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Big brands are courting Generation Z consumers more than ever, while trying to seem authentic and avoid doing anything that could get them “cancelled”.
The Gen Z cohort spans those born between 1997 and 2012 and forms about a quarter of the workforce in the US, which has driven companies to better understand their desires.
Mara Stolzenbach, director of strategy at dcdx, an advisory firm that specialises in Gen Z, says the key to brand success with this generation is authenticity, a view that stems from a saturation of inauthentic advertising on social media platforms such as TikTok.
“Having grown up [online], Gen Z are really good at sniffing out marketing that feels like it’s pandering,” Stolzenbach says. “We’re just so used to it, like we’ve seen it for a little bit longer, and we’ve grown, honestly, a little bit tired of it.”
To capture Gen Z’s attention and avoid pitfalls of inauthenticity, companies have turned to a growing number of specialist advisers to help shape their branding.
This market has also led larger public relations agencies, including Edelman and Berns Communications, to launch Gen Z units to advise companies on how to hone their marketing message.
Amanda Edelman, chief operating officer of Edelman’s Gen Z Lab, says the division was formed three and a half years ago in an effort to meet client demand to better engage with young people.
“What we heard from that was this sort of dual sentiment — of, on the one hand, being incredibly excited about this large and growing generation . . . But the flip side . . . is that because this generation was so powerful, there was a large fear around cancel culture — saying or doing the wrong thing,” she says.
“This led a lot of our clients to be paralysed — to not do anything — and one of the main points that has come out in our data is that, for Gen Z, silence isn’t an option.”
Edelman’s point is supported by research from Kantar, a marketing analytics business, which found that 51 per cent of those born after 1997 believed buying from a company that supported causes they cared about was “extremely important”, compared with 42 per cent of people in the wider population who felt the same.
Stolzenbach says that in addition to social values, Gen Z’s desire for a link to positive events is also important when choosing a brand.
“Brands that really stand out are ones that can create kind of unique and memorable experiences for young people,” she says. “People don’t talk about brands, they talk about experiences.”
Stolzenbach cites dcdx research in 2024 that showed brands such as media groups Disney, Spotify and Netflix were among the most “magnetic” for Gen Z, something she links to the positive connotations and experiences associated with the companies.
“They stand out because people want to talk about [them] and [they] resonate with the things that they love,” she adds.
By contrast, the dcdx research showed that coffee chain Starbucks had suffered one of the greatest drops in “magnetism” as the company faced calls from activists for a boycott after it sued a staff union over a social media post relating to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The company has insisted it has “no political agenda” and rejected rumours on social media that it was using its profits to fund “any government or military operations anywhere”.
To better engage with Gen Z, companies are increasingly riding on the back of social media trends and using online influencers in an effort to promote their brands.
Kantar’s research found that 53 per cent of Gen Z liked it when online figures recommended products in their posts or videos, compared with 32 per cent of the wider population.
Edelman highlights a partnership between her client, Unilever-owned deodorant and soap brand Dove, and pop star Charli XCX on her “Sweat” tour to plug the brand’s products on social media, as an example of the strategy.
Dove, which sponsored the Los Angeles leg of the tour, worked with influencers to publicise the brand’s whole-body deodorant spray, attracting thousands of views on social media.
“They launched a whole-body deodorant product around that tour because the brand identity and what they were talking about — confidence and body positivity — linked perfectly with what the Charli XCX fandom was talking about,” Edelman says.
Gonca Bubani, Kantar’s global thought leadership director, puts it more succinctly. “Unlike previous generations who grew up with brands talking at them before social media evolved, Gen Z expects to be a part of the conversation,” she says.
