EXPLORING EXPERIENTIAL DATA TRENDS

The global experience economy is booming, with consumers and brands shifting focus from products to meaningful, real-world engagements that foster awe, connection, and belonging. Exploring key data and trends, the piece highlights how experiential investment is reshaping opportunities worldwide and within the thriving sector.

INVESTMENT IN EXPERIENCES

97% of the world's top 100 brands are actively investing in the value of experiences. Brands are significantly investing in experiences due to a fundamental shift in consumer preferences, with people increasingly prioritising authentic, real-world, in-person engagements that offer awe, connection, and belonging over material possessions alone. This creates an imperative for competitive differentiation, where brands must build emotional resonance and connection to stand out. The growing global experience economy, driven by people seeking shared "fun" matched to younger consumers' spending power, presents substantial economic opportunity for relevant brands.

GROWTH OF THE GLOBAL EXPERIENCE ECONOMY

Projected to reach $12 trillion annually by 2030 the global experience economy is in evolution as a value driver.

Growth is largely attributed to audience demand – against a backdrop of data distrust and screen fatigue we see audiences fundamentally prioritising authentic, real-world, shared and in-person engagements that offer awe, connection, and belonging over the transaction of material possessions. This shift creates a crucial need for brands to achieve competitive differentiation and to build emotional resonance. The underlying economic opportunity is substantial, driven by a universal desire for belonging, entertainment, discovery and connection. With performers continuing to break stadium attendance records globally and with technology further fuelling the growth by serving as a bridge to enhance real-world interactions. Through personalisation, immersive storytelling, and multi-sensory engagements we see younger generations, particularly Gen Z influential in shaping evolved audience expectations: driving demand for unique location-based experiences. We see brands becoming culture makers, fostering shared moments and designing for deeper layers of connection.

A NEW ERA FOR THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE SECTOR

The Australian Experience Sector is respected as a world-class experiential powerhouse: valued at over $90 billion annually and known for its exceptional event intellectual property and quality of creative design and production teams. Melbourne stands out as the events leader, offering both personalised experiences, culinary excellence, rich cultural diversity supported by an ‘always on’ experience, events and business events calendar. Looking wider, with the 2032 Brisbane Summer Olympics in development the sector in Australia is in sharp evolution – and audiences love it!

Major Australian drawcard events include the Australian Open Tennis drawing significant global attention, economic value and returns, Vivid Sydney light festival, the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Melbourne Fashion Festival, Boxing Day Cricket Test Match, the Spring Racing Carnival and the globally recognised Parrtjima indigenous light festival. These landmark events showcase Australia's ability to host diverse, immersive, cultural and globally recognised experiences alongside emerging new experience platforms of all sizes.

AUDIENCE EXPECTATIONS AND EMERGING EXPERIENCE FORMATS

To meet audiences where they are, emerging experience formats include hybrid solutions, multi-sensory storytelling, and scalable intimacy. Hybrid formats seamlessly integrating physical and digital elements, emerging because consumers natively seek technology to enhance real-world engagements rather than replace them, bridging physical and virtual spaces. Multi-sensory storytelling, which aims to awaken all the senses, is rising to create profound, emotionally resonant narratives that foster awe, connection, and belonging. Scalable intimacy responds to the strong desire for personalised, meaningful connections across diverse audiences, often powered by advanced AI and increasingly focussed on wellness and wellbeing. These new formats are also driven by a heightened expectations for brands to demonstrate measurable accountability, performance, and the tangible impact of experiences, moving beyond mere engagement to prove their value, meaning and to build loyalty.

COMPLEXITY IN THE EXPERIENCE SPACE

Emphasis on the increased value of experiences requires new ways of thinking and designing for success. The experience space is complex due to evolving consumer desires for authentic, personalised, multi-sensory engagements that foster awe, connection, and belonging matched to the need for performance, outcomes and metrics. Brands are asking for more as the traditional model identifies a "consumer experience gap," or a failing to meet high expectations for real-time, emotionally resonant interactions. Internal misalignment and difficulty measuring true impact exacerbate this gap.

To excel, brands must align resources and prioritise intentional design for deep emotional resonance, leveraging technology as a bridge to enhance real-world connections. The design of experiences needs to demonstrate understanding, clear accountability, performance, and tangible impact, moving beyond mere engagement and optics to build loyalty and a distinct competitive advantage.

We believe design is at the heart of great experiences. With the next generation of experience design is available to brands and organisations now the opportunity is to deliver pioneering experiences – we see a focus on people, impact, outcomes and performance. The future of experiences will be shaped by insights, data, inclusivity, collaboration, creative technologies, art, science and strategic design thinking.

If you’d like to know more about the importance of designing for impact and connection, continue reading B&T’s piece from our conversation here: ( Designing For Impact )