Hello everyone and welcome to our newsletter on all things Gen Z.

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

First, a very big thank you to everyone who responded to our questions last week. Ok, so it wasn’t quite a 100% turnout rate, but, hey, if you filled out the survey - we’re listening!

And the results are in: You would like us to stick to a Saturday morning drop (and here it is, Saturday morning), enjoy hearing about the conversations our brilliant Gen Z teams in New York and London are having (free bleeding, anyone?) and are interested in receiving our “newslist” every week.

Agreed, agreed and agreed.

We have also regularly spoken about the difference between “cohort effects” (the things that are likely to be unique about the next generation of consumers) and “period effects” (attitudes that tend to “revert to norm” as you age). As one of our subscribers commented: “Using the Ipsos generational study’s framework of ‘life stage effects’ vs ‘cohort effects’ in your analyses/summaries, even if it’s conjectural or has evidence on both sides. There’s so much insight provided by this one framing.”

We love that reminder. And, as if by magic, here is the latest Ipsos Gen Z global polling analysis. Deep dive at your pleasure.

As ever, Get to Know is most happy when it’s digging out the nuggets of information that rub against the generally agreed narrative (two weeks ago we sparked a lively conversation in our offices about the argument that young men are becoming more conservative (they’re not, but young women are becoming more liberal)).

The Ipsos work reveals that young people tend to trust institutions more than older demographics. And tend to be more optimistic about the future than Millennials.

So, it is not all doom and gloom - but as Gen Z get older, that may change. Trust us.

Not just pretty tablescapes . . .

When we talk about the big social media forces, we assume that Meta and TikTok are running the game for young people. But we’d be silly to overlook Pinterest - a platform whose fastest-growing demographic is Gen Z. Although it built its audience with Millennials planning perfect tablescapes and weddings, the next generation now flock to it for fashion inspo. We attended the Pinterest ‘Manifestival’ at Cannes Lions this year and it was bang on the money for young people - tattoo pop ups, customised embroidered bags and photo opportunities galore.

 . . . and other important Gen Z branding lessons

NewJeans, the latest K-pop success story, have a super interesting approach to branding. The band, and their label, ADOR, update their logo and colours every time a new song and/or album is released. This scraps everything we know about design - namely, to create something fixed and recognisable - and works for the Gen Z demographic it targets. As Derrick Gee says in his YouTube analysis, they are “catering to an audience that was born on the internet, a place that hyper samples and borrows from any era”.

Talking of throwing out the rule book…

Did you know that college attendance in the US is falling? Nationwide, undergraduate college enrollment dropped 8% from 2019 to 2022. The trend could be economic - inflation rates, debt and job market prospects all push people to question whether it’s worth it. This shift has provided an opportunity for brands to step in - Roblox now has a partnership with Parsons School of Design, Google has great apprenticeship programmes and IBM and Delta are dropping college requirements to focus on skills and experience. If your business wants to reach young people, think about the gaps in their experiences and try to fill them with real value.

 . . . this group is already bossing it

Although Gen Z are young, some of the older members of the group are already managers. But what do they have to say about working with their own generation? In this piece, 1996-born Freddie Paxton, personal branding expert and CEO of WOAW, explains what he’s learned from his Gen Z employees.

And finally…

52%

Of Gen Z experiences stress at work - the most of any generation. It could be that for young people, the shock of the workplace is new and takes a while to understand (period effect) or this is a whole new workforce demographic that wants the workplace to change (cohort effect).

Stick with us to find out . . .

How can we help?

In my many travels and conversations, I’m increasingly talking to CEOs, executives and civil society leaders wanting to better understand the next generation of consumers and the next generation of employees. Gen Z is putting pressure on us all to transform in fascinating ways, and many of us are asking questions about how to cater for younger workers and future proof our organisations.

If this sounds like you, we’d be keen to have a chat and see if TNM can help. From our own content production to work we have done, for example, with The Oliver Wyman Forum, we have a raft of insights and data which can support you. We work closely with a number of global organisations – helping with high-impact story-telling, digital media, internal communications, through to employee benefits, HR and working structures.

Email me direct and all of us at TNM look forward to speaking further.

Kamal Ahmed
Editor-in-Chief and Co-founder
The News Movement

Our Top 5 News List

The top stories young people cared about this week, from our audience team and newsroom debates.