What Gem Z wants

Introduction

Welcome to minto's little conversation real conversations with actionable insights

into what consumers want and why my name is Andrew McDougall and I'm director of beauty and
personal care research based

in London, and I'm excited today to bring you our latest installment chatting with more of our lovely
experts. Now

today we're going to be taking a real look and a real deep dive into generation Zed or gen z a

demographic the we're continually getting asked about a lot by clients and by prospects. I'm really
looking

at why gen Z marketing requires much more than simply selling a product and so for today rather
than

just relying on my own thoughts and insights and delights to be joined by two of our experts in this
area firstly we

What is Gen Z

have Johnny Forsyth who's director of Intel food and drink. He's always been involved in many
projects looking at genzee in

great depth on our platform and also with our clients as well. So welcome Johnny happy to every
year and also,

Georgia Stafford joins as well. She's our Beauty personal care and OTC research analyst who's been
doing.

Of projects as well focusing on gen Z and sort of how are looking at how our understanding of this
generation should go further.

So welcome George excited to have you here as well. Hi. So without further Ado sort of get straight
into sort of

gen Z and this is a generation for those not aware and born between 1996 and 2010. It's

very much a generation that is traditionally described as being value conscious and Drawn to brands
that

keep it real and they're very creative. They're bold. The creators of many sort of Trends on tiktoks
Instagram

reels other platforms many things that I myself feel very sort of a separate from going into

the elephant in the room straight away here. I will come out now and say I am a millennial so I
you know may not be may not be speaking from the generation rather about the generation. I don't

know if anyone else has any particular things they want to say on that Johnny if you you Millennial

as well. I'm normally I wish I was Millennial I would give my its film later. I'm actually a gens a

sorry Gen X and I've got a son who's James edem. He reminds

me all the time all day. Oh well and then Georgia you are I'm not gonna guess on this one. So I'm
gonna let you sort of

come out that yourself. From your definition I am officially a gen Z, but I think I'm more of a customer
in terms

Uniqueness of Gen Z

of a culture nice. So we do have a well-rounded sort of group. I think to look at things stairs. I say I
know both of you have done

a lot of different strategic projects on this looking at gen Z both internally and also with external

projects mintel. So I guess my first question to really open it up when we talk about gen Z

is what is unique. Is there anything unique to say about Genesis there anything particular is that

the way they can send themselves or anything like that? so again, I guess my answer this would be
that what I

think it's a great question because it really gets to the heart of what is is different about

gen Z versus the fact they're just another younger generation because a lot of the time their
behaviors

and their attitudes are shapes right by the fact that they are young but they definitely are some

media and Society factors which have also shaped them and make them quite different to say

previous younger Generations we've seen and I think one of the things I've seen that have really
surprised

me is the degree to which they struggle with their mental health and their anxiety and you

know in trying to find out you know, why that is and there's a US research is

that various young generations for decades and you know, she talks

about the fact that they're the first smartphone generation that I said such an impact on their lives in
terms of

having social media surrounded by And all the time in terms of not maybe

being as active in seeing friends physically and she really talked

about how that made them more vulnerable say than the Millennials were so I don't know what
George thinks about
that. That's certainly was striking aspects from where research. Yeah. I think I'm from that. It's the
first

Digital natives

generation where their digital natives. They've always known. a different life online where

You're very immersed in the digital and maybe less so in the real life as it were

so like you say seeing friends face to face being as comfortable doing that as you are chatting with
them online. It's interesting

as well. Because Johnny you mentioned about the the mental health side of things and when you
think about sort of anxieties and depression

and coming out of covid for all generations because we've had this period a lot of us anyway in the
Western World particularly.

We had all these lockdowns periods of where we weren't socially bonding or mixing with other
people. It's weird to

have this digital native generation as well. Then that is so immersed in their phones as you say
Georgia because then it's

the case of well, actually is this the first generation that's really having to deal with, you know,
obviously not mental health issues, of course, but in terms

of social anxieties and social depressions that this can cause their actual interaction with the world is

very different to how we would perceive particularly from even from advertising marketing point just
happiness

and how we bring happiness to this generation. It's almost a connected generation that is
disconnected.

