“ It’ s about building trust, building loyalty, and creating moments. Together we can rise and continue to raise the bar together.”
– KATHIE DURBIN
together. I look forward to working with all of you this year.”
These words served as a proper intro to the rest of the day’ s panels, which focused on growth and the challenges ahead. Futurist Nikki Greenberg delved into Gen Z trends, a group whose drinking habits, or lack thereof, have many in the industry feeling anxious. Greenberg’ s data reflected this fear.
“ Sixty-one percent of Gen Z said that they plan on drinking less in 2025, which is a 53 % increase, year over year,” she said.“ Forty-eight percent of Gen Z is diagnosed with anxiety, PTSD or depression, and of those people, 60 % are taking medication, which does not mix well with alcohol.”
“ Sixty-nine percent of Gen Z prefer cannabis to alcohol,” she added,“ and 33 % of Gen Z are using weed regularly. This represents a direct competitor to alcohol.”
Greenberg further described Gen Z’ s habit of“ zebra striping.” This trendy industry term is for when a consumer switches back and forth between alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages in a single occasion, like a zebra’ s alternating stripes.
“ Gen Z is sober curious, climate-conscious, prioritizes wellness, expects personalization, shares everything online, and is influenced by influencers,” Greenberg said.“ Forty percent of Gen
Above, an especially funny improv panel represented the challenges of listing new products. Below, the closing C-suite delved into the industry ' s most pressing topics.
Z said that they recently bought a nonalcoholic drink because they were influenced by an influencer. Gen Z is five times more likely to do their buying or be influenced into buying on social media.”
Greenberg mentioned the soft drink brand Olipop as a nonalcoholic product that understands and has tapped into Gen Z trends. Sales for this beverage have increased magnitudes in recent years, as Olipop has positioned itself as a healthier alternative to traditional soda, focusing on gut health and probiotics. And the brand also has fantastic social media.
“ Fifty-two percent of Gen Z reports feeling more like themselves online than in the real world,” Greenberg said.“ Gen Z spends 10 hours a day on their devices, including two to three hours on social media.” How are the alcohol producers handling this generation?“ It’ s easy to find a lot of data that [ Gen Z ] is drinking less and is more conservative” with alcohol, said Melanie Batchelor, Managing Director of Campari America, during the C-suite closing panel,“ C into the Future.”“ But we don’ t know fully yet what trends are cyclical versus what are structural. So we don’ t have as much www. stateways. com Fall 2025 • StateWays 7