If anyone knows about going out, it would have to be an alcohol company, the purveyors of good times themselves, wouldn't it? Courvoisier, one of the most notable party-starters of our time (due in part to Busta Rhymes, we suspect), is now out to determine how to upgrade the social butterfly experience. The brand has published a report this month that they're calling "The Going Out Upgrade," which looks at the evolution of social habits and the future trends of socializing.
Courvoisier's "white paper," the second of four, doesn't rely solely on the brand's expertise, however. The project was done in collaboration with Loma-Ann Marks, founder and editor of Culture Compass and Addie Chinn, editor of Urban Junkies and Protein Journal, and tapped UK scenesters like Alistair Spalding, artistic director and chief executive of Sadlers Wells, London's leading dance house.
"Where once it was a Friday or Saturday night, getting dressed up, and going drinking, eating and maybe dancing the term is now so fluid that 'going out' seamlessly blends into our lives," the authors wrote. "Going out" can now mean anything from afternoon tea at a vintage cafe to a late-night gallery opening.
The report looks at what has influenced changes in social habits and predicts what trends lie ahead (the study looked at the UK, but its implications reach across the pond). The biggest influences on the present moment? Culture (61 percent of respondents to the report's survey had been to a gallery in the last month), the web (75 percent of respondents say the web influences their decisions when going out) and social exploration (52 percent said they were "open to meeting new people").
The case for culture rests on the idea that people are turning away from reality TV and celebrity obsessions, and opting for more "clever and considered" entertainment instead. Money (or the lack of it) is also a significant factor in more cultured pursuits, the report says, noting that alcohol sales and personal consumption are declining for the first time since the 1960s. "We hope that the recession will abate, and by 2016 we'll have more money in our pockets, and therefore, more choice. But the creativity that's blossomed in these leaner times will remain."
Creativity is relative; for the authors, it takes the shape of one-act plays during lunch, breakfast recitals and afternoon discos. "In the next five years we'll travel to places in the country that are off the beaten track, rural, rustic or coastal and find high quality bars and restaurants, great service, locally sourced and produced food, drinks and culture and the all-important, sense of intimacy," they said.