Yeah, maybe I'll let George answer that first. I think in terms of disconnected it's connected to

Disconnected

so much you have access to so much that then Some of that anxiety might be difficulty knowing
where you are

in all of that you have access to people in the US people in Asia people in Africa, if you're

say in the UK, you think or who am I where do I fit in or as before without social

media? Everything was a bit more close. So it was just your school your town your city. That

was where you had to place yourself and now it's on a much wider stage that you're constantly
accessing on tiktok on

Instagram wherever it is. Yes, that's really interesting as well. There is this strange kind
of paradox that they are the most connected generation ever. But something from our data about
that comes out is that

they're quite lonely generation and maybe it's because they're not physically having these these
interactions

with with people. I I don't know but it's yeah, it strikes me very strange that we can

be so connected on the one hand yet so lonely on the other. It's interesting what you say because it
does seem

like it can be a bit overwhelming to have all these all this information all this data available. It's
almost the case of just because

we're connected. It doesn't mean we're definitely connected to meaningful values or meaningful
things. It

could be that we're also absorbing and live or this generation is also more exposed to sort of junk
values and

things like that so that it's a kind of it's it's a difficult one for this generation. I think what would

you say then are sort of the core characteristics of generations that would you say it's possible to talk
about that in

terms of we talk about the first sort of digital natives, you know, it's a generation where diversity and
social issues

that is more than Norm to talk about it more open generation in terms of being a consumer.

Are they more shrewd? How would you sort of characterize them? Yes. So for me, I would say though
there's a couple of words. I would use

to describe them one hand diverse on the other hand. They're very very common

driven very very primatic. And I think in terms of diversity, obviously, there's the the side of things
where they want everyone to

be treated fairly but I think it shows itself quite interestingly in certain safe

food and drink categories, which I look at. So for example with alcohol, they're less likely to drink
alcohol and

I think a lot of that is around they don't subject their peers to the same

kind of peer pressures say that that my experience when I was younger where you know, if you didn't
drink alcohol is a really big deal and you

have quite a hard time friend and I don't get that sense with them. So I find that really interesting
and but

I also think that they're very very driven and you know, maybe that comes from the fact that they've
experienced, you

know, a couple of recessions and their lifetime and the world feels like a lot
more of a compassionate Place Georgia. Would you say that sort of reflects what you've seen in your
research into and your experience

of Genesis if you were to characterize it would you say similar to Johnny in terms of those sort of key
characteristics or if you've seen sort of

Same or other ones as well. I think definitely diversity and expecting

Diversity

Brands to reflect their values in terms of making products for

everyone. I think Fenty sort of set the standard for that when they came out with such a diverse

array of foundation Shades and now that's the expectation. So a brand who does that is no longer

sort of differentiating themselves. They're doing the bare minimum. And if a brand does not do that,
they're going

to get called out on social media. So I think definitely the commitment to diversity even

if it might not be affecting them directly. They're looking out for their peers. Yes, interesting what you
said? I mean, I love everything that fenty's doing.

I mean, I think the marketing Geniuses behind that brand are really good sort of connecting with
their audience and obviously gen

Z being a big part of that and I would definitely say that you have when you do have a brand like that
then it

definitely sort of breathes loyalty within the consumer. What would you say then that what makes
gen Z loyal to

a brand I mean are they are they specifically loyal to these brands or are they the type that will flick
around a lot?

