INTRODUCTION
Kate Jackson, a 17-year-old from Kansas City, Missouri, is just finishing her shift as a dishwasher and busser at Heirloom Bakery and Hearth. As usual, Kate is in a bit of a rush to get home to finish her homework, so she stops at one of her favorite restaurants, Chipotle, to grab a burrito bowl before heading home to hit the books.
Kate is a senior at Lincoln College Prep Academy, but tomorrow morning she’ll head to Penn Valley Community College, where she’s enrolled in its early college prep program. When she graduates from Lincoln Prep next spring (with honors), she will have earned both a high school diploma and an associate’s degree. She’ll also have about 60 college credits, which means she’ll automatically be a junior in college. She’s excited about all the money she’ll save on college tuition!
Today, Kate wants to major in chemistry, because “it will give me plenty of career options.” But Kate’s real desire is to be a crime scene investigator, so she can see herself pursuing a master’s degree in forensic science—but not before she studies abroad. Kate’s family has hosted five foreign exchange students in the past decade, so she is anxious to experience other cultures.
Between classes tomorrow, Kate will hang out with her diverse group of friends, including her boyfriend, Jose, a Mexican immigrant; Blair, a white bisexual; and Sharon, who is black and identifies as gender nonbinary (as does Jose). They may discuss the latest play they’re all in, the top news story of the day, or maybe a funny YouTube video.
In the evening, Kate will go home to hang out with her family, play Dungeons and Dragons, or perhaps read (she proudly self-identifies as a bookworm). Whatever she ends up doing, Kate probably won’t advertise it on social media as the rest of her friends do, as she’s a little less social than they are. She’s just as happy hanging out by herself as shopping with her friends at Forever 21 (Kate loves their $10-and-under section). She also loves to spend time volunteering at the local animal shelter. But these days, free time is hard to come by. Kate is laser-focused on keeping her grades up, earning money for college, and planning for her future.
Kate and her group of friends are quintessential Gen Z.
Great. Just when we thought we had Millennials figured out, a new generation of young consumers forces us into uncharted territory yet again.
While new to the scene, Kate and her Gen Z friends are not mysterious or even elusive. What they are, however, is resolute. Smart. Pragmatic. Hardworking. Entrepreneurial.
But are we really surprised? After all, each new generation brings its own set of attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors, and Generation Z is simply responding to an environment shaped by economic instability and social change. It’s our job, as marketers, to adapt and adjust to these changes. Which isn’t easy, as we’ve learned from our decade-long challenge of marketing to Millennials.
Reaching Generation Z will be just as demanding, if not more so, but it may also be the most enlightening and rewarding adventure of our careers. Kate represents an exciting generation destined to change the world.
And change the world they will. Gen Z is on track to become the largest generation, expected to represent 40 percent of consumers by the year 2020.1 They represent approximately $44 billion in direct buying power.2 And after you factor in their unprecedented influence on family spending (93 percent of parents say their children influence family and household purchases, Deep Focus’s Cassandra Report, 2015), that number jumps considerably. If you look at what parents and caregivers spend on Gen Z, they wield influence over as much as $255 billion. Taking it a step further, if you look at total household expenditures, the potential for Gen Z’s impact on other spending may be more than $665 billion.3 Generation Z is large, powerful, and challenging. Just as Kate sets high standards for herself, Gen Z expects brands to strive for excellence. These teens are powerful, passionate, and ready to engage.
In the postdigital, consumer-controlled economy of today, marketing to this group won’t be easy. In fact, many organizations are still totally preoccupied with the Millennial generation; they’ve overlooked the potential of Generation Z.
But we can’t really judge them; we’ve been rather preoccupied ourselves. Millennials were our original muse. We study them diligently at FutureCast, a marketing consultancy specializing in modern consumer trends. We literally wrote the book on Millennials.
Two, actually: Marketing to Millennials (2013) and Millennials with Kids (2015).
And in our research we began to recognize the major influences of Gen Z. We were fascinated and wanted to learn more. The same curiosity that fuels our investigation of the Millennial generation prompted us to add Gen Z exploration to our agenda.
As a result, we conducted one of the first deep-dive research projects with our partner and parent company, Barkley, to better understand the behaviors, attitudes, and motivations of Generation Z.