Hello everyone and welcome to our newsletter on all things Gen Z - the first of 2024!

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Goodness me, we are looking forward to the next 12 months, a year of elections around the world with many millions of young people engaging with democracy and voting for the first time, new trends in work (we predict “intergenerational-sympathy” will be the new buzz phrase - see previous Get to Knows) and big changes in how we consider true “equity” in everything we do, rather than rather tired ideas of “diversity and inclusion”.

Thank you for being with us this year - we love the community we are building and the feedback we get. Do keep the comments coming, we read everything.

Now, you know our HQ, Get to Know towers, reaches high into the sky and as joint creators, our C-suite offices are on the very top floor. From there you can usefully consider the horizon, not just geographically (the sun has not shone in London since October) but also temporally. And, yup, we are already looking to 2028 when the first (gulp) Generation Alphas will be entering the workforce.

Born after 2010, Gen As will be like Gen Z, only more so. As we have said before, understanding the difference between cohort effects (what has changed forever for each generation) and period effects (characteristics that are likely to revert to generational norms as groups age) is essential. From what we can see in the data, Gen Z and Gen A have strong cohort links - social media natives who have only known a networked, global world. These are hardwired shifts, not passing trends. 

This new Gen “Zalpha” will be driving the major tides of the next two decades. Let’s just take one area - entrepreneurialism and the side hustle. It’s big for Gen Z. It’s likely to be even bigger for Gen A.

And as one of our favourite newsletter providers The Hustle says: “Any business that captures Gen Alpha’s mindshare will see huge growth momentum in the years to come.”

Add Gen Z to that, and you could become even bigger than this newsletter.

La Dolce Vita

Some of us may want to change our lives in 2024, and the same is true for some young Italians. Gen Zers in the Lombardy region and beyond are abandoning their well-paid jobs in the cities in pursuit of farming. And it’s not just a one-off case: agriculture is one of the only growing sectors led by young people in Italy in the past decade. Enrico Parisi, a national delegate for Coldiretti Giovani Impresa (the Young Farmers association) says it’s about identity, and young peoples’ desire for the simple things, like “the blossoming of a peach flower”, to find the happiness they struggle to discover elsewhere.

Money on my mind

Beyond Italian farms, lots of young people have the classic resolutions for 2024. An American Express survey found that  57% of Gen Zers named personal finance goals as their top personal aim for next year, followed by wellness goals (50%) and mental health goals (48%). Within finance, Gen Z’s main aims are as you might expect: increase their savings, pay off debts and stick to a budget.

Lunch time

“You don’t want me to have privacy, like? Every single day you wanna go grab lunch with me?”. These are the words spoken on a viral video of a girl complaining about her new colleagues’ desire to eat lunch together everyday. VICE responded with a piece about young people and work lunch etiquette/obligation, in which our very own Freddie Feltham described the lunch break as “an oasis where you can be reminded that the office is just that, and the real world is beyond its four walls”. For young people, work-life balance continues to be vital, and office small talk is most enjoyed when people actually have decent stuff to talk about (beyond, you know, work).

Big cruise

For years cruise operators have been trying to get young people onboard with their offering (see: Virgin Voyages for millennials). But the biggest youth hype for cruises is now happening organically on TikTok, as Royal Caribbean's nine-month cruise around the world is being watched like a reality TV show. The hashtag #UltimateWorldCruise has over 160 million views, proving once again that organic content is often the most powerful marketing for young people.

And finally…

17%

…that’s the proportion of cycle commuters who are Gen Z, as reported by Strava - an 8% increase from five years ago. Gen Z are increasingly opting for the fitter (and cheaper) way to get to work.

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

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