Deep dive on Gen-Z

Editor's Note

Hello from London!

I have 2 Gen Zs frequenting my home. They're on the younger end of the spectrum of those born between 1997 and 2012 - but watching them doesn't make me an expert. This generation have evolved into a unique group that have been born into a unique era. Much of my day job essentially revolves around the psychology of what this group wants, what's unique about these users, and how that changes around the world. And so I'm glad that this edition of Box of Amazing is sponsored by my colleagues at Quizlet Ads, who do a great an amazing job of targeting 60M of these users every month, in the US, the UK and all over the world. Wherever there are students, there is Quizlet. So if targeting Gen-Z is something you need for you business, this is one of the places where they exist.

I could quite easily just create a table on differences between GenZ, Millennials, older folk like me, and baby boomers - but the differences is more nuanced. For example, Instagram gives Gen Z the ick, and they are more likely to give authentic newer platforms and brand like BeReal a chance. But GenZ have been hit hardest by Covid and we're still figuring out how this will affect them longer term. Their childhood was ripped apart for two years. That happened for us all, but what are the ramifications for those so young? In his report, Scar Tissue, Jonny Hawton predicts this once in a century occurrence will change decision-making in radical ways, for example shunning work and embracing radical activism.

As retail brands position themselves to embrace the skews of their most lucrative and complicated target market, there are hundreds of amazing reports on this demographic. The below are my favourite ones if you want to spend the time thinking about how Gen Z ticks:

Gen Z Empathy and Awareness

Building a Better Normal

A Generation without Border

Generation Z: Global Citizenship Survey: What do the : world's young people think and feel?

How Gen Z’s concern with emotional health fuels retail growth and failure

Gen-Z and Trust

Back to School: Gen Z Attitudes to Life and Study in 2022

Authentically connecting your brand with Gen Z and Millennials

Personally, the biggest difference of Gen-z is that they have been born into a world full of technology, of daily consumption of videos, or ads, of clicks at every turn. Being sold to at every moment. And they hate that. Ultimately, Gen-Z want authenticity - they don't want to be sold to - they want to consume in a place where they don't feel sold to.

Conny Mirza who heads up Ads & Partnerships at Quizlet sums it up nicely: "Gen Z and Millennials account for a large portion of UK's spending power. Despite this generation's outsized impact on cultural and commercial landscape, marketers struggle to effectively reach this audience. Quizlet officially launched Quizlet Ads to help connect brands with this audience in authentic way."

By the time the larger brands do crack it, Generation Alpha will be on the prowl. In the mean time, don't try and trick Gen-Z, they're more savvy than you.

Stay Curious,

Onward! - Rahim

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Now

Almost anything that Kevin Kelly writes is worth reading. These annual bits of advice that come on his birthday (this year he's 70) are golden. I also had a birthday this week - my advice is: enjoy life more - it's the biggest regret from those at the tail end of their lives.

The nights are the hardest, when he lies there on his cot, the whine of the air-raid sirens in his ears and his phone still buzzing beside him. Its screen makes his face look like a ghost in the dark, his eyes scanning messages he didn’t have a chance to read during the day.

In almost every way, Akihiko Kondo is an ordinary Japanese man. He’s pleasant and easy to talk to. He has friends and a steady job and wears a suit and tie to work. There’s just one exception: Mr. Kondo is married to a fictional character.

A mini-grand theory on what he's up to with Twitter

James Ball spends countless hours a week staring at his iPhone. Would a fortnight with just old-school text messages and games of Snake shake him out of it?

Near

Cultured meat promises to change the way we eat and help solve some of the big problems of a crowded planet. When will it be on our plate and how will this technology impact the world?

Actors' livelihoods are at risk from artificial intelligence (AI) unless the law changes, a union warns. Equity, the performing arts workers union, has launched a new campaign, "Stop AI Stealing the Show".

The West Japan Rail Company has released video of its new humanoid heavy equipment robot. Mounted on the end of a crane, this gundam-style robot torso mimics the arm and head motions of a human pilot, who sees through the robot's eyes via VR goggles.

Imagine a future in which lonely people can interact with social bots, based on artificial intelligence (AI), to get the conversations and connection they crave.

There's a great disturbance in the crypto.

Doudna heads the Innovative Genomics Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, and the work coming out of her laboratory continues to focus on the molecular details of how the CRISPR system works. Perhaps more than anyone, she has been able to relay to the public the formidable power of versatile gene editing as well as the possible downsides of the technology.

End Note

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