Marketers spent the past decade and a half obsessing over how to reach millennials (many of whom are in their late thirties by this point, god help us).
Now, brands are turning their attention to Generation Z … and some are a little flummoxed about how to relate.
Gen Z, which includes preteens and young twenty-somethings, has the reputation of being media savvy, elusive, vocal, plugged in, always on, highly skeptical, self-expressive, politically active, advertising averse, financially frugal because many grew up during the 2008 recession and generally uninterested in gimmicks. Oh, and they have an aversion to being placed into boxes.
Which makes Gen Z sound kinda scary and impossible to market to.
The cure for cringe
But if brands want to understand Gen Z, all they really have to do is ask, said Peyton Verhoeven, the 17-year-old cofounder of Think Gen Z, a Toronto-based consultancy she launched in 2018 at the age of 13 with her older sister, Ella, now 20, to help brands stop flailing in their attempts to communicate with Zoomers.
(Actually, please don’t ever refer to the members of Generation Z as “Zoomers,” thank you.)
The Verhoeven sisters decided to create Think Gen Z, which is the first consultancy focused on Generation Z in Canada, after seeing one too many ads that missed the mark.
“Brands were trying to connect with us, but we realized that they just weren’t speaking our language,” Verhoeven said. “The humor could be sort of … cringey, so we decided to do something about it.”
Think Gen Z (or “Zed,” as Verhoeven says it, as a Canadian) offers a mix of consulting services and consumer insights. Advertisers can book Peyton and her sister to evaluate their brand through a Gen Z lens or just answer questions about what the heck Gen Z is into.
Brands can also tap into a network of more than 400 Gen Zers across every province in Canada to gather insights through online surveys, run virtual focus groups or to get feedback on a new product or marketing campaign.
If a brand needs a quick opinion on something, Think Gen Z can text the network for real-time responses.
“Brands do need to listen to us because we’re a growing consumer base,” Verhoeven said. “And we don’t just have our own spending power, we’re also influencing what our family is spending on.”
Nearly 90% of parents involve their Gen Z age children in buying decisions.
Getting into Gen Zed’s head
Think Gen Z has worked with CPG brands, skincare companies and shopping centers, and partnered with many different agencies.
But one of the first questions Verhoeven gets regardless of the client is, “What can we actually do to resonate with your generation?”
Although the answer can vary depending on the brand, there are a few pearls of wisdom that apply across the board.
For example, it’s better to do something bold and learn from the mistake if it doesn’t work than to be overly restrained for fear of messing up, Verhoeven said.
“Even if you fail, we’ll see that there was an effort,” she said. “Then it can be a kind of iterative process so the brand can improve next time.”
TikTok is a good example. Lots of brands use humor on TikTok in an attempt to connect with Gen Z. It doesn’t always land, but “sometimes it can be really funny and engaging,” Verhoeven said, “and Gen Zed loves interacting with brands on social media.”
Gen Z cheat sheet
What else does Gen Z love? Verhoeven spilled the tea.
Re: the best place to reach a Gen Z audience: “TikTok is dominant. But Instagram is still very important. Many of us are scrolling on it every day. Snapchat is kind of decreasing in popularity with our generation. Another big one is BeReal, where you get a notification at different times every day and you have to take a photo of yourself right then, whatever you’re doing. It’s not superficial, it’s not edited and it’s really aligned with our appreciation for authenticity.”
Re: where Gen Z gets its news: “Many of us do turn to Instagram and TikTok for news to read quick headlines here and there. Another way is through Apple News notifications that pop up on our phones throughout the day. I have to say, though, that not too many of us regularly scroll through and read the news. But those who do are extremely passionate about social injustice issues.”
Re: whether brands should have an opinion on politics or social issues: “It depends on what a brand is supporting, but I feel like anything they stand for should align with what they offer as a brand. Brands shouldn’t force themselves into things like abortion or gun control or whatever the issue is just because they think Gen Zed cares about it.”
Re: advertising: “It really depends on the Gen Zed. We have to be careful about the media we consume. We’re always asking, is it real, is it clickbait, is it relevant to us, does it align with our values? I personally don’t have any issue with advertising, but it can get annoying at times. Sometimes it feels like we’re being bombarded and like every time you go on a social media platform there’s more and more ads there.”
Re: online privacy: “It’s quite important, but we’re also digital natives. We grew up with iPads in our hands, so we aren’t apprehensive online. We accept cookies more than, say, my parents’ generation. When they go to search something up and then see an ad for that thing, like, a second later, they get mad.”
Re: the “value exchange:” “I don’t know that term. But because we grew up during the recession, we saw our parents struggle and so we’re frugal and we love rewards, promotions and discounts. We’d willingly share information about ourselves to get free stuff – but it has to have actual value. The value of what we’re getting in return has to be quite good if you want to get our information.
“But sometimes I feel like there’s a lack of trust between brands and our generation.”
(Regarding the headline: “Cheugy,” by the way, means to be out of date or to try too hard. In case you hadn’t already searched it up.)