Hype

I think there's a bit of a mix there's sort of brands that reflect their value something around like elf
stay where

it's an affordable price point quite diverse. and Reflects sort of gen Z's values in that way,

but then also there's the power of tiktok and its ability to make products go viral like that and that

is where I think there's a bit more disloyalty and buying just based on seeing multiple

people use it and then obviously the products sell out increasing demand even more so I think
there's a lot
of hype as well that can drive purchase. You know, I would say that younger people always a bit more
fickle

it comes to brands that are some of you just so we see so I don't think there any more so than
previous younger Generations,

but a brand I find really interesting in food and drink on it and I talk about this personally not
necessary

through work because my son's really into is prime the the isotonic drink

and I don't know where you are aware of that but is it's just so popular amongst amongst the

teenagers. So there's all black market for it at school. There's shots only for 100 pounds and that's

all led by influence. Marketing and it's bigger on George's point about it, exclusivity and height. So
it's very

very hard to to find it in shops as often sold out and I have some kind of go insane series

and try and try and get it for my son and it's not there and and that kind of feeds this this interesting
loyalty

to it and all it is is a very simple iconic drink but you know, my son's not interested in in say

Vita coco or or some other kind of competitor. It has to be Prime. Yes, an interesting example writing
thing is prime

when they launched in the UK, they specifically sort of made it so that it was it was less available.
Just

purely to create a hype is that right? I've sort of read somewhere that their marketing tactics on the
particularly on

the UK launch was very clever in creating that sort of that real Buzz and that demand amongst your
consumers I

think so and also they they launched a flavor that was specific to the UK as well. So they're quite

globally Savvy as well in the way they use exclusivity. You know, I think it's a fascinating example, I
will

say at the time of recording. I have just seen that the sidemen and KSI who's obviously one of the
founders of

prime has been involved in a YouTube Fiore. Shall we say where he's

but yeah, he's potentially he's potentially going to be canceled. He does he's off social media just for
a couple of weeks. So and that's hot that's half the

Press just for you now Johnny, but I still think I don't think that will affect Prime at all as I say, I just
think

it's a very well placed product. It's a very very interesting sort of way that they've marketed that
product. And
one thing I will say though is that I think Prime is a good example that the elephant that you
mentioned as well Georgia, but to

what extent because we always say whenever another generation comes along because we had it
with Millennials and it's always this is an exciting Innovative generation,

and we can Market to them differently. But to what extent would you say is Gen Z the product of its
life

stage versus the generational differences per se because as I say, they, you know, they can be

willing to try more Brands they could be willing to be more Actually triggered they can be more
prone to Hype. So is there an extent of the right now because of

the age of gen Z that's maybe the product of of what how we Market them rather than the

actual generational difference to a millennial or older Generations. Yeah to me life stages are more
important factor than

generational differences. And there's some they've recently uncovered in neurosychology the
teenage brain and

the brain doesn't sort of fully develop until we're age 26 and older and then the prefrontal

cortex starts to dominate and up until that point. We're very different in how it make decisions. We

tend to be more impulsive and more emotional and more short term. So I think a lot of the behaviors
that

are manifesting in general said right now will change and once again to their late 20s and

30s. Yeah, I think especially the hype driven is part of being young. It's no

Hype vs peer pressure

different really from peer pressure at school. It's just now it's online. I can think of so many

examples pre social media of things. I wanted because I saw everyone around me had them. I
remember neurosport drinks were probably my days

Prime. They were just a drink that the local Corner shops all but everyone at school drunk them. So I
thought I should drink that. I think it's no different.

It's just now it's online more as opposed to in schools. That's a really fascinating example. That's

a really fascinating thoughts. I'm now just thinking I remember when I was younger Red Bull was first
launched and it

was always this case of Red Bull was a drink but actually obviously you see in the sports industry and
all these other avenues. They've gone down Red Bull

is very much in marketing company that has all these other actual products add-ons too, which is
again fascinating because again, that's that's not
a generational differences. Obviously Red Bull would have come out for Millennials or Gen X. I mean
it wouldn't have been for this

but it's a very similar sort of hype marketing and that kind of needing to need all that desire to

want more which is really interesting. Yeah. So your point they love that the brand

and you know very much money, they love apple and apples so good lifestyle.

