Question 1

What is Generation Z?

Accepted Answer

Generation Z refers to the set of people born between the second half of the 1990s through 2012, a cohort thought to be shaped by technology immersion, familiarity with diverse people, exposure to political polarization and the financial hardships of their parents, and a world constantly at war. High-speed internet, touch-screens, and social media platforms have surrounded them from their early years and only grown more common and sophisticated over time. Especially in developed countries, they have been more likely than those from previous generations to personally encounter individuals from multiple ethnicities or individuals with mixed ethnicities and have been more likely to be exposed to people with backgrounds different from their own via various popular media. Exacerbated by social media silos, political polarization, such as the ever-widening chasm between nationalists and globalists, has grown with them. For more than a decade of their young lives they have suffered fallout from the Great Recession of 2008 and its ongoing impact on their families, and they do not know a world where harmony and peace between nations is more pronounced than conflict and war. Each of these experiences and more have shaped and continue to shape their world view and how they respond to it. Although their experiences differentiate them from other generational cohorts, Gen Z-ers are also unique because they are the newest generation to be studied widely. (Although some refer to those born after 2012 as Generation Alpha or Generation A, they are too young for marketers to research systematically or regularly). The newest generation is always more heterogeneous than its predecessors because their span is much more segmented than that of a more mature generation. The youngest of them are not yet teenagers, and the oldest may be recent college graduates who are relatively new to the workforce. In between, some are entering middle school while others are leaving high school, some are looking forward to learning to drive while others have commercial licenses, and some are playing with toy soldiers (or playing “Counter-Strike: Global Offensive”) while others are fighting overseas. Although, generally speaking, they are sharing the same world events and are more like each other than like Millennials or Gen X-ers, they are less similar within their cohort than would be expected of those in the older generations. As could happen with any generation, Gen Z-ers are further stratified by differences in region or culture and by differences in maturity when experiencing major events. A Gen Z-er in a culture with little access to high-speed internet or that is too poor to afford new devices will be less directly defined by technology immersion than someone who has those advantages. Someone whose family income was less negatively impacted by the Great Recession of 2008 may not be as financially conservative as someone whose family was devastated by it. A child who was eight years old when COVID-19 first peaked will be affected differently than an adult in their early 20s. Compare this to Millennials; how different will the impact of the pandemic be on someone who was 24 years-old at the onset versus someone who was 39? The crisis may affect them differently, but probably not as dramatically different as it affects Gen Z-ers with a similar age gap.

Question 2

How is marketing to Generation Z different?

Accepted Answer

Marketing to the quintessential Generation Z consumer, one that is significantly shaped by the circumstances ascribed to influencing the cohort, may require a technology appeal, socially-sensitive messaging, digital “word-of-mouse” (or “word-of-tap”?) campaigns, and a clear value-for-the-money proposition. Of course, there are differences within the Generation Z population, other nuances, and likely to be changes as they age, so these approaches apply to a “generic” Gen Z-er. Gen Z were practically born with a communication device in their hand, playing with their parents’ cell phones or tablets, and likely getting a functioning mobile phone before they were teens. Whereas as a Gen X-er or Millennial likely learned about computing from a mainframe, desktop or laptop, a member of Generation Z is more likely to identify with computing power that is accessed via a device that fits in a hand, pocket, or purse, and is always ready for use. For them, a mobile phone was never just about making and receiving calls, but always about playing games, seeing friends, and getting personal assistance with a variety of tasks, with newly automated tasks introduced every day. If they are considering which product or service to choose, and one has a technology enabler and the other one doesn’t, they are not likely to pick the one that doesn’t. They’ve grown up familiar with people who are like them and unlike them, whether via direct experience in their communities or via their consumption of social or public media. They have heightened sensitivity to social issues because they are aware of social differences outside their tribes. They consider environmental issues not only because of how current events are reported and discussed, but also because of how products are marketed. Health and nutrition are also prominent top-of-mind topics. While awareness of and sensitivity to these issues does not necessarily turn someone into a crusader for them, Gen Z-ers might choose between two brands because of differences in these areas if they view each brand’s products or services to be otherwise equivalent. Further, because Generation Z is hyper-connected and coming of age in a world exploding with information (as well as misinformation), they can easily research their purchases in detail. Such research may reveal just how much better your product is than your competitors’, but it might also convince a Generation Z shopper that it is a commodity or paralyze them by presenting trade-offs that are too difficult for them to make. In such cases, they may turn to a news story, blog post, or YouTube clip that simplifies their choice by differentiating your brand on some other dimension. For these reasons, it is important to understand their digital habits and who they turn to for advice so that you are not left out of relevant “word-of-mouse” (or “word-of-tap”) purchase discussions. Generally speaking, when it is hard to tell how one purchase alternative is superior to another, price is more likely to make the decision. While this is a key dimension of shopper behavior to understand for consumers of any age, it is particularly critical for Generation Z. They have seen their parents fall behind due to recessions, and many have seen their Millennial siblings, aunts, or uncles encumbered by crushing student debt. Factor in how routine computer hacks and phishing attacks have become, and you have a generation that could be naturally skeptical of offers, able to research the validity of product claims, and conservative about spending. None of this means they will automatically buy the cheapest product, but they have the tools and disposition to evaluate whether a product or service is likely to be worth what it costs them. As a reminder, we are talking about the “quintessential” Generation Z-er, and any member whom you select at random might be very different from this construct. Further, characteristics of this generation and the variations within it may have implications for your brand, products, and services that differ from the norm. Market research companies, agencies, and consultancies who are expert in Generation Z can help you understand their cohort, determine what it means for your business, and help you fine tune your strategies and tactics.

