The Zoomers Revelation

Every generation shapes our culture in their image. The shape it takes will have a dramatic impact on marketing. According to Investopedia, Boomers, with their appetite for consumption and comfort, were the result of people wanting to start the families that they put off during World War II and the Great Depression, and a sense of confidence that the coming era would be safe and prosperous. Savvy marketers like Kellogg’s and McDonald’s took note and prospered.

But every generation that follows rewrites the rules, forcing brands to reconsider what people value, what they distrust, and what kind of message can still break through.

And according to Valueoptions, Gen Xers, with their apathy and angst, grew up in an era of emerging technology and political and institutional incompetence. Watergate, Three Mile Island, Bhopal, the Iranian hostage crisis, Iran-Contra and the Clinton-Lewinsky debacles mark the emergence of this generation. Older brands like Mountain Dew and Jack in the Box developed counter-culture strategies that found their way into the jaded hearts of Gen X.

So how about the children of Generation X?

Gen Z, sometimes referred to as Zoomers, are already demonstrating how they will likely shape the culture of their generation. 

One indication, according to exit polls from elections between 2000 and 2020, shows that Zoomers swung hard to the left. 

“Generational replacement will not be kind to Trump’s Republican Party,” John Della Volpe, polling director at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics, and CEO of SocialSphere, suggests. 

Will Zoomers change the way we market brands?

“They are the most diverse and most educated generation in history,” Della Volpe writes. But will these 70 million young Zoomers born beginning in the mid-1990s,  swing hard enough to break the cultural stalemate that grips our country? 

Hard to say. But will they break your current go-to-market strategies? It’s very possible. Just consider how these six events have dramatically shaped their attitudes and behaviors:

1. Occupy Wall Street: Millennial-led discussions about inequality became political drivers as Zoomers came of age.

2. Donald Trump.

3. The Parkland, Fla., high school shooting and March for Our Lives movement.

4. 17-year-old Darnella Frazier’s use of her iPhone to record the murder of George Floyd.

5. Greta Thunberg’s climate strike.

6. Beginning adult life in the midst of a 2-year pandemic exacerbated by politics.

You do the math. It’s safe to say it won’t be business as usual when it comes to relating your offers and messaging for a marketing campaign that targets Zoomers. 

When it comes to growing your brand in an ever-shifting marketplace, your mindset for marketing is of vital importance. Find out how a Positive Brand mindset can move your brand in a positive direction. 

Helping companies engage their customers to generate more sales is what we do at Positive Brand. Contact us today. We can show you how to align your message with the medium and your customers to create successful engagements for your brand.

This article was based in part by an article posted by Mike Allen for Axios.