Gen Z is reshaping marketing and communication strategies with their unique preferences and digital behaviors. Understanding their values, habits, and expectations is essential for brands looking to capture their attention and build long-term relationships.
Closer, More Human Connections
This generation perceives brands as entities that should be accessible and authentic. The image of distant, unattainable corporations is being replaced by companies that showcase their human side and establish direct connections with their audiences. This shift has led to greater brand humanization, where showing the process behind products or the people within the company is perceived positively.
Social platforms like TikTok play a central role in this transformation. Through personalized content, brands can participate in everyday conversations and become part of digital communities. This interaction creates a bond that goes beyond mere product promotion, fostering trust among young consumers.
Authenticity as the Key to Communication
Gen Z values genuine and organic messaging. Content that overtly emphasizes its advertising nature tends to be quickly rejected.
On one hand, more and more young brand founders are taking on the role of content creators on social media, reinforcing their authenticity. This, combined with a high volume of content, is fundamental to achieving virality and engagement with this generation.
On the other hand, brands collaborating with influencers must allow them to adapt messages to their own styles and communities. This means avoiding overly promotional language and instead embracing a narrative that seamlessly integrates advertising into the content.
Where is Gen Z?
While they interact with multiple platforms, TikTok is by far the most relevant platform for this generation. It’s not just a place for entertainment—it’s also where they discover new products and services. The short-form video format has been widely adopted by other platforms like Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and even LinkedIn, adapting to Gen Z’s preference for dynamic and relatable content.
TikTok’s influence is so significant that it has even begun to displace historically dominant platforms like Google Search. For this generation, TikTok has become the new search engine—it’s where they explore, research, and find inspiration for products, brands, places, or experiences.
According to an eMarketer study on Gen Z's buying behavior, platform choice depends on the campaign objective. For awareness goals, TikTok and Instagram are the most effective platforms among Gen Z, while Facebook is losing relevance in this segment. However, when it comes to consideration, TikTok stands out as the key platform—it's where this generation actively explores, investigates, and makes decisions about new products and services.
The charts below illustrate platform choice depending on the user’s objective, and highlight the clear differences between Gen Z’s behavior and that of other generations.
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Gen Z’s Interests and Values
Gen Z is recognized as one of the most socially conscious generations, actively concerned with sustainability, gender and racial equality, political justice, and mental health, among other issues. This means that the products they consume should align with these values—not necessarily by solving these problems but by conveying messages that resonate with their interests.
Understanding Gen Z requires recognizing their focus on authenticity, preference for organic content, and strong social and environmental values. This group demands a level of transparency and creativity that challenges traditional advertising methods. At the same time, it presents a unique opportunity to build strong relationships through strategies tailored to their interests and behaviors.
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