Side of the marketing so I think it's very true what you say. It's interesting. You bring up Apple as well
because when again when

I was younger and apple, I remember the Apple Macintosh, isn't that I remember like when I was
younger when I

was a student, I really wanted to remember those Apple computers that were like they were like TVs.
They were huge. There were they

were like they were nothing like a flat screen Georgia. We had a huge sort of back to it and that the
the computer was in

that it was almost like a TV that you would have any bedroom and the computer was in the back of
it. It was amazing and I

was just sort of thinking there's so many things that mentioning that now and I feel old now having
to try and explain it to you Georgia,

and I'm just thinking of so many other things like VHS tapes and other things from my childhood
Blockbuster video, for example, that people

just won't have a clue what I'm talking about from a certain generation. So is there also a factor
when we're thinking about this

generation because Nostalgia is such a big Trend in Beauty and food as well, but is

it important to think about what does gen Z not know about what do they not know about?

So I think for me I've looked at sort of they're asked you'd say to sustainability and health

and both of those areas are really really complex. So I think that from from what

I've seen there's a lot where they don't know about the best way to to be sustainable

is going to help the planet and and the ways that they can kind of really have a healthy diet, you
know,

it does not to serve as a bad thing. I think those are such complex areas that it it often takes

you decades so consumers can't really start to work them out. Yeah, I was going to say a similar thing
about health, I think.

Health

That's the purchase journey and there might not be too much research that goes into that yet. So I

think that is something that maybe you start doing when you get older and you think more about the
decision to purchase before you
go ahead and do it and you do your own research as opposed to relying on other people to do it for
you. So

there's not always that knowledge there, especially in health looking at OTC

Behind purchases George as you say is also fact that you get a lot of fake news and

I was read about things like people putting garlic up their nose, for example, because it

was a tiktok trend without that reduced your sinuses. And you know, is that kind of diluting some of

the the tree messages of how to be healthy, for example, Yeah, I think especially with tiktok because
you're consuming

information so quickly it's difficult to then stop and pause and think or is that true or have I just seen
10 people say it

they want the top examples that comes to mine is olaplex olaplex last year. There was a big uproar
that products

were going to cause infertility because an ingredient in it, it was founded on zero science, but it was
enough to

contribute to a decline in salesfor olaplex. It doesn't need to be true doesn't need to be rooted in

anything true for it to spread and for Gen Z to believe. It's true sometimes. I was going to say does
that does that lead to sort of

potential weaknesses then of the generation of is the generation are addicted to technology and we
have this addictive technology that

as you say will constantly keep us scrolling and keep us watching and as you say doesn't necessarily
always give us

correct. It's a great source of information but doesn't always necessarily give us a correct
information. Would you say

that's one of the big weaknesses then of gen Z or would you say that there's other weaknesses as
well that this this generation could

fall foul of because of again, it's circumstance. I think sustainability is one where gen

Sustainability

Z might fall short. It might be a component of Youth and just sort of wanting more and more

but the shopping from places like she in boohoo that

have sort of awful track records for sustainability, but putting that to one side so that you can always

have sort of the newest garment or the newest item of clothing that might be a downfall and that
individualism that

will sort of takes precedent over. Sustainability or more altruistic thinking

don't think that's really unique to gen Z, but it might just be more pronounced would you say
then that the Gen Z would you say there's examples of gen Z, perhaps we misunderstood them just
because

I think sometimes we think of obviously that the younger generation this young activist generation
sort of demanding and expecting

sustainability in that regard. Do you think that actually gen Z is also a bit misunderstood sometimes
they will just

be labeled as one thing when actually it's as you say it's a lot more complicated than that. I think
that's so

misunderstood because you know, when I first started looking at gyms that I was expecting to really
eco-conscious and behaviors

and they aren't And I feel like you always get this with younger Generations where people almost
project certain things onto them

that that aren't true and I think because you have greater thunberg, for example user who's a gen
Zed. I think

a lot of people will assume that you know, the rest of the generation are kind of these credit but
avatars, but they're

not all you really see that when you kind of dig into their behaviors and that that's not a slight on
them. I think that's the

same for every younger generation. They don't tend to be very sustainable and they don't sort of
having abilities so

much to think long term. Yeah, I think it's quite easy maybe to

Gen Z vs Millennials

blame gen Z for some of the the failings of society right now, but I think it was the same for
Millennials. I remember when

I was a teenager. Everyone said Millennials can't buy houses because they're buying avocado toast
and spending on takeout coffee. It's

just an easy and easy thing to to blame the younger generation on.

