Diversity, connectivity, and brand-agnosticism are key factors redefining marketing as Generation Z grows up.

they make up the largest demographic among TV-watching households.

Marketers must prepare to shift strategies based on this demographic’s preferences, which will dictate the media and marketing landscape in just a few years. Data on preferences and behavior are key guides in doing so.Here are six of the profound ways that marketing will have to adapt for brands to meet the needs of this large and uniquely diverse demographic.

1. Gen Z Considers Digital Media an Essential Resource

Many sociologists consider millennials “digital natives,” but many of that generation remember an era without internet connections or smartphones. Most Gen Zers, on the other hand, have literally grown up with connected devices in their hands and can’t imagine a world without them.Forty percent of Gen Zers say that working Wi-Fi is more important than working toilets, and 50% say they “can’t live without” YouTube. They are heavy digital media users, using smartphones three hours per day on average.Their methods of media consumption differ from ours, too. Fifty-nine percent of all consumption takes place via over-the-top (OTT) services such as YouTube and Netflix. Seventy percent of Gen Zers watch over two hours of YouTube each day on average. These habits differ from those of millennials, who still watch a fairly even mix of OTT/digital video and traditional television.Watching user-generated online videos is a go-to source of information for these individuals, many watching exclusively through mobile devices.As smartphones are practically an extension of Gen Zers’ hands, mobile friendliness — including design, speed, and experience — is of utmost priority for brands. Since Gen Z consumers also tend to move seamlessly across digital channels when they consume content, brands seeking their business must have a presence on all channels and coordinate an omnichannel strategy to effectively relay messaging.

2. “Point of Purchase” Becomes Irrelevant

Many millennials remember the days when e-commerce was a novelty, but Gen Z members increasingly tend to overlook a large swath of brands’ brick-and-mortar stores when considering their retail options.Given their reduced dependency on physical stores and the spread of digital storefronts across multiple channels, finding Gen Z consumers near the point-of-purchase using traditional techniques can be difficult. Brick-and-mortar strategies, like increasing basket size with low-cost impulse items placed by check-out, don’t always translate 1:1 in digital environments. Additionally, brands cannot expect sales to take place on a single reliable channel, even when considering dominant e-commerce players.Personalized content delivered programmatically helps solve this problem by connecting people with relevant ads no matter where they are. Additionally, customer journeys must become more nuanced. Online, buying an 88-cent candy bar may require almost as much consideration as an $88 pair of sneakers. Getting people to increase basket sizes requires longer consideration phases, making product awareness and communicating product value that much more important.If Gen Z members understand the value and appeal of an $80 board game, for instance, seeing it on discount for $55 could trigger an instant purchase. Additionally, suggestion algorithms keep people considering add-on products more frequently. They may buy the board game and see “customers who bought this item also bought” appear automatically, turning a one-time or single item purchase into an ongoing consideration for what to buy next.Data-driven suggestion matching and audience-finding technology will thus become even more crucial when targeting a generation with a need for information and relevance before they consider buying.

3. Influencers Truly Influence Them

Gen Z does not distinguish between people who are “internet famous” versus traditional celebrities covered on legacy-established media outlets. In fact, 63% of Gen Zers actually say they prefer seeing “real people” like influencers in advertisements rather than figures from movies, TV, sports, and entertainment.“Influencers have magnetic personalities and built-in distribution, but they also have a deeply personal relationship with their fans, which allows them to create storylines they already know will resonate with their audience,” says Nelson Granados of Pepperdine’s Graziadio School of Business.Understanding this dynamic could directly influence product sales. According to one survey, Gen Zers are 1.3 times more likely to try a product suggested by an influencer than a TV or film star. Companies like Hasbro are already recognizing the power influencers have to generate sales. YouTube videos of products like the game Pie Face can dramatically boost sales.“In the old days it was about brands putting their product out there and telling consumers what they should feel or do with it,” says Hasbro SVP of Digital Marketing Victor Lee. “Now consumers are becoming the creation and the marketing platform.”The significance of Gen Z’s reliance on influencers only intensifies when you consider No. 4 and No. 5 below.

