By Danuta Bregula and Liesbeth Nizet, authors of the How Publishers Can Grow with Today’s Youth report and the Youthquake and stuff newsletter for publishers.
GenZ are the trailblazers, Gen alpha the biggest opportunity
In our report published last year, we picked and examined several macrotrends influencing how younger generations, particularly Generation Z and Generation Alpha, consume and trust news brands (or choose not to). These trends included climate optimism, a strong aversion to “washing” and a keen bullsh*t detector, TikTok therapy and open vulnerability, self-discovery, surreal humor and wholesomeness, the balance between asynchronous work and hustle culture, the influence of journalists and influencers, social commerce, social gaming, content creators’ monetization strategies, and a growing willingness to co-create.
Then, inspired by the classic McCrindle Generation Map, we analyzed these trends across multiple generations of media users. And guess what? The differences are quite striking!
Now, let’s take a closer look at how this generation map translates to media consumption. Notice anything interesting? There are indeed significant differences, but more importantly, there’s a huge opportunity here. Generation Alpha is being raised by the most tech-savvy, brand-conscious, and emotionally-attuned parents yet: Millennials and older Gen Zs. These next-gen parents are not only redefining parenting but are also shaping the preferences and expectations of future consumers. Here’s the kicker: they still recognize and value the news brands they grew up with, as long as those brands and products continue to meet their needs.
> To add to your reading list: Getting young people to subscribe means changing how we define journalism
Belonging over transaction
On the marketing side, there has been a significant shift as well. The traditional marketing funnel just doesn’t work anymore for these new generations.
We’re shifting from a linear model to a more dynamic, engaging approach that reflects the ways Gen Z and Gen Alpha interact with content and more important, that starts from a belonging perspective. That is why we reshaped this funnel into a youth-friendly way using success stories from both inside and outside the media world:
Take a closer look because at times it’s all about nuances. Take stage (3): Belonging a smooth transaction process that allows new users to pay however they want is not just the expected technical product feature but a message to them: we understand you, you belong here, we recognize you prefer Klarna. More than 80% of GenZ expect alternative payment methods like in-app payments and mobile wallets.
Or, think about how successful news brands execute the stages (1) Inspiration and (2) Excitement: they put the personalities of their journalists and columnists first (meaning: short video “commentary” formats) because they recognize that community needs a face.
And then there’s the product level: in one of the case studies we wrote about in our newsletter we featured Sam Koslowski, the founder of The Daily News, an Australian news brand, who hit the core challenge: “The news is overwhelming – the way it is presented doesn’t have to be.”
On the marketing side, think about initiatives like the recent collaboration between Highsnobiety, a global fashion and lifestyle media brand based in Berlin, and some of the most iconic Parisian brands, including Le Monde, for this year’s edition of their Not In Paris campaign. See more beautiful photos from the campaign here and learn about all the accompanying events here. If you watched the latest season 4 of the global Netflix hit Emily in Paris, you likely noticed how effectively the show portrayed Le Monde as an influential social powerhouse in one of its most dramatic storylines.
Whose point of view do you channel?
Before we invite you to follow us on youthquakes.substack.com, we want to leave you with one overarching question to consider which could explain why many brands struggle to resonate with the next generations, even when their products seem nearly flawless: Whose point of view are you channeling?
>>> Need more examples and insights? Follow us on youthquakes.substack.com
