2018 Trends Report: Gen Z
2018 Trends Report: Gen Z
Written by: Sky King
Photo by Chang Duong on Unsplash
What it is:
Corporate America is too focused on millennials, and they will continue to be and lag behind small, data focused companies you see the social power of Generation Z. Gen Z have birthdates in the late 1990s and Early 2000s, what makes them specifically unique is they didn’t just grow up with some form of the internet, they grew up largely with iPhones, YouTube, Snapchat and all the companies that we think of cutting edge. In their limited timescale these companies are not cutting edge, they are a right, they are as normalized as shoes and as necessary. This may seem pre-mature, but if there is anything that I have learned watching how older generations have analyzed, judged, misjudged and been generally annoying about “millennials” is that it is never too early to take a sincere and earnest interesting in the social and societal interactions of a generation. Especially, before the narrative becomes rude, convoluted, and inaccurate.
Where it is on the Adoption Lifecycle?
Innovators
Why is this important for marketers and entrepreneurs?
“Brands can’t target Gen Z as one cohort; you have to split it up [into smaller groups] to actually get across to them,” – Tiffany Zhong
Tiffany Zhong is a 20 year old college dropout and venture capitalist who has marketed herself as the Gen Z whisperer. Not only does she run a fund, but she has a Youth Insights company called, Zebra Intelligence let me say that again… a youth insights company. And when she says youth, sadly, she isn’t talking about me (I just turned 25.) And yes, most of these youth might not have income yet, but they do have smartphones and they do get you VIEWSSSSS.
Views, shares, favorites, likes, comments, and subscriptions are the currency of Gen Z for now.
If you don’t find that important:
1. You are missing something.
2. These children will grow up, have incomes and become boring like the rest of us, but they will have been exposed to more brands in the time between now and then than all of the humans born before 1776 combined, probably. (Feel free to check my math on this.) Nostalgia to them will not be NYSYNC it will be Let It Go. (Again, think of the social implications)
If you are launching a company, or trying to market a product that you hope will become perennial, seek out Gen Z. Learn from them, understand how they interact with technology, understand how they interact with each other via technology.
“Stories you read when you're the right age never quite leave you. You may forget who wrote them or what the story was called. Sometimes you'll forget precisely what happened, but if a story touches you it will stay with you, haunting the places in your mind that you rarely ever visit.” – Neil Gaiman
Replace stories you read with videos, tweets, blogs, commercials, posts etc and we are still talking about the same world.