresights and trends shaping consumer behavior in 2025, including the rise of consumers alternating between alcohol and non-alcohol drinks (colloquially called zebra striping), exploring “one night only” experiences and integrating AI further into their daily lives, the company says.

This year’s edition builds on the success of the inaugural Distilled report, the company notes. In its first version, the study uncovered and classified five key global consumer trends: Neo-Hedonism, Conscious Wellbeing, Expanding Reality, Collective Belonging and Betterment Brands. In this year’s report, Diageo has explored how these five macro trends have evolved during the past 12 months and used them to offer new foresights and trends likely to shape consumer behavior this year, it says.

The report projects that the following consumer behaviors will further be on the rise in 2025:

• Practicing moderate drinking by “zebra striping”: The behavior of alternating between alcohol and non-alcohol beverages during a single social occasion. This reflects the broader rise the report uncovered in online conversations around self-care, wellness and slower social interactions: a 79% year-on-year growth in discussions around “decelerated occasions” (one of the largest increases identified) and a 37% rise in discussions around “celebrating self-love,” according to the report.
• Spending more time and money on single-unique products or experiences: Consumers are making the most of “one night only” to create once in a lifetime memories. The report found that conversations about making the most of unique products and events have risen 83% year-on-year (5.6 million conversations) alongside a 42% increase in consumers talking about alternative social spaces such as virtual reality gaming lounges, hybrid physical-digital venues or pop-up bars — all offering new ways for people to connect and socialize, the company notes.
• Integrating AI into their daily lives: Conversations around AI-enabled relationships are up across every region globally — 83% worldwide with the largest growth in Europe (96%) and North America (91%), according to the report. The report explores how as AI evolves, it will likely become a more trusted aid in navigating daily choices and how this is already being seen through everyday consumer applications from banking digital assistants to fitness apps with personalized training plans and real-time health insights, transforming the relationship between consumers and brands as a result, the company notes.
• Seeking deeper connections in online and offline communities: The report shows a 121% surge globally in discussions about connecting passionate fandoms — more than 32 million conversations and the highest conversation increase identified, the company says. Markets such as Latin America and the Caribbean, and North America saw an increase of 135% and 126% respectively, it notes.

“Distilled 2025 delves into the biggest trends shaping socializing this year from the rise of the ‘zebra striping’ phenomenon to people worldwide wanting to spend their well-earned money on one incredible experience,” said Cristina Diezhandino, chief marketing officer at Diageo, in a statement. “People socializing goes back thousands of years and by tracking how it evolves, it helps us, and our brands, to stay deeply connected with our consumers.”

Distilled 2025 is a key component of Diageo’s Consumer Choice Framework, a methodology that helps deepen the company’s understanding of consumer motivations and ultimately shape the future of socializing by tracking long-term trends, it notes. The report is powered by Diageo’s Foresight System, a proprietary AI-driven listening tool developed in partnership with data and insight partners Share Creative and Kantar. It combines in-depth quantitative analysis of conversations from an array of online sources including social media platforms, forums and digital media with expert foresights to provide a nuanced understanding of emerging cultural signals and consumer expressions, it says.

As the year continues, we will see how closely consumers will exhibit these behaviors.