Your stereotypes about Gen Z aren’t just inaccurate. They’re hurting your business

Are you sick of hearing about Gen Z yet? For more than a decade, they’ve been the premier target audience for brands and entertainment. They’ve dominated trend reporting, research, and the cultural zeitgeist. But, despite all of those studies, what have we actually learned? Is there really any connective tissue that unites everyone born between 1997 and 2010?

The truth is, there is no Gen Z—not how we’ve come to define it. We’ve painted the generation as more socially conscious and purpose-driven, more addicted to technology, and credited (or blamed) them for new slang. We’ve complained that they don’t take life seriously and use humor as coping mechanisms, and that they don’t want to work or go to college. But these are the same stereotypes that have been articulated about young people for generations.

The reality is more nuanced. And unfortunately, when it comes to how brands categorize and engage different generations, nuance is not generally welcome. That disconnect has led to some pretty tone-deaf brand moments.

Take 2017’s infamous “Live for Now” Pepsi campaign—an early example of the pitfalls of broadly gesturing toward supposed Gen Z tropes and expecting it to land. On paper, Kendall Jenner heading into the streets to participate in a vague protest of some kind might seem like a great way to fulfill all of the Gen Z stereotypes. Instead, it missed the mark completely, turning Pepsi into a punchline.

Driven by radical shifts in politics, culture, economics and more, members of Gen Z are less likely to share as many commonalities as you might think. In a way, there is no Gen Z. Or, at least, brands will need to act that way if they want to stop misrepresenting one of the industry’s most coveted demographics.

Going solo

Forget relying on some vague understanding of their overlapping interests. By all accounts, Gen Z is the first solocultural generation. Their practically unlimited access to information and culture from such a young age has created an incredibly individualistic view of the world, one where they all perceive the world around them differently. This then shapes how they engage with the world through algorithms and other choices, which feeds back to them an even more personalized perspective of the world. The result is a cycle where individual Gen Zers become less and less connected by shared realities.

No previous generation has dealt with such a shift—from broad, connected understandings of the world around them to complete schisms in reality—and while every generation is dealing with the impact of soloculture, Gen Z has felt the brunt of its impact the most in their pivotal developmental years.

This fracturing of collective identity has led to a lot of misunderstandings by those hoping to predict their behavior. For example, the broad assumption that Gen Z was the most socially conscious generation ever created early perceptions that it would be an extremely liberal voting block. This has been proven wrong multiple election cycles in a row, especially amongst young men.  Instead, a variety of fragmentation points in Gen Z, from employment to education to specific beliefs in certain civil and human rights issues, prove that even though they are the same age, the consumption and behaviors of Gen Z are not consistent person-to-person.

Similarly, when Gen Z was labeled as more sustainably minded, many brands looked for ways to message their eco-friendly bonafides to woo consumers. But at the same time, Gen Z helped enable the rise of fast-fashion behemoths like Shein. Their reality is complex: Gen Z wants to be able to shop in a considered way, but prices and other challenging parameters make it difficult for them to say no to cheaper options.

Some brands do get things right, though. The annual Spotify Wrapped, and the ad campaigns surrounding it, feel highly specific while still broad enough for others to connect with and signal something about themselves. That specificity, enabled by data and presented in an incredibly shareable way, makes it a powerful signaling tool. But these types of approaches aren’t the norm.

Getting past stereotypes

Instead, initial perceptions around Gen Z that were born from kernels of truth over a decade ago have now hardened into perceived fact. To change that, brands and marketers need to be more curious and continually challenge our biases to refresh our understanding. 

• Follow new research, not old assumptions: It can be tempting to fall back on tried and true data, but the world of Gen Z is always changing. So, their needs, wants, options and beliefs are always changing too, sometimes with huge swings that make relatively recent research obsolete. That’s why it’s important for brands to constantly reassess who they are for. Ask questions like: What action, belief, or need specific to our offering speaks to some part of today’s Gen Zers? How can we focus our research to help find more useful nuggets of truth?
  
• Be for someone, not everyone: If you have a particular POV that you believe will appeal to some of Gen Z, don’t fall for the trap of broadening it to meet more people where they are. When it comes to effectiveness, a seemingly larger and more inclusive audience is not always better. If an insight guiding your initiative or campaign is truly strong, it will be more helpful to be distinctly for some people than broadly for all people.
  
• Pick a passion point and stick to it: One way to appeal to a subset of Gen Z is to choose one clear area that they care about and focus your energies in that space. Ideally, that area is one that Gen Z has a unique or differentiated perspective on so that you can show them how you are a match for their needs. Obviously, it should also be an area that is a natural fit for your brand. Ask yourself: “Does my brand have a right to show up in this space?” Once that’s figured out, it’s important to be consistent once you’ve picked that space and show up for them, not once but often.

So long as brands are committed to seeing Gen Z as a monolith, stereotype-driven failures will become more and more common, impacting reputation and growth. But those that do the hard work of breaking their stunted perceptions of who these individuals are and how they impact society today will find the loyal and grateful audience they’ve been searching for. That’s a lesson worth remembering for all generations, not just this one.