Marketing to Gen Z - Jon Achar
Who is Gen Z?
Generation Z consists of people born between the years of 1997 and 2013. A massive group of people most of whom grew up in a time of rapidly improved technology and most importantly social media. Generation Z more than any other generation knows what they want and how to find it online. However advertisers consistently miss the mark when it comes to Generation Z.
What Do They Care About
Generation Z is constantly online and well informed about social issues but, large companies try to capitalize this in the wrong way. Corporations tend to tailor their ads around a social issue and it very really works. The most notorious example is Pepsi with their ad starring Kendall Jenner. The Jenner ad shows the model handing a police officer a Pepsi and ending a standoff between police and protestors. Pepsi’s failure shows the problems companies encounter when marketing to Generation Z. As a group they are more educated than generations before 57% pursued education after highschool. Due to this as a whole Generation Z will look at advertisements with a more critical eye than companies are used to. Within Generation Z there is a lot of tuning out and unfollowing due to this critical eye. On social media especially those in Generation Z are inundated with advertisements and sponsored posts. Research shows that about one third of the generation unfollow or full on block brands almost weekly.
How Do We Reach Them
With more and more people tuning out, how do advertising cut through the smoke? Well the obvious answer would be to show support for your desired customer base. However this is a very sharp double edged sword. Every June 1st company after company changes their profile pictures and makes posts for Pride Month. But every July 1st everything goes back to business as usual. So what’s the issue? The issue being this is the most transparent form of social activism. Generation Z already has a hard time trusting big business with only 42% trusting companies and 48% believing companies have a positive effect on society. This distrust is already a massive hurdle for any company to climb but trying to piggyback on their social causes only increases this distrust. Corporations shouldn’t fully abandon their activism; rather, they should clearly plan out their strategy. A lot of social media campaigns from companies surrounding social issues come off as half baked and whether it’s intended or not panders to its audience. While it does show that in at least the same way the company cares about consumer’s causes (especially Generation Z) all it shows is that companies think any attempt at activism will generate more money. On the flip side a genuine effort for social change can do a ton for Generation Z consumers. A great example of this is Patagonia, their entire social media presence is devoted to environmental causes, so much so that it seems selling clothes is secondary. Their feed is full of beautiful pictures of nature coupled with an environmental message. So, it did not feel out of place when Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia donated the company (valued at $3 billion) to fight climate change. Due to Patagonia’s track record of activism this did not seem out of the ordinary. Granted they probably would’ve received a similar reception without their track record, Chouinard’s donation helped cast a light on the issue and the company as a whole. The Instagram post publicizing Chouinard’s donation is by far their most interacted with post. It has 400,000 likes and 11 thousand comments; all of their other posts don’t even come close to this number. A genuine effort is the world of activism that can be a great way into the minds of Generation Z.
Works Cited
Mitchell, Travis. “On the Cusp of Adulthood and Facing an Uncertain Future: What We Know about Gen Z so Far.” Pew Research Center's Social & Demographic Trends Project, Pew Research Center, 2 Mar. 2023, https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2020/05/14/on-the-cusp-of-adulthood-and-facing-an-uncertain-future-what-we-know-about-gen-z-so-far-2/.
Petrock, Victoria. “Gen Z Doesn't Trust Big Business.” Insider Intelligence, Insider Intelligence, 12 Nov. 2021, https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/gen-z-doesnt-trust-big-business.
Proulx, Mike. “Reaching Gen Z Starts with Understanding Their Truths.” Forrester, 17 Feb. 2021, https://www.forrester.com/blogs/reaching-gen-z-starts-with-understanding-their-truths/.