Gen Z's Warning to Brands: You Don't Understand Us

Time for a reality check. 90% of gen z say brands don’t fully understand their lives. And that’s in spite of them being the golden demographic for so many brands looking to unlock their influential purchase power.

The shock stat comes from a new, first-of-its-kind report launched by cl!ckbait - Mischief’s youth insights division. Mischief launched cl!ckbait in response to over 85% of the agency’s new briefs now being centred on gen z and gen alpha. The cultural insights division and digital platform helps brands decode, understand and authentically engage with young people.

Combining gen z-led quantitative data and qualitative insights from interviews and focus groups, the report provides a stark wake-up call to brands aiming to crack the gen z code. 

The majority (90%) of an entire generation have sent a clear message to the collective output of the marketing industry - ‘you don’t get us’, with one in 10 saying brands don’t even try.

The report breaks down gen z attitudes to four key verticals, Health & Fitness, Food, Travel, and Sex & Relationships, as well as their reflection on where brands are missing the mark in each of these spaces.

In the fitness space, it’s no surprise that 88% of gen z are working out, yet over half said brands have NO influence on their health decisions, and many said branded content actually made them feel worse. Gen z interviewees told cl!ckbait that they were ‘fatigued’ with fitness content, that they felt alienated by the perfection brands were pushing, and were instead desperate to see real journeys, real progress, real bodies. The takeaway? They want brands to support their health and fitness journeys, not cause that anxiety that pushes them to start them.

In the world of Food, virality is the enemy. Almost three quarters (73%) said they’d tried a viral food or drink product in the last six months, but less than a third (29%) would buy it again. cl!ckbait research highlighted impulse purchases are a quick win, but long-term brand loyalty is more elusive. Lack of loyalty was driven in part by the performativity of trend-hijacking. Gen z criticised the lack of cultural authenticity behind new food and drink launches, calling for more transparency and research turning appropriation into appreciation.

Sex & Relationships was perhaps the most complicated vertical, with research and focus groups revealing it to be rife with contradictions. Equal numbers of gen z said they were having more sex than ever before AND that they had no interest in hook-up culture. However, what did unite gen z was a desire for the diversity and messiness of their sex lives to be normalised by brands in the space.

For a generation supposedly obsessed with sex, only 13% said they felt more comfortable talking about sex and intimacy than other generations, so many called for brands to ditch the humour, and instead engage with the human, unglamorous side of sex, whether speaking to traditional relationships, celibacy or situationships.

Travel was the only category where gen z showed clearer evidence of trust in brands. Equal amounts (33%) said they’d go directly to a brand for travel advice, as they would chat to a friend or family member for recommendations. The main brand-demographic disconnect here lay in gen z’s guilt-desire complex. 68% said they felt guilty about travel’s environmental impact, but 63% still hadn’t reduced their travel. Instead, gen z doesn't want travel guilt to be a consumer problem. According to respondents, brands should be helping alleviate their concerns by making travel more ethical and environmentally friendly, without compromising on their convenience.

cl!ckbait lead, strategist and report editor Jordan Mulvaney said, ‘We’re all obsessed with gen z. And they often get a pretty bad rep. We didn’t want to create yet another gen z report that talks down to an entire demographic, but something that explores the nuance and contradictions that are part of their lived experience. There are red threads throughout this report that can help us build an understanding of their needs and desires. In this report we give brands within each vertical explored some immediate actions to begin understanding and engaging their younger audiences.’

Mischief managing director, Charlotte Brooks said, ‘cl!ckbait’s inaugural report is a first-of-its-kind, lifting the lid on what gen z really think of brands. There’s some tough love in there, but our job at cl!ckbait and Mischief is to take that direct audience feedback and use it to inform long-term strategy and campaign plans for our clients. Our report launch is the first step in the journey to achieving real buy-in from the toughest demographic to crack and the generation that will be the most valuable consumer segment by 2030.’

To find out more about cl!ckbait, subscribe to the Substack here. For a physical copy of the report, or for support with Gen Z strategy and campaigns, contact clickbait@mischiefpr.com. The full report can be viewed here.