Why Brands/Businesses Should Start Paying Attention to Gen Z

Who are Gen Z?

Generation Z (often abbreviated as Gen Z) is the demographic cohort after the Millennials. Demographers and researchers typically use the mid-1990s to early-2000s as starting birth years.

The bulk of this generation are currently in their teens and is a group still in formation are only starting to emerge slowly in the workforce, yet already they’re poised to be the most influential generation to date.

They currently have a spending power that is estimated to already be close to $153 billion, surpassing the millennial generation. If you’re a brand or business that is still figuring out how to target Millennials, I would say that you’re already a tad too late.

How They‘re Different

Gen Zs — They’re mostly parented by Gen X and Millennials, which is why they take on a hybrid of Gen X’s rebellious and non-conformist sensibility with Millennials’ self indulgence and seeking of their passions. As global connectivity soars, Gen Z are the true digital natives who have been exposed to the internet, social networks and mobile devices since birth. They have no idea what it’s like to live in a world without the internet. These group of people have become a potent influence of how business run due to the way they consume and relate to brands.

The Behavioural Patterns of Gen Z

These group of people value the expression of individuality and sense of uniqueness but are still high on likes and popularity. They mostly align themselves toward a variety of causes, and are champions of social justice with a profound belief in dialogue and making their voices heard. They think, make decisions, and relate in a highly analytical and rational way within the context of a larger global collective, which is why this is the generation that is destined for disruption as they truly believe that they can change the world for the better.

Because they are truly mobile native, they usually have a very short attention span. With a lack of focus, however, this generation could be better at multi-tasking. They could be working on a school assignment while doing research, shopping online, listening to Spotify and talking to a friend via desktop chat apps like WhatsApp or Telegram, with their mobile device on the side checking on social media apps like Instagram, Snapchat or Sarahah.

What This Means for Brands/Businesses

Living in a high-tech world full of constant updates, this native digital generation seek to satisfy their impulses through their phones and the internet; keep in mind that their attention span is much shorter than Millennials. Brands and businesses must create experiences that can either allow them to be immersed in, or allow them to translate it into their digital talk point or content. As this group of people see the need to put well-thought content into their feed, brands that do not relate well to this group will have a higher chance of failure.

Gen Z is mobile native, which means, while they still might have a need for laptops to work on assignments, their primary device is the mobile phone. They consume mobile content at a higher rate than other generations and navigate through the web extremely fast. Any content that is consumed through mobile — if not well-designed, could be missed or ignored. Brands must push for digital touch points that align with other touch points to create a seamless omni-channel experience.

Omni-What?

Let’s divert for a second to talk about this; Multi-Channel and Omni-Channel experience differs at how each brand or business uses it. Both are similar in a sense where they use different channels as touch points. But, how seamless it feels at different touch points of these channels decide whether it’s Omni-Channel. Disney’s push for digital transformation allowed them to create an Omni-Channel experience from the time someone makes a booking to visit the park. Exploring restaurants and the park on the website and the app incorporates a pre-engagement strategy that allows the user to add excitement to the planning of the trip. On arrival, each member of the family gets a waterproof wrist band for that acts not only as the key to the room, but also a ticket to the park. It also becomes the primary payment in the park which means you don’t have to carry any cash or cards around.

Disney lets you know that you’re tracked when wearing the wristband. This enables them to gather enormous amounts of data to refine the experiences at the park — allowing for better services and more help at certain spots.

With a spectacular brand experience like this, it almost always creates a lasting impression that leaves people talking about and even sharing it on social media on how marvellous the experience was, which in turn, creates a stronger brand for Disney.

How Brands Can Target Gen Z

Of course, not every brand or business is Disney, but it gives a clear idea of how brands or businesses could create an experience to target the new generation of big spenders. If your company hasn’t started looking at Gen Z as your customer base, you are essentially letting billions of dollars slip right through.

To target Gen Z, like any other generations before, you have to understand their behavioural patterns. These behavioural patterns will help to identify what to target them with and how to target them. Some of them, with major social influence, could make or break a brand.

Social Causes

Recently brands around the world have been stepping up to curb the usage of plastic straws — in favour of either going straw-less or eco-friendly straws. If brands refuse to change and keep offering plastic straws (even out of convenience) they could receive backlash and threats to boycott the brand. Starting from Millennials to Gen Z, these group of people will take over the transition in making an effort towards a cause they believe in. So if brands align themselves towards a worthy cause, these people would essentially be attracted to the values of the brand that they hold themselves, and have a higher chance of them buying into the brand.

Online Videos

Advertisers find every way possible to utilise YouTube. From advertising on the platform itself, to working with content creators on YouTube to feature products or services. Because videos reign online. When used correctly, they tell a better story than photos or words. Platforms like Instagram have started to feature IGTV in efforts to bringing in more content creators onto their platform because they know that content creators like these are what drives users to the platform, which in turn drives advertisers and revenue.

Social Media

I’m not just talking about Instagram, Facebook or Snapchat. These days, social apps are rampant in terms enabling people to share their content. Apps like TikTok have gained traction in how interesting content can be made and shared, which in turn allow for newer trends to be set. For instance, the new trending hashtag #PetsWave from TikTok has been driving people from Instagram to their own app just so that they can create the same videos they have seen on other accounts. However, this is just the surface of social apps. They are evolving to something more than just sharing, but to create compelling content that their followers can indulge in.

Collaboration

These days, collaboration could be anything at all. From brands like Louis Vuitton collaborating with Supreme, to YouTubers being featured on each other’s channels. Collaborations like these do bring about fresh perspectives that could entice customers from both brands to buy into the collaboration, and in turn, convert them to customers of both brands separately.

Resonate

Brand stories are essentially values that are being put on display to public. For example, Dove is a brand that is known for its diversity when it comes to advertising, celebrating women of different races and sizes. People who might have struggled in terms of weight issues might find that they resonate with brands like Dove that embrace them for how they feel about themselves. Or someone who is handicapped might feel that Nick Vujicic is someone they aspire to be, or even look up to — maybe because they resonate with his physical abilities, but more importantly, his values; they feel the same way that having disabilities doesn’t mean it’s the end of the world, but something they could use to inspire others too. Brands must retain its relevance or risk losing brand presence and values. How they can achieve this is to keep communicating these values through the omni-channel touch points.

What, next?

Brands and businesses need to be prepared for disruption and re-alignment of brand values in order to fulfil its brand promise to the newer generation. When a brand is progressive, it evolves to think and communicate its values that drive people to trust the brand. Apple evolved from being a computer startup, to a tech company, to a lifestyle company that pushes boundaries with technology. Within the last decade, phones evolved, industries were uprooted and transformed entirely. In 2007, Microsoft’s ex-CEO, Steve Ballmer, thought the iPhone was a joke back then — and yet, the Windows Phone no longer exists today. The hotel industry also made a mistake when they took no notice of AirBnb, and didn’t bother with pushing forward with digital transformation — that was until AirBnb took away a huge chunk of the market share, and the hotel industry started taking action to try win back the market.

Industries change, and brands/businesses have to change and adapt; if not, they’ll become irrelevant and eventually obsolete. With the new generation, expect nothing less than that. Gen Z are a group of people who are outspoken and have a purpose when it comes to making choices in their everyday lives.

With that said, Generation Alpha (2010–2025) are still at infancy stage, but there is much to consider what the future would be. While Speculative Design would be great for building counteractive strategies for brands and businesses to keep reinventing themselves, it would be ideal to start targeting Gen Z whilst not losing sight of the Millennials.