Gen Z, also known as Centennials, has its own distinct behaviors, attitudes and responses to advertising. Gen Z is even more passionate about music than millennials (43 percent like to have ‘always on’ access to music compared to 30 percent for Gen Y) and more digitally savvy than previous generations. Gen Z is also more difficult to engage; among people who skip ads, they skip three seconds faster per ad on average than Gen X. A new study from Kantar Millward Brown highlights these points.
The study, ‘AdReaction: Engaging Gen X, Y and Z’ is a comprehensive global study of Gen Z, and provides guidance on how marketers can engage more effectively with this increasingly important group. The study analyses key media consumption patterns, attitudes toward advertising and responses to specific creative approaches, and is based on surveys of more than 23,000 consumers in 39 countries. This is the first time it has been possible to explore the opinions of the first cohort of Gen Z – now aged 16-19 – that are becoming increasingly relevant to brand marketers across a wide variety of categories and products. The Gen Z population numbers approximately two billion globally.
“Gen Z have grown up in an on-demand world of infinite choice, and this flavors their expectations of advertising. They are much more attracted to ads that allow them to co-create or shape what happens, compared to Gens Y and X, who have a higher preference to link to more information about the brand,” said Duncan Southgate, Global Brand Director, Media & Digital at Kantar Millward Brown.
The study identifies a number of key opportunities for brands to connect with Gen Z:
Don’t Ignore Traditional Media: Despite its digitally dominated media consumption, Gen Z can still be impressed by traditional media. While Gen Z spends less time with traditional (51 percent watch an hour or more of TV a day compared to 74 percent for Gen X), Gen Z is consistently more positive about ad formats such as outdoor, print ads and cinema, TV and radio ads than standard digital alternatives.
Respect Online Space: Within the digital space Gen Z is more positive than other generations towards mobile rewards video and skippable pre-rolls (which achieve net positive scores of 41 percent and 15 percent respectively), but especially damning of invasive ad formats like non-skippable pre-rolls and pop-ups (-36 percent and -42 percent respectively).
Creative Approach Makes A Difference: Music, humor and celebrities all make Gen Z more receptive to advertising. They are also attracted to ads that allow them to co-create or see what happens when they make a decision. They are more positive towards brands that let them vote for something to happen (31 percent compared to 25 percent for Gen Y,) choose an option (28 percent compared to 25 percent) or take decisions (27 percent compared to 22 percent).
However, these attributes alone are no guarantee of success.
Design Matters: An extremely design-conscious consumer, Gen Z will take note of an ad’s aesthetic qualities and appreciate the use of new immersive formats like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Innovation in formats like native ads, sponsored lenses and sponsored filters all attract much stronger approval with Gen Z than other age groups.
Be Even More Social: Gen Z is significantly heavier users of social platforms, not just in terms of the time they spend on them but also the number of platforms they visit. These range well beyond Facebook and YouTube and include Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat. Around 36 percent of Gen Z globally access Instagram several times a day and 24 percent access Snapchat at the same frequency, compared to 21 percent and 10 percent respectively for Gen Y (those aged 20-34) and 9 percent and 4 percent for Gen X (those aged 35-49).
Don’t Apply The Same Approach Globally: Gen Z is not homogeneous and local insights reveal further nuances. In China, for example, Gen Z want music in ads to be upbeat, playful and fun. By contrast in Germany, Gen Z seeks music that helps them to understand the message without listening to a voiceover.
Using both qualitative and quantitative research techniques combined with ad testing of 31 ads in 10 markets, AdReaction: Engaging Gen X, Y and Z reveals a generation that, in some areas, is simply a little more extreme in their media attitudes and behavior, but also have their own distinct traits.
Additional key findings include:
#1. This is a mobile-first generation with 74 percent spending more than an hour a day on their mobile device compared to 66 percent for Gen Y and 55 percent for Gen X. TV, radio and print consumption are all lower as well with 51 percent of Gen Z watching an hour or more of TV each day compared to 59 percent for Gen Y and 74 percent for Gen X.
#2. Gen Z is dramatically more passionate about music and movies. Ads placed in these contexts are far more powerful with this group, with 39 percent of Gen Z saying music makes them more positive to advertising and 38 percent reporting that movies have the same effect (compared to just 29 percent and 28 percent for Gen X).
#3. All generations prefer short videos, but Gen Z like ads less than 10 seconds even more than previous generations, while Gen X is more tolerant of videos up to 20 seconds.
#4. Gen Z is slightly more likely to have installed ad blocking software on desktop than older consumers (31 percent vs 30 percent for Gen Y and 22 percent for Gen X) but they are no more likely to have installed a mobile ad blocking app (13 percent vs 14 percent for Gen Y and 12 percent for Gen X).
Given this generation’s skepticism towards advertising, this makes branded content more attractive to Gen Z. Formats like branded events, social media feeds and celebrity endorsements all score higher for this group globally than older consumers. Gen Y is more positive about user reviews, social media and native information, while Gen X prefers brand information.
“No generation is a monolith and Gen Z is no exception. Their upbringing, expectations and access to technology, however, has created a range of attitudes and behaviors that will challenge marketers. Only where brands take all this into consideration will they be successful in engaging this increasingly critical and fast-emerging group of consumers,” concluded Mr Southgate.
