Study: Gen Z are huge opportunity for brands

Brands have a huge opportunity to engage Gen Z via social media advertising and then use Gen Z as brand ambassadors to influence their peers and household, according to new research from Snap and Kantar Media.

Some 60 per cent of Gen Z said their favourite brand was recommended by family and friends, compared with 52 per cent for Millennials and 39 per cent of Gen X and older - establishing brand advocates in Gen Z's social circle is important for advertisers.

The research has also found that, despite Gen Z’s reported reduced attention span, the group can recall advertising just as well, if not better, when compared with older generations. In addition to being able to recall advertising content better than Millennials and Gen X, Gen Z showed better ad recall after viewing ads for less than two seconds. The study also found high rates of brand preference among Gen Z, along with other key insights for advertisers on what drives Gen Z brand loyalty.

Snap commissioned Kantar to analyse brand preferences among people of different ages and  surveyed over 12,000 participants from six countries, including Australia. The research was conducted in late April after the global pandemic was declared.

The research also found Gen Z is more likely than Gen X and Boomers to choose brands on the basis of a brand’s support for their community and environmental issues, while no large differences were observed on dimensions like product features and enjoyment. And over half of Gen Zs who watched a skippable video ad for less than two seconds correctly remembered it, more than double the rate of research participants in the Gen Z and Baby Boomer generation. 

Snap head of international measurement and insights, Andy Pang, said Gen Z represent a meaningful opportunity for brands and the research showed the speed at which the group rapidly tap, swipe and scroll through mobile content, raising the question as to whether what was viewed was actually read and absorbed. 

He noted the study’s findings show Gen Z are far faster at processing information than they might have given them credit for, although this raises certain challenges for brands in how they create their content to engage this audience.

“This faster speed of cognitive processing means that brands who want to engage Gen Z need to tailor their video creative and focus on communicating brand and product messages as early as possible,” he said.

Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, follow our regular updates via CMO Australia's Linkedin company page, or join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia.