Gen Z’s wallets are getting heavier, and so are the sighs in corporate boardrooms. Their global spending power is projected to climb from 9.8 trillion dollars in 2024 to 12.6 trillion dollars by 2030. That kind of money focuses the mind. It has also sparked a cottage industry of interpreters who explain Gen Z to executives who still keep a landline. Specialized agencies like NinetyEight are hiring, legacy firms are spinning up youth divisions such as Edelman’s Gen Z Lab, and talent giant UTA is hosting ZCON to brief leaders on youth trends. As Haleon’s U.S. CMO Katie Williams put it, marketers “have absolutely had to pivot” because Gen Z is “thinking differently, reacting differently, getting their knowledge and information from different sources.” Translation: the playbook that worked when you bought banner ads on a Tuesday is not getting it done on TikTok by Thursday.
Who Gen Z is, and why they do not fit the old mold
Gen Z is roughly 13 to 28. They were raised in a digital world where social media is a classroom, a shopping mall, and the town square at the same time. That constant stream of content did not make them flaky. It made them selective. EOS president Soyoung Kang says they “grew up in an age where information is oozing out of every crack and crevice,” and they know how to “navigate it” and “manipulate it.” They compare, bookmark, and crowdsource. Then they decide.
They also still like real life. A big slice prefers to try in store after doing careful online research. They care about price and value, which is why so many compare on Amazon, look for sales, and consult creator reviews. If you picture them impulse buying in a feed at midnight, picture them also opening three tabs of reviews and a notes folder called “maybe.”
Why the old funnel is leaking
Marketers once loved a simple funnel: awareness, interest, desire, action. Youth culture agency Archrival shows that Gen Z behaves more like an infinite loop: inspiration, exploration, community, loyalty. Ben Harms of Archrival says the challenge is “delivering that inspiration to them in the right ways at the right moments.” And those moments are not predictable. One creator can coin “strawberry girl summer” and launch a micro-trend overnight. The algorithm salutes. Your spreadsheet does not.
What really influences Gen Z
Short video dominates discovery. YouTube leads for learning about brands, followed by TikTok and Instagram. Influencers and micro-creators set the weather, and user-generated content teaches people how to actually use products. H&R Block learned this the fun way with “Responsibility Island,” a parody series where young adults could not leave until they learned taxes and laundry. Chief Marketing and Experience Officer Jill Cress called it a “huge success,” and the company even hosted a reunion. It turns out tax content can be bingeable if you lean into the joke and help people.
At Bose, president and CMO Jim Mollica says, “90% of our budget and effort is spent on actual content,” with ads supporting distribution. Bose integrated with creator Kai Cenat’s monthlong stream to place the brand inside culture rather than just beside it. Hilton’s Mark Weinstein reminds us “there is no mass media” anymore. The plan is to “tap into culture that already exists,” whether that is a small creator with a loyal niche or a campus hotel with strong communal spaces.
Community and loyalty, the Gen Z way
Half of Gen Z says favorite brands make them feel part of a community. That can look like meetups, creator challenges, or specialty apps. Represent’s George Heaton says the brand is “about the story, the lifestyle and the way we show up,” which includes Q&A sessions with fans and fitness events where staff and customers train together. Founder Peiman Raf of Madhappy says the company aims to “create a world, rather than solely creating products,” including spaces that host rotating artists and sensory installations.
Loyalty is not just receipts. Teens often consider themselves loyal because they love the brand, follow it, and tell friends, even before purchasing. This might make CFOs nervous, but it also means your relationship can start before the first sale. If you earn trust early, the cart follows.
The values equation that spooks companies
Edelman’s research shows Gen Z uses brands to broadcast identity. Nearly 60 percent feel a connection with people who use the same brands, and many judge others by what they buy. They also assume silence is a statement. If a brand does not communicate how it addresses issues, Gen Z often reads that as doing nothing or hiding something. Edelman’s recommendation is direct: define a “permission space,” commit to it, and communicate actions clearly on the platforms where Gen Z listens. As Jess Xu at Edelman puts it, “We don’t want to be marketed to, we really want to co-create.” Translation for the boardroom: do not just post a slogan. Show your homework.
Why corporations are worried, with a dash of humor
Executives fear getting roasted in the comments. They are right to be cautious. Trend cycles move in days, and social channels are countless. Rishi Malhotra of Cafeteria says cultural inputs used to arrive as “macro inputs that we almost got at the same time.” Now “those inputs are in the 100,000s.” His app pays teens to answer surveys because, as he discovered on a car ride with his daughter and her friends, teenagers have a lot to say about brands. It is better to hear it in your dashboard than on a viral stitch.
The good news is Gen Z loves to give feedback. Celine Chai of NinetyEight says their panelists “write paragraphs,” sometimes with more enthusiasm than a term paper. If you invite them in, they will tell you how to fix the thing you were about to guess about. Also, they will catch you if you slap on VR for no reason. As one research participant said, it felt “quite fake and inauthentic.” The metaverse may be exciting to your procurement team, but it is not a shortcut to cool.
How interest turns into action
Gen Z often resists in-feed impulse buying. They research. TikTok search spikes after campaigns. People watch unboxings, study materials and mechanics, and dig into comment sections. They save screenshots to wishlists and mood boards. They compare prices and look for time-limited deals only when they are actually ready to buy. If your funnel starts with a funny video and ends with a four-minute checkout form that asks for a blood type, they will leave you to eat dust.
What brands get wrong, according to CMOs
At Advertising Week New York, panelists pushed back on the idea that Gen Z hates advertising or lacks loyalty. The real issue is that many brands have not figured out what content resonates with a picky audience inside insular communities. As Hilton’s Weinstein noted, the job is not to invent a fan base around your logo. It is to enter existing passion points with value. Do that, and you might discover the generation everyone calls disloyal is actually just holding you to a higher standard.
A practical, slightly cheeky playbook for branding to Gen Z
- Design for evolution, not stability. Treat fluidity as a feature. Update creative and product messaging as fast as the audience moves.
- Make effortlessness the baseline. If a step feels annoying, it is expensive. Shorten checkout, simplify returns, and answer questions where people actually ask them.
- Lead with content, support with paid. Put entertaining, useful, social-first work at the center. Use ads to boost what is already resonating.
- Bring Gen Z into the room. Hire them, listen to them, and let them “co-create,” as Jess Xu says. If your brainstorm has no one under 30, add chairs.
- Tap existing communities. Hilton’s rule applies: join culture that already exists. Do not force a community around your tagline.
- Educate during research. Show materials, mechanics, and real use cases. Engage with reviews and comments like a helpful human, not a corporate parrot.
- Blend online and offline. Inspire with video, close the loop with great in-store try-ons, events, and creator meetups.
- Use UGC and micro-influencers. Authenticity beats reach when budgets are finite. Teach, do not just tease.
- Reward value seekers. Offer tangible discounts, early access, and loyalty benefits that acknowledge price sensitivity.
- Define your permission space on values. Say what you will do, then show you did it, because silence reads as a choice.
- Avoid tech for tech’s sake. If AR or the metaverse does not solve a real user need, skip it. The future can wait until it is useful.
- Benchmark beyond your category. Your checkout competes with the best experience they have anywhere. Act accordingly.
The bottom line
Brands miss Gen Z when they chase shiny objects, cling to an old funnel, or confuse loudness with relevance. They connect when they reduce friction, invite participation, and build a universe of content, education, community, and real benefits. Or, as Bose’s Jim Mollica might put it, spend your energy on the actual content that people want, then use advertising like a spotlight. Do the work in public, and the generation that once terrified your board just might become your most loyal advocates.