Yeah, people always really negative about younger generation. It's probably just Envy because they're
the you know, they're not young bitterness

because you're not young anymore was that there's always that classic Trope was always another
every generation every Next

Generation always thinks they're they're sort of the bees knees there that you know, the next most
Innovative generation was

forward thinking but again, every generation is thinking that and then on top of that as I say from the
earth from the other side of the
coin is then there's probably that Envy from all the older consumers thing with that generation has it
easier they have things

that I never had so it can be difficult. I think to sort of navigate in that world. Would you say that gen
Z

is is more pessimistic than previous generations, then in the way that they approach the

world and also from that talking about consumer goods then how they approach brands. Are they
more pessimistic or would

you say that? It's just a standard thing. We always expect from Young consumers anyway,

Well, I actually think they are more pessimistic and I think the reason is because they've been
surrounded by the

24/7 Relentless news cycle and of course news is always negative because

negative new cells and you know, I was thinking about when I was younger and maybe I've watched
the news once a

day at six o'clock on the TV and that would be it. So I was kind of in my own world and I

what always striking on his feet Genesis how cleared up they are and they really understand what's
going on and there,

you know, they've got their finger on the pulse in terms of the news and to me that that's gonna
make you quite negative because

the news just pumping bad news into your your Consciousness all the

time. Yeah, I think being surrounded by the news like you say is difficult not to have a negative
outlook on the world and then

Negative outlook

to bring that fine those negative traits that you're always hearing about say a

country's done and apply that to a brand it's very it's very easily done very easily done. I

guess I guess it as I say is maybe a pessimistic generation, but I think

It's also interested in if we flip that round to talk about again the consumer business and the
research that we're doing. What would you say then is important to

gen Z in Brands. Like what do they look for and what what should Brands be

doing? To not sort of take advantage but actually to be able to organically connect with these
consumers. What what is

what is it? That is most important. I think authenticity really resonates like we

Authenticity
mentioned earlier genzier quite open about their mental health so it can be quite easy for Brands

to use language like self-care mood boosting uplifting. But

if there's nothing behind that and it's just using those words gen Z will see straight through that.

And realized that branch is pandering to them. Whereas authenticity stay supporting a organization

that supports young people's mental health shows a bit more authenticity and

an attempt to relate and support gen Z so I can

think of rib Beauty for example donates part of their profits to support young people's mental health

and it gives them a bit more credibility to use that language of a supporting and mental

health in in sort of marketing. It really agree with that. I think it was entities a big thing for them

and they are very very marketing and media Savvy. It's quite scary. So if there's

any kind of in the slightest crap between what brand says and what they do in my

experience that they will spot that very very quickly and that Faker is the worst way you

could communicate with them. Yeah, definitely establishing sort of a clear voice sort of having sort of
a strong personality definitely

Content

seems to be a good way to as you say to authentically connect with a consumer. Although again,
even

as you were sort of saying some of the like the words you were saying there George about that sort
of self-care these sort of buzzwords. It's kind of like again

Brands need to be careful as well. I guess to not fall into that trap of just ticking off the buzzwords.
They

need to actually have that authentic message as well. I mean would you say there's sort of any
specific content then

that would attract gen Z is there is there a different way to approach this generation than potentially

we did the Millennials before or is there a way that brands should play in this space?

