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Gen Z Insights with New Moon & the PRNet

NEW MOON

22 JULY 2022

You’ve heard us say it before and we’ll continue saying it: at New Moon, we value radical humanity above all else. Keeping that as our ethos and North Star, our aim is to make a meaningful impact on culture, regardless of who we’re talking to. From experiential activations to influencer campaigns, our superpower is thinking about marketing through the lens of the lived experience, placing every person we’re talking to in a specific context. Recently, the PR Net tasked us to think through and talk about marketing through the Gen Z lens, a task the nimble and ever-eloquent Xander Tran had no problem picking up.

 

As our director of creative strategy and resident vogue ball enthusiast, Xander was in an insightful conversation with some inimitable marketing minds, moderated by The PR Net’s Alex Delgado. Joined by Larry Millstein of PRZM and Leslie Bishop of 5WPR, Xander dropped some insights and takeaways on the generation du jour, Gen Z. While the entire talk was filled with keen-eyed commentary, we’ve pulled some of Xander’s key quotes, highlighting three facets of Gen Z: their online presentation; their social platform preferences; and their penchant for brands’ presence.

PRESENTATION

“Look at Millennials and how they use social media. It’s very curated, we’re trying to create the perfect image, a highlight reel of the greatest moments of our lives. Gen Z is much more experimental, they’re much more messy, more chaotic, more emotional [on social channels].” 

Whereas Millennials are often drawn to polished imagery, Gen Z is drawn to more humanized brand stories. Brands who are playful, irreverent, and unafraid of experimentation usually curry the most favor with Gen Z. Even better are brands who aren’t overly precious about their iconography, opening it up for memes and TikTok trends. Think Gucci with the Dress like a Gucci Model trend.

PLATFORM

“TikTok is the playground where [brands] should activate but I will throw it back to the OG internet and say that Reddit is a treasure trove of insights. So if you’re a big brand and want to get a sense of how people actually perceive your brand, Reddit is where it’s at.” 

 

It’s safe to say that TikTok has become king in recent years— it’s a multigenerational hub, an inclusive, expressive space for people to share their weird and wonderful interests. But the current social landscape is more than just TikTok, and brands that don’t look beyond the video maven are missing out on crucial community conversations. From Discord dark socials to the rising influence of YouTube on Gen Alpha, other platforms are vital for brands to engage with consumers in fresh, genuine ways.

PRESENCE

“It’s not about performative action, it’s not about buzzwords. What are you actually doing as a brand? When you try to be everything to everyone, you stand for nothing.” 

 

A brand with no real values to stand behind is not a brand Gen Z will interact with. In our current landscape, between BLM marches, the right for bodily autonomy, and the ongoing climate crisis, brands have to put a stake in the ground, showing where they stand. It is not enough to rely on virtue signaling, since Gen Z has a strong BS radar – they don’t want perfection. They just want progress, and a continued, hopeful look into the future.

 

We’ve only pulled a few golden nuggets from last week’s talk (and yes, we’re a bit biased and focused on our own beautimous Xander), but there are so many other insights and perspectives to glean from the talk.

 

To access all of the insightful takeaways

from Xander, Larry, and Leslie, click here.

And If you’re keen to hear more of our thoughts and insights beyond Gen Z, from Gen X to Gen Alpha, drop us a line!

With love,
New Moon