Question 3

Why are they called “Generation Z”?

Accepted Answer

The glib response to the question of why they are called “Generation Z” might be “lack of imagination,” but the responsible one is because they follow “Millennials,” who, once upon a time, used to be called “Generation Y.” The labels “Generation Y” and “Generation Z” don’t give you much insight into the cohort because they don’t tell you anything about the forces that made them distinct (e.g., “Baby Boomers”) or about their ethos (e.g., “Generation X”). “Millennials” is a bit more descriptive than “Generation Y,” but doesn’t provide much insight beyond when they “came of age” (i.e. the second thousand-year anniversary of modern time, though it doesn’t even tell you it’s the “second”). This is a bit like calling Generation Z “2012s” or Generation X “1981s,” leaving it to you to figure out why those years are significant. The meaning of “Baby Boomer” is fairly robust and relevant. Although the term “baby boom” was first used in 1920, it became attached to the years after World War II and to the unusually large number of babies who were born during that period. It is significant because the bulge in population was so pronounced that it would clearly have implications for societies and economies immediately and throughout their lifetimes. The term was not an attempt to capture the essence of a generation, but a label affixed to a phenomenon that needed to be tracked because it would shape economies for decades to come. While on the surface, “Generation X” might seem to be the most generic of the generational labels, it’s actually the most colorful, and its origin is the most controversial, as far as generation-labeling controversies go. The emergence of consensus around this label may have been driven by Douglas Coupland’s popular novel, “Generation X,” Billy Idol’s early band, also called “Generation X,” or Robert Capa’s photo essay of Hungarian youth following World War II, which he titled “Generation X” (rather than “Baby Boomers”). Because generation labels can only emerge from consensus, it is likely that all three of these contributed to its use, but we also have to consider that it was also descriptive of the youth of this age. For example, as the number of single-parent and double-income families increased, their children often came home to empty houses because their parents were at work. Realizing that the Baby Boom was over, that this generation was unnamed, and that the youth seemed to be more alienated, use of the term “Generation X” grew until it became, more or less, standard. Once that generation was labeled, trend-mongers realized that they needed to define and label the generation to follow and naturally chose “Generation Y” to follow “X” as a place-holder until characteristics of this cohort could emerge. Once Y2K hysteria began to emerge, however, the term “Millennial” was introduced and widely adopted over the less-marketable “Generation Y.” Nonetheless, when it came time to recognize a new emerging generation, these trend-mongers fell back on their old naming convention to produce “Generation Z,” presumably believing that to be superior to “Milliennials+1.” The point to remember is that Generation Z is called “Generation Z” simply because consensus opinion refers to them that way as a kind of shorthand for “assumptions about people born from the second half of the 1990s through 2012.” If you are someone who was born between those years, please don’t take that label personally and be offended unless someone uses it to stereotype you. The name doesn’t tell you anything of importance, but experts in Generation Z can help you access a wealth of detail about members of this cohort so that you can avoid stereotyping and market to them more effectively.