4. Established Institutions Have Less Inherent Value

While plenty of Gen Zers recognize brands with centuries-old legacies, they also say that brand or publisher authority must be earned, not taken for granted. In an all-digital consumption world, centuries-old journalism institutions sit alongside memes and personality quizzes on social media timelines. Similarly, established department stores show up online next to upstart boutique e-retailers, and each is judged on its merits.Competition among e-commerce players is likely to grow fierce as a result. Fifty-five percent of Gen Zers 18-and-under say they would rather purchase their clothes online than in a store, and 53% say the same about books and electronics.Adding to the complexity of earned authority, Gen Z members see themselves as entrepreneurs more so than any other generation. A recent study revealed that 72% of current high school students and 64% of college students intend to start their own business. This self-sufficiency could lead the traditional brand-consumer relationship to evolve from one of sellers and buyers to peers that all participate in commerce together. That, too, will challenge the advantage that entrenched brands have long enjoyed.

5. Authenticity Matters Most

“Gen Z doesn’t want to hear about how much of an ‘industry leader’ you are. They judge with their eyes first,” asserts author and Gen Z member Deep Patel. To earn their trust, polish and professionalism must send the appropriate signals. “Your website needs to work on a cell phone — and work well. Your profile picture needs to look recent. Your header image needs to be crisp and clean.”Accordingly, an ongoing roll of fresh, relevant content from brands is more important than established brand names. Marketers need to provide proof of value rather than relying on authority, and they must speak in a voice that rings true for Gen Z to take notice and not reject messaging.To do so, brands can give consumers a deeper look at their values and principles through owned media. “[B]rands must share their story, their purpose and details about their supply chain and production processes, so that Gen Z can determine if the brand’s values match their own,” writes one research professional. In turn, owned media and paid media must reinforce this narrative and repeat value signals that Gen Zers identify with.

6. They’re More Diverse Than Ever

While few marketers would admit it, their assumption of an “average” consumer is overwhelmingly likely to be middle-class and white. These assumptions could soon cause messaging to sound tone-deaf or irrelevant to Gen Z, which represents more diversity in race, background, and experience than any prior generation.Marketers should be prepared to study the unique values of their target audience to ensure that messages resonate. For instance, 88% of young Hispanics cite family as “the most important part of their lives.”Cultural awareness, audience studies, targeting, and segmentation will become among the most important competitive differentiators for brands in the years to come. Brands that learn to speak in a multicultural voice through thorough research, listening to consumers, and hiring a diverse team will help them go further — while brands that continue to assume the norm will fall flat.Marketers able to sit up and take notice of these rising trends will be better-equipped to prepare for the coming consumer shifts as Generation Z matures and becomes an economic powerhouse unto its own...

Coming Of Age

Generation Z — aka Gen Z, iGen, post-millennials, or plurals — will be remarkably different than the millennials that precede it. At roughly 25% of the population, half of this age group has a minority status, making multiracial children the fastest growing youth group in the U.S. today. Collectively, Gen Z already wields $44 billion in purchasing power-

The Difference Between The Old And The New Generation

By [http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Sergei_VanBellinghen/2425572]Sergei VanBellinghen

It is pretty clear that there is a difference between the old and the new generation. Everyone has their own view which changes radically from one generation to another. Some changes actually help us move forward while others make our world regress by their impact. So what is happening? What is the difference between my generation and the current one? Is the impact creating a gap? What has changed in

a good or bad way? Well, each of us is entitled to their opinion. The current generation is not like any other generation I have seen in history. Due to the rise in technology, the world is evolving fast and changing the way most of us do things. Today's young generation is so used to the technology which they learn very quickly. It could be considered as a benediction, but there are times when it is not

appropriate. The way things worked in my generation, which was the 80's, has changed drastically. And I do not believe that the ways some things have progressed are for the better. But that is my point of view. If I decided to write this post, it is because of young people laughing at the way a man my age did things. Today's generation believes that they are entitled to everything without the need

of lifting a single finger. This generation thinks it has the right to being spoon fed all of its desires while those before them worked hard for everything that they do have. And yes, there are pros and cons in all generations. The Old and New Generation Some young people were throwing stuff on the ground while there was a trash bin just ten feet away. An older man around my age told them to pick their garbage. One girl picked it all up while the others were laughing and said to the

man: "Your generation did also not care about saving the environment. I am living in Austria, and I admire this country, so I knew this situation would not degenerate into unfortunate circumstances. As I listened to this while I passed by, I realized that even if bio-products did not exist in stores yet, we lived more naturally. These young people were mistaken. In My Generation In my generation, we were already recycling. We returned all glass bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the factory to be washed and sterilized and refilled so that it could use the same

