For almost a decade now, the subject of marketing efficiently for millennials has been a key focus for brand marketers and their businesses. As a result of which marketing budgets shifted unevenly from ATL or a more engaging BTL medium. But what most brand marketers have not realized so far is that while they continue to focus on millennials, that segment of consumers are grown up today. These consumers are now entering into thirties and for a marketer now is high time to focus its attention to the more younger and far advanced generation making its mark-Generation Z.
Generation Z is represented by the group currently aged 12 to 19 (born between mid 1990s to early 2000s) and this target audience segment is actually refreshingly different from millennials. They are well connected with the internet and hence are aware of what’s going on in the world and they do not fall for the same marketing gimmicks that millennials did as Generation Z has learned from their experiences.
Where Millennials saw the marketing dynamics change very closely, Generation-Z is born into a new and advanced era of technology and hence cannot be easily charmed. Hence, brands today need to have a different and a more comprehensive marketing strategy for target them. These set of consumers will in no way respond to promises made through costly TVC’s, they are also most likely to not have a look at the front page advertisement on papers that you paid a bundle for as their world is online. Generation Z is that segment of prospective consumers for brand that will only respond to elevated experiences and engagement as and when they come through a medium that is trending.
So if you are wondering what kind of campaigns are expected to work for Generation Z? We have the answers outlined for you. A recent study suggests that currently, almost 80 percent of Gen Z’s use at least one social media platform every day. Social media use, coupled with the modern consumer mentality to filter out traditional advertising, has lead to a shift that is changing the advertising landscape. This shift is forcing marketing professionals to ask themselves how they can adapt to new mediums in order to reach their target audiences in the most effective way possible.
An example of new medium of this TG influence is the app Snapchat which is very popular among people below 20 years of age. Hence, to target this set of audience recent movies like Ted 2 and Mission Impossible have capitalized on Snapchat marketing opportunity by creating filters for users to integrate into their personal pictures. Companies like McDonalds too have followed the bandwagon and have rolled out successful Snapchat integrated campaigns for itself.
Another way to get the attention of Generation Z is to invite them to be a part of your brand through social media ambassadorships, influencer campaigns and virtual focus groups. This will not only help you reach out more aggressively in the segment but will also create a sense of loyalty regarding your brand in them.
Marketers today should realize that Generation Z is an interesting yet challenging demographic to engage with and a generic marketing strategy to target them is simply not enough. This segment represents an audience which is an early adapter of change, more technologically advanced audience and more dynamic than any other set of consumer and hence a new and more engaging marketing strategy needs to be devised to target them.
