Brands for GenZ: Conversations with Digital Natives

One of my top SXSW sessions was ‘Conversations with Digital Natives’. David Polinchock, Director of Marketing at AT&T hosted a panel with two 13 year olds who gave us an insider’s view into the world of GenZ and how to connect with them. They took us through a range of issues, both from a personal perspective and via a survey they’d conducted on a wide range of topics with their peers.

I was struck by so many things, not least the mature, lucid view of so many life trends that punctuate their existence.

Personalize Now

But if I had to sum up in one word it would have to be personalization. Everything in teen world must be adapted and personalized – not least amongst each other. They can “route” (hack/unlock) their phones and call themselves Redditors as they build and make social media content out of even the most prosaic apps like Evernote. Customization really matters in a world where creative adaptation is a state of being. The good news story for brands here is that this group welcomes personalized advertising (especially in the Chat space). They want to feel like the brand ‘knows’ them and on the basis that they accept advertising will be everywhere, they’d much rather it connected with them on a level they might interact with. They may even be happy to help those brands, show them the characteristics they identify with and the content they want to see more of.

And so it follows that the personalized share of message must be front of mind for any brand. Word of mouth is critical for this bunch, stuck as they are in the same school buildings 7 hours a day. But that means everything has a short shelf life. News, features, stunts get old very quickly. It matters therefore to connect over specific ideas. They view broadcast networks as the place where influencers don’t influence (for instance A listers) and where life is so sensationalized it is irrelevant. They still log into Facebook, but because feeds are driven by the OMG factor – super great or super terrible – they no longer see it as a place for true engagement. They’re looking for communities to join (Google+ and Hangouts are big) and will connect to brands & communities on the basis of emotional relevance.

Bored of perfection & tired of fake

The influencer, however, who can show their talent at a specific desirable skill wins infinite respect. They seek this on their content feeds and embrace the immediate skill acquisition that a YouTube how-to-er can give them. Interestingly, or perhaps depressingly, they are conscious that their world is so incredibly competitive that detailed knowledge is critical to survival, let alone success.

There was therefore much discussion on authentic engagement and this led into an interesting view of privacy. First of all, they still develop different personae. The public “you” is for parents, teachers, mentors. The private “you” is for different content platforms and friendship groups. This isn’t being disingenuous. It is discovering and protecting yourself. No one wants to be the kid on the bus from Oklahoma forever, and tucking parts of yourself away is so important to personal future-proofing. In this they stand out from GenY whose vibe is very driven by posting the perfect self. GenZ wants private messaging apps and enjoys kicking around on Tor. They are very much the post-Snowden generation and fear the consequences of public information remaining visible forever.

So what would Future Foundation say is trending for GenZ?

Personalize Now! Connected Communities, The Celebrity Next Door, Authenti-Seeking and the Power of Anon. Click here to find out more on these trends.