Understanding the Gen Z code, and why brands must crack it

By: Shweta Khosla
Students are out on the streets fighting for their idea of India because they care about righting perceived wrongs. But do they still care about shiny new cars? A home to call their own? Corner offices? Or is this generation redefining aspiration in a way brands will have to recalibrate to?
“I know someone who took a year off to watch content.” It’s a planner’s job to have insight into people and be non-judgmental about it but this statement from a Gen Z (those born between 1996 and 2010) research respondent, catapulted me straight into ‘Punjabi aunty’ mode. If millennials were entitled, these guys were taking it down another level. But my swelling generational superiority complex was punctured by their next statement. “We don’t trust the older generations. We want to make up our own minds about the world.”
That was a sharp accusation. Yet, it is the rite of passage for every generation to have angst against their predecessors. It comes from a place of fixing errors and limitations. But are we standing on the cusp of something larger than generational bickering?
While Greta Thunberg was storming the UN, Gen Z respondents were explaining to us how they weren’t accepting the messy social and economic structures created for them. They have the information, and more so the desire to be informed. That’s why they aren’t about ‘doing more’ like Generation Xers. Or about ‘exploration’ like the millennials. They believe they have inherited a world that is driving them to demand a different reality.
The first step for a brand that wants a place in their world is to understand their motivations. Here, then, is a snapshot of who they are, for brand owners to pick their own sliver of relevance:
On work: It’s not news that Gen Z is apathetic towards the capitalist mindset. It isn’t just about the environment and the demand for sustainable business; they don’t believe in being corporate slaves at all. They can make money being party managers or even PUBG strategists. They know that breadth of experience can be more fulfilling than climbing ladders. Consequently, they will always be in learning mode; jobs will be the new universities, and the CV sections will be lines in the sand.
On relationships: Flipping things is a defining philosophy and commitment-phobia an existential status. Uber and Furlenco are all proof that it’s about variety over ownership for this generation. It’s true even when it comes to essentials like ‘friendships’ — who wants to go through the same old drama of their regular friends when new company can reveal a new outlook? And this behaviour is beginning to cast doubt on social institutions like marriage. The philosophies they live by (like, ‘thank you – next?’) will give rise to a new kind of hybrid family system where exes, nexts and friends will co-exist.
On ambitions: They’ve even flipped the meaning of ‘keeping up with the Joneses’. ‘I have to see what everyone else is seeing.’ It’s not just FOMO and the desire to ‘fit in’. It is a rigorous search for meaning for a generation that is starting over. They have rejected our world and its definitions of aspirations and created a whole new playbook.
So, for members of the advertising and marketing community who have mastered the art of painting quality worlds that lure consumers, it’s time to reset.
Increasingly, brand communication is going to be by permission, but how do you create desire for the most pragmatic generation that ever lived, a generation that has no respect for labels? Brands that will succeed with them will be brands that become enablers in creating a version of their quality world. And Gen Z could do with the help.
Because, idealistic as they are, they are young yet, and the weight of the mantle they have decided to carry is heavy. Their mindset is leading to hyper-exploration, which sounds good but is perilous. ‘They know what they don’t want to do but they don’t know what they want to do.’ They are fidgety, and they don’t have the time to see if their individual experiment is working or not.
To top it all, they are constantly under the weight of those more successful than themselves. And there is no place in their world for average people or mediocrity. Therein lies potent opportunities for brands. Because Generation Zers need comfort zones and comrades more than aspirations.
Parting last words from a closet Punjabi aunty? I am Gen X, but I want to identify as Gen Z.
(The author is Executive Planning Director, Wunderman Thompson)