‘Redefining adulthood’: Understanding Gen Z and why this matters for brands
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In an industry often known for its obsession with youth, the term “Gen Z” is never far from the mouths of any brand marketer, agency or media owner.
But who are Gen Z? What do they like, what do they want, how do they feel?
Earlier this year, Channel 4 launched Gen Z: Trends, Truth and Trust, in partnership with Craft, in a bid to gain a deeper understanding on what appears to be the most sought-after audience segment.
Some of those behind the research discusses its implications and learnings with The Media Leader.
Misconceptions and stereotypes
For Channel 4, its interest in Gen Z is not new.
The Beyond Z study in 2022 sought to explore whether the stereotypes of this cohort perpetuated in media had any grounding in reality.
“What we’ve found is a lot of what we think we know about young people actually isn’t right,” says Katya Des-Etages, research manager at Channel 4. “We have a lot of misconceptions about them. They’re not just this one single homogeneous group.”
Too Much to Watch came the following year, which zoomed out to look at wider digital and video consumption trends.
Taking into account the learnings from both studies led the team to develop Gen Z: Trends, Truth and Trust, released in January.
The survey encompassed 2,000 people aged 13-27 and 1,000 people aged 28-65, alongside ethnographic visits, in-depth interviews with young people and an extensive literature review.
For Joe Hall, Channel 4’s senior research executive, the study aimed to “really get under the skin of who young people see as the people that they go to for their source of information and then, beyond that, how are they actually consuming it and how brands can actually speak to them”.
Redefining adulthood
One highlight was the insight that, despite the tendency to think of young people being passionate about major global topics such as climate change, they also care deeply about issues close to home, such as the cost of living and housing.
“I think that’s really important to flag: those big societal issues matter, but if you’re young, you’re sort of going through university and going into the real world, [issues close to home] matter more,” Hall says.
Linked to this is what the media sometimes refers to as “delayed milestones” but for which Channel 4 prefers the term “redefining adulthood”.
It’s about readdressing what “being young” means now, Hall suggests: “That kind of framework of getting a nice job, find someone to marry, a house — that’s just not really the case for young people.”
Calling it a “massive space for exploration”, Des-Etages suggests this is an important area for brands to acknowledge.
She says: “How can you tell them: you’ve got more time to explore and try new things, and you’re really trying to figure out your identity. How can we show you that an experience with us is something that’ll live with you forever?”
One trend here is the rise of the “little treats” culture. Hall advises: “How do I make the small moments in life feel like luxury? If brands are able to tap into that, it feels like gold dust.”
How Gen Z view the world
Notably, the research found that the notion of “tribes” as previously favoured by many researchers and media owners, including Channel 4, has transformed.
Such use of interests and hobbies is quite limiting, Des-Etages finds: “Actually, people are quite boring. They like quite similar things. It’s not the best way of defining difference.”
At the same time, simply using demographics misses out on nuance.
Instead, the study identified six main world views of Gen Z, although Hall stresses that these overlap and young people “move between them”.
Des-Etages explains: “These segments are not necessarily going to tell people where they buy their milk and what holidays they’re planning next.”
But what it does do is, she adds, is highlight the need to understand the way people look at the world and how brands can connect with that.
Hall adds: “Showing up authentically is a thing which matters most. Not trying to fit into something which you’re not as a brand because people just see right through it and they’ve got a million other options now.”
Distribution of trust
Elsewhere, the research found that Gen Z are more trustworthy than the general public and, importantly, are 66% more likely to trust brands.
“The important thing is that distribution of trust,” Hall notes. “When you look at the older generation, you’ve got a hierarchy; things like the BBC are right at the top, then lower down are things like advertising.
“When you look at 13-27s, it’s pretty flat.”
For him, this difference is “clearly” a result of media fragmentation. “It wasn’t just young people being contrarian and saying ‘I don’t trust the BBC’, because they do. But they’re also questioning other sources in thinking.”
This presents its own challenges for a broadcaster such as Channel 4. As head of sales strategy Sam Hicks acknowledges: “That’s part of the digitalisation strategy that we’ve been looking at in terms of making sure we are where that audience is.”
She points out that Channel 4 was the first broadcaster to show content on social platforms — “and to be able to monetise it as well” — and it is working with young talent as part of its commissioning for youth sub-brand 4.0 “because we know that they’re trusted voices as well”.
All that work is about “surfacing” the brand, Hicks says: “In that land of the algorithm, how do we make sure as a trusted source that we’re there?
“So this research really informs where as a brand we’re able to show up, then how brands can work with us to be able to connect with the audiences.”
This is certainly not just true for Channel 4.
For brands, Des-Etages adds, “they need to be able to speak in this audience’s language”.
“You need to actually consult with them. If you’re not working with them, you’re probably not going to get it right,” she continues.
“So my advice would always be: work with young people, get them in on the creative process, get them in on the brand strategy and how you want to move things forward.”
Gender divergence
Moving forward, Channel 4 is keen to explore its understanding of Gen Z further.
One area of interest for Hall is gender divergence and the “lack of constructive messaging for men and around masculinity, and that confusion on what it means to be a man”.
He observes: “Girls are going through this really, really important period of empowerment. Where do men sit within that?”
Adding that it’s also about masculinities “in plural”, Hall says: “We are having a real focus on young men and boys because that’s where the cultural conversation is.”
The team are currently working on this piece of research, Mirror on Masculinities, which will be released in July.
“It’s really interesting to hear these different perspectives,” he continues. “And there’s so much positivity and optimism, and I feel like maybe generally we’re missing that.”
And this of course has implications for brands. Des-Etages says: “We’ve got the space to think about the positive narratives that brands should really be bringing to their campaigns. I feel like there’s always opportunity in darkness and that is to make things lighter and better for everyone.
“You have to know the issue and the problem before you can find the solutions.”