Generation Z – or those born between 1996 and 2010 – are currently a big focus for marketers, who are intent on discovering what makes this elusive demographic tick.
Colloquially known as Zoomers, this generation – which currently makes up about one-quarter of South Africa’s population – are true digital natives who are hyper-informed and ‘always on’, having grown up with the internet a part of their daily lives.
Their identities have been shaped by social media (in fact, 44% of Gen Zs spend most of their time on social media), a turbulent political and economic landscape, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The environment in which they’ve grown up has significant implications from a media consumption perspective. Consider that Gen Z has lived their lives entirely ‘on-demand’. When they want a ride, Uber is there. When they need groceries or something to eat, Checkers Sixty60 or Mr Delivery has got them.
If they want to hear their favourite song, there’s no waiting by the radio for it to come on, they track it down on Spotify – which will not only find said song, but it will also serve up a selection of curated playlists based on their preferences.
And when they want to watch their favourite show, they don’t have to arrange their day around primetime at 8pm to watch the weekly episode – they can binge the entire series on Netflix any time of their choosing.
So how has this on-demand life shaped them? And what does this mean for us, as marketers? Let’s look at what matters to Gen Z.
Authenticity matters
Having grown up in the influencer era, Gen Zs are jaded when it comes to being inauthentically ‘influenced’. Research shows that 84% has lost faith in influencers, while 86% are more likely to buy a product recommended by a friend than a paid influencer.
Sustainability is important
More than half (54%) of Gen Zs refuse to buy products from non-sustainable brands, while 66% engage in belief-driven brand choices and 43% prefer supporting companies that give back.
But they expect brands to talk and walk the talk: 51% of Gen Zs believe that if brands don’t talk about their sustainability initiatives, then they’re not sustainable.
They don’t care about ads
Having grown up in a digital age, Gen Zs have been inundated from as early as they can remember. This means that when it comes to advertising, they’re sceptical at best, and indifferent, at worst.
A whopping 99% are primed and ready to skip when they encounter an ad, while the majority (63%) use ad blockers.
They look up
For Gen Zs, having grown up in a world dominated by the internet has catalysed a pendulum swing towards offline. Research shows that over 50% of Gen Zs are actively exploring avenues to limit screen time, such as reading books, spending time outdoors and digital-free date nights.
OOH – a powerful channel to connect with Gen Zs
This desire for offline connection is increasingly reflected in Gen Z advertising preferences.
The top four mediums listed by Gen Z, in terms of how they want brands to communicate with them, are point of sale, sponsored events, out of home (OOH) and digital out of home (DOOH) media.
And when it comes to OOH, ad recall is incredibly high, with 72% of Gen Zs remembering an outdoor ad, subsequently visiting that brand’s store (60%) or following the brand online (49%).
OOH also taps into Gen Z’s ESG-savvy conscience. The medium allows brands to execute more environmentally-friendly campaigns than other media types when measured by contact or financial investment.
A KPMG study found that out of all the media measured (online, TV, radio, print and OOH), the OOH industry produces the least amount of carbon emissions per impression.
Growing up in an on-demand world, they also don’t want to passively consume media, they want to participate. Gen Zs are drawn to co-creation, with 92% saying they wanted to be involved in the process. OOH enables this through innovative platforms such as Tractor’s #DOOHShare, which allows users to submit personalised content through a mobi-site, broadcasting these messages on digital billboards for all to see.
Tractor’s SME Launchpad and community involvement programmes are also user-content enabled, displaying content that is highly relevant to where people live and what they care about.
Gen Zs have grown up in the era of the algorithm, and so ultra-personalised content is expected.
Programmatic DOOH’s data-driven insights and dynamic content triggering allow messages to be tailored to audiences based on location, time of day and seasonality while moving out of home (MOOH) retargeting allows exclusive and personalised offers to be delivered to the consumer.
Thus, OOH and DOOH provide a powerful opportunity to connect with Gen Zs and should be part of your platform stack when targeting these younger, upwardly mobile audiences.
Mali Motsumi-Garrido is sales director at Tractor Outdoor.
