What Do Over 2 Billion Gen-Z’ers Want From Brands?
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“Gen Z expected to make up for 32% of the global population, with India's Gen Z population crossing 472 million” - Bloomberg
Organisations have always struggled with trying to know what customers ‘really’ want from them. I too have worked long and hard on trying to uncover and understand consumer motivations, insights, trying to read in between lines of what is said and meant by consumers.
However, what happens when the customer DOES tell you what they expect from brands. The new customer may still not be clear about what they want from products. However, they do know how they want their brands to behave in the real world.
When I say ‘real world’, I mean the changed eco-system of target consumer and values they hold dear. These key characteristics change for each generation and marketing follows suit.
For this piece let’s look at the how Marketing Managers might be able to ‘get the pulse’ of their new customers.
The NEW customer
There has been a change of guard amongst the Marketing heads. The ‘Boomers’ (roughly 50-60 year olds) known for cut-throat marketing and management as we know it, are retiring. They are being replaced by the Millennials (roughly 28-35 year olds) who are said to be less hard-nosed and more work-life balance oriented.
However, what stays the same is the bloody competition to woo the new big consumer set. In this case, Gen Z (roughly 16-25 year olds). This set is a natural evolution of their predecessors, like a software update. They picked up where the previous generation left off and are pushing the boundaries on all fronts. For this piece I have drawn on my own research experience and the latest MTV Youth Study.
Gen Z Software upgrade
So this generation is more online, more connected on social media, more into gaming, more fame pursuing (reality show stars to social media influencers), and yet more pragmatic about not needing to like their jobs to make money... They are more ‘human values’ driven and are vocal about them.
Gen-Z has moved from the Millennial arm-chair activism of Facebook statuses to being more ‘active’. They have moved from ‘wanting change’ to actually ‘making the change’ happen. This is generation WOKE, and expect their brands to be too!
Generation ‘WOKE’
The single biggest observation of this can be seen with the race and gender equality protests in the United States. Maverick ice-cream brand Ben and Jerry’s was applauded for speaking up against ‘white supremacy’. Other brands came under fire for fence sitting or not speaking up.
Closer home, the Indian youth has been most ‘vocal for local’ as they call for a boycott of mobile phone applications and products from our hostile neighbour. They have also called out Bollywood on its nepotism and bullying like never before. This has resulted in actors and directors losing hundreds of thousands of followers within days, lawsuits being filed, petitions being signed for audience boycotts…
WOKE Brand Leadership
In such times, any brand not ‘woke’ enough risks being alienated or becoming irrelevant. I have tried to list some values that businesses would need to share with their with new consumers –
- End the tactical ‘brand hustle’ – many Brand Managers try to ‘cash-in’ on social media topicality. They don’t realise that this opportunism costs the brand its ‘authenticity-creds’ with Gen-Z.
It takes effort, consistency and a bit of daring, to build and sustain ‘Amul’ kind of communication.
- Authenticity – this generation holds brands accountable for their actions, i.e. putting their money where their mouth is. Gen Z seeks authenticity from their brands given they have been saddled with cleaning up after the ‘Boomer-Millennial’ party.
By example, competitor shoe brands Adidas and Allbirds are collaborating to come up with lowest carbon footprint shoes. Unilever has decided to ‘carbon label’ all their products to demonstrate a shared concern for the environment and climate change.
On the flipside, Starbucks’s ban on employees wearing t-shirts protesting racial discrimination had to be reversed and replaced hastily with specially designed t-shirts.
- Inclusion and progressiveness – this is the most inclusive generation, embracing diversity of race, gender, sexuality, equality, and forcing brands to take a stand.
By example, the ripple effect of racial protests in America, led to Clean-n-Clear stop selling fairness products in Asia and Middle East. The Indian ‘dark is beautiful’ campaign, fashion shoots and TV commercials with ‘dark skinned’ women, all reflect the social change.
- No more shaming – while the ‘Boomers’ may call this generation ‘overly sensitive’, the truth is Gen-Z are more self-aware and vocal about issues that no one ever spoke about; body image, skin colour, sexual preferences, bullying, exam pressure, poverty… This is a generation that ‘shames the shamers’.
Zomato’s tweet in response to a customer’s demand for religious discrimination among delivery personnel went viral for all the right reasons. One potentially lost customer was rewarded with greater brand loyalty among Gen-Z.
- Vulnerability – this is a BIG one! Gen Z doesn’t want excuses. They understand people and brands can make mistakes and occasionally slip-up. What matters to them, is that Brands own up to them and ‘fix’ things.
By example, Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal and BP’s oil spill (mis)management and subsequent apology could be case studies of ‘how not to’ apologise.
On the other hand, smaller brands tend to be more honest and upfront with their consumers. Perhaps, because they are closer to them than large brands. By example, Indian home décor start-up, The Wishing Chair sensed their customer’s underlying vulnerability and anxiety during Covid-19 and started a newsletter with content to help distract them.
To conclude, the Brand and Brand Manager teams are navigating unchartered territory. The consumer is well informed with unlimited access to information and the means to disseminate it. Smoke screens, lack of transparency, vagueness, opportunism doesn’t work with this generation of consumers. They clearly seek brands that share their ‘human’ values; authenticity, vulnerability, and inclusiveness. It is therefore, imperative for Brand Managers to think ‘as’ the Brand and do the ‘right thing’. After all, what’s a relationship without honesty.
