DUSK is the UK’s biggest nightlife app, showcasing the coolest bars and rewarding users with a free drink every night.The app makes it possible for drink brands to get their products into a Gen-z / Millennial audience at scale. Whether it’s the launch of a new liquid or cocktail, or giants like Diageo and Bacardi hoping to engage with a new audience. DUSK allows them to digitally activate in pubs and bars across the UK.We spoke with the company’s co-founder and CEO, Sophie Abrahamovitch, to learn how DUSK is revolutionising brand activations and its journey to establishing an engaged audience of 800,000+ users.What made you decide to launch DUSK?The idea for DUSK was conceived when Facebook check-ins were being used regularly.People were ‘checking’ into venues and events and this trend fascinated us – they were essentially providing bars and restaurants with free advertising and exposure to their network. This was absolute gold dust for the hospitality industry, and our idea was to harness it.So, my business partner and I set about thinking of ways not only to tap into these conversations but to incentivise them – treating customers like micro-influencers. That’s how DUSK was originally born.Since then, the business has evolved to work with some of the biggest drinks brands and venues in the UK, demonstrating the value of sampling at scale.What has the journey been like since then?We quickly moved away from needing to tag the venue, when we gained an understanding of just how much value we were providing the bars – driving footfall at quieter times, and as our tech developed, we proved to them how much people were spending after their free drink.We then started working with alcohol brands to ‘sponsor’ those free drinks, and we had our winning formula connecting the three stakeholders of nightlife – alcohol brands, venues, and consumers.Over time, we’ve refined the platform and its focus to provide brands with a scalable, data-driven approach to sampling, bars with new customers and an increase in spend and offering users a way to discover the best bars and pubs in their cities.We’ve now worked with some of the largest drinks brands in the world, from Patrón to Guinness, and have partnered with the best bars and pubs across the UK and created highly-curated guides for all kinds of users – from a bottomless brunch to the best pint in your local boozer.We’ve now amassed more than 800,000 users, with a focus on Gen Z, given away more than a million drinks and launched in all major cities across the UK.Trends today come and go with incredible speed amongst consumers. What keeps DUSK unique and timeless?Consumers, hospitality and the drinks industry are intrinsically linked.For consumers, we’ve made going out more simple, yet special

After tasting it ourselves and posting online, it became pretty clear that people wanted to try it too, putting their night out in the chatbot’s hands – Drinks Digest teamed up with OTHERWORLD, the perfect partner for cocktails and technology to bring this virtual reality to London.”