So I think brands have got to be quicker. You've got less time to get across your message and make

an impact and I think that's because of the media environment in which gen Zed have grown up in
where they are

literally bombarded with with so much information at the stage when their brains still developing. So
research

has shown that the average person will compute about 16 films
worth of data into the brain per day. And if you if that's what's

happening when your brains kind of developing you have to develop some techniques to to really
kind of take

on board information very very quickly. And I think that's why they agenda really like short videos
short videos

on tiktok or YouTube and yes got to be really engaging and sticky. Otherwise,

it's you know, you're gone, you know you yeah, I think being hum as well and like you say being quick

Being human

I can think of so many examples of brands on social media who are using a meme format that was
popular about two

months ago and you can tell they've had to go to a social media manager. They've had to go to a
brand manager and be in meetings for two months

to turn out one video that then is stale the minute it's released. So I think being exceptionally quick

If I was a brand I would be employing the Gen Zed to do my and my digital that marketing

and you know, they're very very kind of business savvy. So a lot of them would be, you know

be in the market. Would you would you say almost then that an indie brand is is much better

place than to play in this market you say they can just move a lot quicker in this then it's a lot easier
for an indie band

or a smaller brand or a niche brand to Target and markets agency than it is for a bigger

company. And and if so, what is there anything that the bigger companies can do then beyond what
you say Johnny about

just sort of employing Genesis. I guess so if a big companies that yeah, it is difficult because they
won't

want to see as much control necessarily but how I might approach it is, you know investing

in smaller companies that that don't have your brand name for example, and then allowing

them to to be employed by these kind of very entrepreneurial Genesis Executives who

can you know, really make decisions very quickly and know Their audience and you

can kind of get the benefits of that without any blowback. Well, I think we're thank you very

much for your Insight so far. I think we're sort of coming slowly to the end. Are there any sort of key
takeaways that you that either

of you are sort of say then in terms of when you think about the research you're doing and obviously
your specific categories, but

also in general would you say there's any sort of key takeaways that in the consumer goods industry
brands should be is there
like a do's and don'ts list of what brand should and shouldn't be doing. I think do be authentic and do

Key takeaways

show a human side to the brand and then don't

say you're doing something if you're not doing it because like we've said genzier is extremely Savvy
generation, and

they'll be able to find out if you're doing something very quickly and call you out on it if you aren't.

Yeah, I would say Brands need to be careful that they don't believe in in a lot of the myths that are

perpetuates about gen Zed and and take a really careful look at their behaviors and their attitudes.

In terms of of don't I think don't don't you rely on

traditional media. Don't don't be really slow in terms of them how you get your message across

or you know out of touch because I think I think very quickly you'll be found out. Thank you both so

much for your insights in I think it from from what both of you said today my sort of take away from
this as well.

What I can summarize is that obviously as with as with every generation before but James is
obviously have unique interests and behaviors and

different expectations when they do shop. So I guess obviously the key messages about Brands been

authentic knowing where they can play as well. I think being brave enough sometimes to realize that
if you're not being authentical if

you don't have an authentic message, then not playing is also or not playing that space is sometimes
the best decision you

can make rather than potentially making an error by being I sort of forcing that involvement I think
so, I

think tailoring that shocking experience and the product offerings to meet the needs and
preferences.

of gen Z becomes as you say it's a do and don't it's knowing when and we're not to play. So I think it's
gonna

be very interesting. I think moving forward to see the different sort of or the various forms of sort of
value and technology that enhances and

makes shopping fun as well as these ethical practices. I know George you mentioned obviously
sustainability earlier as well being all the

more important or to better appeal to gen Z. So it seems like it's a very new ones demographic that
there

is still a lot to learn from but I still think there's a lot of sort of key simple takeaways that you
both sort of mentioned today. So thank you both very much for your conversation today and
certainly

for your insights on this generation. I know I could probably speak to both of you for for a lot

longer. So thank you both. Thanks. Anyway, thank you, and thank you very much to everyone for
listening as well. But the conversation doesn't

end here head over to mintel's LinkedIn and our Instagram as well to let us know what you think.
We'd love to hear

your thoughts on gen Z and how potentially if your brand is currently marketing to them any sort of
success stories or

failures. You've had. Please feel free to share. Feel free to share and a safe space and sort of continue
that conversation. If you

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you get your podcasts, but all that's left for me to say it's thank you very much for listening and have
a great day.