Third day at #ESOMAR Summer Camp I attended the workshop Understanding the NextGens (Generation Y & Z) to create future proof branding and communication strategies. It was an excellent workshop and this blog post gives insights of what trends and general drivers you need to be aware of when communicating with GenZ.
The workshop was excellently executed by:
- Annelies Verhaeghe, Managing Partner, InSites Consulting, Belgium
- Joeri Van den Bergh, Co-founder & managing partner, InSites Consulting, Belgium
- Katia Pallini, Research Innovation Manager, InSites Consulting, Belgium
Workshop: Cross Generational Insights & Branding
The different generations (we worked only with nr 3 and 4)
- Babyboomers 1946-64 (51-69 years) – I´m confident
- Gen X 1964-1979 (36-50 years) I´m stressed out
- Gen Y 1980-1996 (19-35 years) I´m balancing
- Gen Z 1997-2011 (4-18 years) I´m impatient
Starting the day we addressed the presentation of ourselves in a refreshing way by first giving our name (of course), a childhood secret (which set a joyful ambience) and the challenges we face at work (to set the expectations right) related to the NextGens.
The childhood secrets ranged from stealing grandparents chocolate to revenging on the brother by dipping his toothbrush in the toilet to cross dressing with moms clothes. My secret was that my brother and me often open christmas presents before christmas eve and the most memorable gift that we played with was a hockey game.
Divided into groups of three we went into a ”museum of the generation” which was a set of around 25-30 slides on a wall with survey facts around the NextGens. During 30 minutes we came up with hypothesis and isights based on the visualised trend about the next generations for branding and communication. Before InSite Consulting presented their survey made in 9 different market addressing over 200 people in each we discussed our on finding.
Identified trends about GenZ, what they like, want, react and act:
- Fear of missing out #FOMO
- Brand loyalty – once convinced their brand loyalty is strong
- Ephemeral – ”here today gone tomorrow” – like SnapChat and Meerkat
- Driver behaviours
- Access – on demand
- Information
- Equal, balanced relationship is second nature
- Mobile first – digital natives
- Conscious about eating, ingredients and origin of products #goodforyou
- True environmentalists – care of our planet and the future of it
- Entrepreneurial #createsuccess #mycreation
- Don´t have a problem with failing
- Role models are peers and parents
- Attention threshold
- Learn by visuals #showme
- Everything now #wantitnow
- Privacy awareness
In next post you will get the 4 characteristics of Generation Z. By having these 4 characteristics in mind when planing a campaign or communication push towards GenZ your more likely to find the drivers that will make them engage.
