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

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At Get to Know towers we know there are many reasons to be cheerful. Not for us the constant narrative of miserable doom scrolling and worries about cost of living.

We know, and the data tells us, that Gen Z are largely in rude good health, particularly if they were born in one of the rapidly growing emerging economies. In Nigeria, India and Indonesia, to choose just three, this generation will be far better off than their parents.

In the West, pressures can be overemphasised. Yes, we are much more aware of the pressures on our mental welfare and that the need for action on the climate is a constant. 

But, as we have reported, the next generation is the least squeezed economically and, net-net, social media and smartphones have opened up as many possibilities for connections, new conversations and new businesses, as they have raised causes for concern.

At TNM we have built a new news business for the next generation of consumers on two simple principles. No one wants to be stupid - so provide audiences with engaging, useful information. And optimism beats pessimism - as this fine piece in The Economist (£) makes clear.

We launched three years ago - and 1.7m followers later, the principles have served us well.

Thank you for following our Newsletter, which will be taking a short pause as we rethink how to best cover the exciting possibilities ahead of us.

The fundamental changes that are being spearheaded by Gen Z are affecting far more than our core demographic. The next big conversation will be all about how to embrace that change, whether you are in your twenties 👩‍🦰 or 55 👴🏽.

We look forward to coming back to you very soon - and until then, have a very optimistic time.

Coachella chat

Before Coachella returned last weekend, there was a lot of chat about whether the festival’s relevance was waning. It’s true that interest in glamorous influencer content has already peaked, but there were some classic moments that made the festival feel relevant (or at least something worth talking about) for the consumers of tomorrow. Our fave picks were the return of No Doubt with an appearance from Olivia Rodrigo, Ke$ha and Renée Rapp calling out P Diddy, and Blur’s Damon Albarn getting a bit ragey about the lacklustre crowd. 

Returnships

PepsiCo and IBM are normalising “returnship” programmes, which help employees who have taken a career break get back into the workforce. This is great for a tonne of reasons, but particularly as women and minority groups are more likely to take a career break. Caregiving is the leading reason why prime working age people aren’t active in the workforce, and they’re women by a 12:1 ratio.

Scrabble squabble

The next brand making big moves to appeal to Gen Z? Scrabble. For the first time in its 75-plus year history, a new, collaborative, version of the game has been launched. Gyles Brandreth, President of the Association of British Scrabble Players, said Gen Z "want a game where you can simply enjoy language, words, being together, and having fun creating words". But not everyone is convinced: in this article, some people say it feels like cheating. We guess this poses a bigger question: what is the purpose of playing games? And does competition build relationships?

Gen Z work coach

Shoshanna Davis is the 28-year-old founder of Fairy Job Mother, a consultancy helping over 20,000 young people navigate work. In this piece she dispels the common conception that Gen Z are lazy, and adds some well needed nuance to the debate. Reading it will help you understand the young people in your workplace.

And finally…

53%

…of Gen Zers would reject a job if the employer’s mission didn’t line up with their socio-political values, according to a United Way of the National Capital Area survey. 

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.