When creating new campaigns, brands must pay a huge attention to this totally different target that Generations Z is, in comparison to previous ones:
▪ Very ambitious, engaged and wanting to change the world.
▪ Because they also want to be different from each other, they go with brands offering aspirational experiences and new ways of expressing their personality.
▪ They don’t like to wait, they represent the “now” generation.
▪ Clothes, foods and drinks are their favorite thing to spend money on.
▪ Even if they prefer to save money rather than spend it, they have a huge spending power, influencing a good part of their parents’ purchases.
▪ Digital natives, grown up with Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Instagram, Whats App, Snapchat.
▪ Multi-tasking, multi-screeners, available anytime and anywhere.
▪ They want to take part of adventures, this is why when it comes to work they take into consideration entrepreneurship and flexible working hour and not the classical 9-5 working program.
The strategist Bill Alberti mentions in AdWeek six rules that should be followed by brands in order to connect with Gen Z:
- Show them your true (weird, quirky, funny) brand personality.
Brands targeting Gen Z will be best served by exposing their relatable sides, their human touch and their willingness to put the brand in the background for the sake of just being playful.
- Have NoFilter.
Following on the first rule, for brands looking to engage Gen Z, authenticity rules. Don’t be afraid to create content that is real. YouTube stars aren’t mainstream famous, but teens can’t get enough of them because they relate to their authenticity.
- Find a cause, because it’s important to make a difference.
Gen Z kids will be far more serious, careful consumers than millennials. They want to know that what they’re doing, however small, is enough to make a difference. For brands that understand this, there’s opportunity to connect on a deeper level by showing teens they care about the same issues.
- Get social in the channels where Gen Z lives.
Social media engagement on the highest level is something that brands marketing to Gen Z need to perfect, because Gen Z is the curation generation—collecting, sharing, and remixing their own spheres of influence, control and notoriety.
- Find their tribes.
Gen Z is inquisitive about the world, seeking self-validation in syncing with others who tick the same way. Connecting with like-minded people means more to them than hearing brands tell them about their world, or who they should or shouldn’t be in it.
So, be the conduit. Help them find others like them. But do it on Gen Z’s terms—not your brand’s—and always in one-to-one moments they can share with friends, followers and onlookers. Don’t know their rules? It’s fine to ask but never OK to assume.
- Break through the clutter.
Never has a generation had more opportunities to be distracted, overstimulated and overscheduled than Gen Z. They have more access to and interest in so many things around them. For a brand to break through the hype, it needs to understand and embrace that.
The big difference for this generation is their access to everything, everywhere and the expectations that holds for any experience. There is nothing holding them back. They have access to and absorb massive amounts of information—binge-watching, searching and finding nearly anything. Brands need to keep this in mind. Content needs to be creative, relevant and fun—or Gen Z will simply tune out.
According to Sparks & Honey, the brands’ messages should:
- Be short
- Feed curiosity
- Be visual across screens
- Empower users with control over preference settings
- Connect viewers with live-streaming technology
- Inspire audiences with social causes to rally behind
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