Gen Z (Ad Age) Summit, 2024

Published 14 March 2024

Author

9 min read

At Ad Age’s Gen Z Summit in New York City (March 6), marketers from youth-chasing brands, including McDonald’s, Walmart and the Women's National Basketball Association’s (WNBA) Liberty team, revealed what’s working with this generation. We unpack the highlights, from crafting campaigns around fan culture and consumer commentary to adopting “by and for” Gen Z brand models, embracing “rawthenticity” and dialling up creator-led content.

Creating Around Fan Culture & Consumer Commentary

‘By and For’ Gen Z Collabs

‘Rawthenticity’ Rolls On

Beauty Spotlight: Cementing Authority Through Credentialed Influencers

Several speakers advocated finding inspiration in fan perspectives – from customer feedback to fan culture, mining everything from long-cherished examples of brand appropriation within pop subcultures to the (sometimes crude) reviews on product pages as jumping-off points for campaigns.

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Embracing a “by and for” Gen Z model was another key theme – not new (see Beta Brandscapes, 2015 for the first emergence), but with amplified intention and fresh media pathways for 2024. Brands are inviting teens and young adults to very actively steer product development and marketing, and centring virtual-world activations around user-created rather than marketer-devised assets.

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Numerous speakers highlighted how Gen Zers are still pushing brands to work harder at engaging in ways that feel authentic – spurring investment in content that features confessional-style consumer communications (see also Look Ahead 2024: Pop Culture & Media), company employees (getting past a corporate façade) and rawer, behind-the-scenes-style footage.

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Beauty brands are looking to re-establish authority with young consumers who are easily swayed by less-than-qualified influencers. Clinique – one of the fastest-growing American brands among adult Gen Zers (Morning Consult, 2023) – discussed its new educational approach.

Gen Z (Ad Age) Summit, 2024

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Topics

Advertising & Branding

Retail

Metaverse

Children & Youth

Social Media

Influencers

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