containers over and over. Mothers washed diapers made of old clothing because they did not have the throw-away kind we have today. They dried clothes on a line with for only power the wind and sun and not a dryer. Most children, in my homeland, got the old clothes from their older relatives, not new or brand clothing each time. We had to push a mower with the strength of our arms to make the blades spin instead of firing up a motor that runs on electricity or gasoline just to cut the lawn. In my generation, we were outside all day and exercised by playing sports with others children rather than going to a health club. We did not want to

stay inside the house. More of My Generation In school, my generation refilled writing pens with ink cartridges instead of getting a new pen. Many of us took a tram or a bus; others used their bicycles to go to school while some of us walked instead of turning their parents into a permanent taxi service. The old generation met friends face to face to have real conversations rather than texting each other all the time. We walked everywhere, to the store or up the stairs instead of

climbing into our car or on a motored skateboard each time we had to go two or three blocks away. At home, we had only one TV, or radio, not a television in our room. And we had no color or a massive size of today's TV screen but rather a black and white which could get only three or four channels. When we packed a fragile item to send by post mail, we used an old newspaper to wrap it, which I still do. Yet, the current generation cries and weeps of how we people of the old generation are. I have nothing against progress, but I am against unbalance in a world where

we have everything. Some Difference about the Old and New Generation Most of the new generation expects things to be done for them. If something requires some extra effort or focus, they are easily discouraged. But if we want to reach success in this day and age, it is expected us to work to achieve our dreams. The old generation knows that the world does not owe them squat. It understands that no one else than them can do it and that is their responsibility to make something

of themselves. It was a more independent generation. A Generation of Always Wanting More The new generation seems always to want more which is not bad. But many do not appreciate the simple things around them. They are very careless and are still trying to get more, rather than being happy with what they have. The old generation knows that resources are limited and that they have to be more resourceful with what they have. They remember the old times, and it helps them

appreciate all that they are given. No More Punishments The new generation knows timeout is a small slap on the wrist. In older times, we actually got a beating. The generation of today understands the full advantage of these light punishments. That is why they are tending not to listen after all. The old generation had it rough when it came to punishment. Just like in the army, through a sports coach or a mentor, there is nothing quite like tough love. It actually beat

them into shape and made stepping out of line very frightening, as there were consequences for their actions. Technology and Generation What shows that the new generation is less trusting and more reliant on technology is that even after they decide to meet somewhere at a particular time, they still text each other

numerous times to confirm or follow-up. Using technology often hinders intuition and instinct like using a calculator instead of mentally counting. Since mobile phones did not exist yet, it was imperative for the old generation to trust each other. When they agreed upon a time and a meeting at a specific location, they relied on the other person to be there as well. The New Generation and Social

Networks Nowadays, there is no longer a sense of honor, because most people hide behind a computer screen. In the new generation, there is a considerable amount of haters using social networks to actually handle small or significant issues which I consider to be a weakness. When you handle issues or hate for no reason over

Facebook or Twitter, it just proves that you are a weak person. I just put an ad in one of my groups for teaching Kung Fu, and one hater wrote "Kung Fu clown." And this for no reason as I have never seen or met the guy before. Back in the old days, when someone had an issue with you, they would either keep to themselves or

personally have the balls to come and confront you. It was the proper way of dealing with stuff. I am not talking about violence which sadly enough, is shown more and more on social media these days. My Final Word on Generation The new

generation relies too much on the internet and social media for their lives and doing things. It is okay to use it but not to abuse it. My final word is that each generation has its own advantages and downsides, but the most important in all of this is that each generation, old or new, has to give lessons which are valuable for

future generation. Sergei VanBellinghen, Personal Growth & Success Expert, Founder of First-Class Lifestyle & SergeiVanBellinghen.com I help and teach people how to get a fresh start and have a brand-new style of living after a divorce, loss or

if single. I do this by using self-development techniques to help you grow, succeed and have a better life. Remember, it's not just about growing but also about ending the routine. It's about the lifestyle of working less, living more and enjoying life!

Find Out How! Visit my Website [http://sergeivanbellinghen.com] and come to discover how I can afford to stay home and travel anywhere I want. Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Difference-Between-The-Old-And-The-New-Generation&id=9815775] The Difference Between The Old And The New Generation

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