Marketers might be inclined to reach out to Generation Z – the second cohort of digital natives that now entering the workforce – the same way they currently engage their predecessors, millennials, but they do so at their peril, New York City-based marketing firm Fluent LLC warns in a new report.
Defining Generation Z’s adult membership as consumers between the ages of 18 and 24, Fluent’s “Marketing to Gen Z” report, released in September, acknowledges that while Gen Z’s core values do not greatly differ from those of millennials, the differences reveal a generation that values mobility, convenience, and personal ideals even more than their predecessors: 25 per cent of consumers in Gen Z say that a company sharing their values is “extremely important” to them, for example, and nearly two in 10 reported no longer purchasing from a brand after viewing an offensive ad.
And even though the Gen Z consumers surveyed were more likely than their millennial counterparts to be students or starting their first jobs, they were willing to pay more for convenience on a regular basis.
Fluent found that the way the two generations use social media differs as well, with Gen Z more likely to use Snapchat than Facebook to check trends and read others’ opinions.
The company based its report on a series of online surveys, including a Snapchat study conducted in April and May of approximately 3900 U.S. consumers, and a “Marketing to the Heartland” survey of 1865 U.S. consumers conducted in March.
Check out the infographic below, or download the full report from Fluent’s website.
