McDonald’s Ditches the “Non-Place” Playbook and Reinvents Its Stores—with Nightclubs to Win Gen Z (and anyone who loves music)
(By Maurizio–Otero–Maqueda) In an era where 73% of Gen Z prefers Instagrammable experiences over traditional products (Nielsen, 2025), McDonald’s is rewriting retail by turning locations into phygital nightclubs. This shift—along with crossing, category expansion, and phygitality—is exactly what we’ve been forecasting for over three years.
High-value read time: 5 minutes
(By Maurizio–Otero–Maqueda) In an era where 73% of Gen Z prefers Instagrammable experiences over traditional products (Nielsen, 2025), McDonald’s is rewriting retail by turning locations into phygital nightclubs. This shift—along with crossing, category expansion, and phygitality—is exactly what we’ve been forecasting for over three years.
High-value read time: 5 minutes