Question 4

Is Generation Z a “cohort’ or a “segment”?

Accepted Answer

At a particular point in time, Generation Z might be considered a “segment,” but is should mainly be considered a “cohort.” In a main sense, a “segment” is a group of people who are more similar to each other than they are to people outside their segment, and the nature of that similarity has meaning, for example, to marketers. A “cohort,” on the other hand, is a group of people who have joined together or who are treated as a group. Outside of their identification as members of a group, they may not be at all similar to each other or different from anyone outside the cohort. In research, they are often observed over time, whether that is from the start of an experiment or trial, such as for a new diet pill, or over years, such as members of a generational group. Whereas knowledge of similarities and differences precede a segment definition, they often emerge from a cohort. Generation Z is a cohort because they are a group of people defined by birth years, which means they have lived or will live through the same events (to the extent that events are shared across them) while they are in similar life stages. As researchers study them, they will learn about Gen Z’s similarities and differences from each other and from those in other generation-defined cohorts. At any point in time, those similarities may define them as a “segment,” but there are better choices for marketing segments and their common characteristics will change over time. For marketing purposes, for example, you may be better off targeting high school students than you are by targeting Generation Z-ers. Also, as the cohort ages, their similarities and differences will change with them. They will always be part of that cohort, even though their other commonalities might change. By contrast, people can move out of a segment, but their commonalities will be stable while they are part of it.

Question 5

What are the 3 major challenges to market research with Generation Z?

Accepted Answer

In some ways, the challenges of conducting research with Generation Z are similar to those of researching any generation that happens to the youngest one, but also differ based on their uniqueness. The 3 major challenges are how to focus on the relevant segment within Gen Z, how to recruit them ethically and legally, and how to engage them effectively. The first challenge, focusing on the relevant segment within Gen Z, may be obvious but is worth noting. Generation Z is a cohort, and, as such, they are similar only with respect to proximity in age and common experiences with events that will shape them as they grow older. Within their population, they can be quite diverse. In 2022, their ages range from 10 to 26 or 27 years old, and this means that some of them are in middle school, some in high school, some in college, some in post-graduate programs, some in the workforce, and so on. Younger members of this generation may be more influenced by the pandemic than are older ones, but older ones may have been more influenced by the Great Recession. When conducting research with them, it is important to align your target respondent with your business needs because a general canvass of Gen Z may yield misleading results. A second challenge is how to recruit them legally and ethically because many of them are minors. Various trade organizations within market research have developed codes for ethics for researching children, and certain laws may prohibit certain kinds of activities with them. An expert in Generation Z should be able to help you to navigate these challenges and restrictions. Engaging Gen Z-ers in market research is another challenge. Typically, they spend hours per day on social media, and their expectations of research participation may be shaped by those experiences. If the research experience is too dissimilar from what they are used to, they may decline to participate or may give careless answers. Some market research suppliers are experts in engaging Generation Z and can guide you in this pursuit.

Top Companies for Market Research with Gen Z Audiences

What are Generation Z market research companies?

Featured Experts in Top Companies for Market Research with Gen Z Audiences

Compare Market Research with Generation Z Companies

TeenVoice

TeenVoice

Fieldwork Webwork and Anywhere

Fieldwork Webwork and Anywhere

Horowitz Research, A Division of M/A/R/C Research

Horowitz Research, A Division of M/A/R/C Research

Current Forward

Current Forward

Horowitz Research, A Division of M/A/R/C Research

TeenVoice

Fieldwork Webwork and Anywhere

In My Opinion

Highlight

Yabble

Current Forward

Logica Research

Knit

Clearworks

Touchstone Research, Inc.

Provoke Insights

Reach3 Insights

Starlight Analytics

OvationMR

LA Product Studio

Environics Research