Our Gen Z Framework – Reimagining your offering for greater impact

Over the past few weeks, we at Gate One have been delving further into the insights gained from our collaboration with Gen Z students. This project produced a practical and reusable framework for businesses who want to deliver a step change in how they engage, trade with and/or attract Gen Z into their workforce. Now, we are sharing our A to Gen Z Framework, a reusable model that is relevant to all types of businesses and organisations in referencing to inform engagement strategies.?

You can get a copy here: https://gate-one.turtl.co/story/a-to-gen-z-framework/

More about Gen Z and the 6 C’s

Gen Z are now humanity’s largest generation and the first to be born into the digital age. They pride themselves on being ‘phygital’ (physical-digital) natives and they are nuanced, connected and powerful — given their age and numbers, they will profoundly impact the marketplace for decades to come.?

They have the tools, tenacity, and self-awareness to drive the change they feel is so badly needed. Plugged into culture and purpose, their playground to nurture this change is everywhere media is, from the beat of a song to the word of a social media post. Meeting them where they play, with offerings that respond to their nature and nurtured existences and preferences, will unlock massive opportunities for brands to better connect with the largest generation on the planet today.

While we all have access and familiarity with digital in this current age, different generations have come to these channels from different vantage points and with different agendas. Looking specifically at Gen Z, Havas has characterised this generation by 6 C’s. Firstly, they have faced constant Conflict in their short lifetime, from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to a hike in violent crimes and systemic racial injustice. Credit Crises have peppered this generation, from the early dot com bubble and global recessions in the 2000s to the unprecedented inflationary times across developed and developing markets today. Covid-19 engulfed over two years of their short lives and stripped educational rites of passage away. The impact of Climate Change is becoming a reality with every apocalyptic headline. A sense of Collaboration has emerged in their world, and they are the most Connected, faced with looping 24/7 news cycles.?

Why is the Gen Z Framework important?

As part of a collaboration with UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, we asked a group of dynamic international Gen Z students to strategically investigate how Gen Z behave as consumers and how best to engage this audience.

From this work emerged the A to Gen Z Framework, a reusable model that helps businesses and organisations to develop a better understanding of the characteristics of Gen Z and resulting implications for their offerings.

Gate One supported the students to identify the implications of these insights for one of our leading Irish clients and invited the students to present to the editorial team. In our client’s boardroom, the students provided clear and compelling recommendations with immediate and longer-term actions that the client might take to better serve this key audience.

Now available to download for the first time, the framework captures:

• Insights on Gen Z from the lens of Price, Product, Placement, Promotion, Engagement and Decision-making;
• Diving into each of these 6 six categories, insights backed up by stats and data are then translated into implications and actions for companies; and
• Gen Z’s unique values and traits are contextualised and brought to life through the visual juxtaposition with Millennial behaviours, the closest generation to Gen Z.

Making this relevant for you and your organisation

We encourage you to read and review the Gen Z Framework for yourself. Better still, we would welcome the opportunity to present it to you and your team, and to look at the implications for your business or organization. If that sounds interesting, drop me a message and let’s connect!