Blogging By Dr. Philip Jay LeNoble discusses the sales and sales management structure of media marketing and advertising including principles, practices and behaviorial theory. After 15 years of publishing Retail In$ights and serving as CEO of Executive Decision Systems, Inc., the author is led to provide a continuum of solutions for businesses.
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Welcoming Gen-Z: Be Inclusive or You'll Be Irrelevant
On August 3, Turner, Horizon Media and MediaVillage.com will welcome 350 interns who are working this summer in New York City-based media, advertising, marketing and entertainment companies. The 4th annual 1stFive.org Summer Interns Experience is gathering the first class of Generation Z to join our community for a shared introduction to our business and to each other. Born after 1995, Gen-Z is the first to have grown up in a world in which the Internet and mobile devices were always present. They're our first window -- our prism -- into future generations that will be born into a world with technological innovation beyond our conception: driverless cars, pilotless airplanes, ever-present media, the Internet of Things, robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, blockchain, Nintendo Go on steroids. This generation has grown up in a time of unprecedented access to information and global connectivity, but they have also grown up in a world of upheaval and constant disruption. From the September 11th terror attacks to the real estate bubble burst and subsequent recession; from the incessant attacks on Hillary Clinton they were born into to the radicalizing triumph of Donald Trump, tumultuous events have been the backdrop of their lives so far. Chaos is the norm. Change is simply a reality.
Based on my conversations and interviews with hundreds of young people and their parents over the past decade, a study I commissioned among more than 1,000 young men and women, and three books I authored about Gen-Z and young Millennials, I can confidently report that Gen-Z and Millennials are dramatically different generations. Millennials are the offspring and inheritors of many of the least appealing qualities of Boomers, Gen-X and Gen-Y, while Gen-Z represents a completely new entry into the genetic pool, bred as much on the Internet and media as they have been by their parents – and in many cases even more so. They're a small generation but an exceptional one from which we can learn a great deal. Those who make the investment to engage with their new Gen-Z team members will find they offer uniquely valuable insights and organizational value. Those who assume they are Millennials on steroids will miss an opportunity to be witness to a generation who will be our guides and leaders through a tumultuous period that will make the last two decades seem to have passed in slow motion.
They have seen the old systems fail and see no reason to keep them around. After all, in their lifetime technology continually advances so quickly that phones are considered outdated within a year. Gen-Z does not believe in perpetuating anything that isn't working. They are not destructive, simply disruptive. They believe themselves to be both responsible for and capable of manufacturing their own happiness and success. In order to do that, they have no qualms about breaking down long-standing institutions and transgressing traditional boundaries, such as gender, which they view as artificial and outmoded.
The End of Gender?
Second wave feminism, with its cry that "Biology is not Destiny," pushed the concept of gender as distinct from sex into the social discourse in the mid-1960s. But psychologists and academics had identified the distinction at least two decades prior. In 1945, an article in the American Journal of Psychology defined gender as "the socialized obverse of sex."
Today, most people understand that the word sex is used when you are discussing the biological differences between bodies. The word gender, on the other hand, refers to the cultural and social distinctions between the sexes. While Millennials embraced the idea that gender roles could be subverted or transgressed, Generation Z is really the first generation to embrace the idea that your gender identity is self-defined.
Gender Identity
Gender identity is how an individual defines their gender. Earlier generations were, and continue to be, strongly invested in a strict gender binary consisting of men and women whose gender identity aligns with their biological sex. Millennials, as a group, are more open to less rigid gender boundaries, but Generation Z is rejecting the gender binary altogether.
According to a report by J. Walter Thompson Innovation Group, 56 percent of 13- to 20-year-olds in the United States know someone who uses gender neutral pronouns. The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) Resource Center lists the following gender-neutral pronouns: zie/ze, sie, ey, ve, tey, and e. It has also become common to use "they" as a singular pronoun. In fact, "they as a singular gender-neutral pronoun was added as accepted usage to the 2017 AP Style Guide."
Generation Z is also using a variety of language to express their gender identities. Some of these appear to uphold the gender binary, such as cisgender and transgender. A cisgender person is someone whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were assigned at birth. Someone who is transgender has a gender identity that does not align the sex they were assigned at birth. In addition to these two terms, however, there are a few more that represent the spectrum between them, such as gender nonconforming, gender-fluid, and genderqueer.
People who are gender nonconforming do not adhere to the cultural and social expectations of their gender. Gender-fluid individuals view their gender as something that is malleable and, as the term implies, fluid. Genderqueer people view themselves as outside the traditional definitions of gender. They may be gender-fluid or identify as both male and female, neither male nor female, or as simply beyond gender categorization.
Despite this proliferation of language to express and categorize gender identity, an overwhelming majority of Generation Z believes that gender does not define a person to the extent that it did in the past. This can be seen in everything they do, from their retail spending habits to their views on hot button political topics. Approximately 44 percent of Generation Z states they only buy clothing designed for their gender, while 55 percent of Millennials say they only buy clothing designed for their specific gender.
Generation Z's attitudes about gender have a ripple effect. If the gender binary is replaced by a spectrum, it stands to reason that Generation Z's views on romantic relationships and the family unit will shift as well.
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Redefining Relationships
Generation Z is the first generation where people who identify as only heterosexual are not the majority. Only 48 percent of Generation Z identifies as straight, down significantly from the 65 percent of Millennials who identify as straight. Generation Z tends to view sexuality as a spectrum similarly to how they view gender. As with gender and pronouns, one of the easiest ways to see this trend is in the language people use to self-identify.
In addition to straight, gay, and bisexual, members of Generation Z identify as pansexual, asexual, or simply queer. Pansexual people are fluid in their sexual orientation and reject the term bisexual because it relies on the gender binary. Someone who is asexual is not sexually attracted to any gender. The term queer has been used pejoratively in the past, which may cause older generations to balk at the use of it to self-identify. But for Generation Z, and some Millennials, it has been reclaimed as an inclusive term for all members of the LGBT community, especially those who are not represented by the letters L, G, B, or T.
What do all these terms have to do with Generation Z's views on relationships? First and foremost, we may see fewer heterosexual relationships among Generation Z. The relationships they do have may redefine the roles of partners within them. While this may be disconcerting for some, it could actually lead to something great – truly egalitarian romantic relationships. If all the old-gendered rules and expectations of dating and relationships dissipate, we are left with the opportunity to get to know one another not as men and women but as human beings.
In many ways, the Internet is already helping to facilitate this. People "meet" online and may spend hours chatting and getting to know one another before they ever see one another face to face. Of course, this comes with a host of concerns all its own. One thing is certain, however, the Internet has disrupted the status quo when it comes to dating and relationships. But since Generation Z has never known life without the Internet, the old ways of courtship may be as foreign to them as a rotary phone or an 8-track.
Interestingly, Generation Z is actually less likely to use online dating and social media to attempt to find a romantic partner than previous generations. Only eight percent of teens today report meeting a dating partner online. Part of this may be attributable to their age. The oldest members of Generation Z are in their early 20s and the youngest are still in high school. Potential dates can be found in the high school classes and on college campuses. There's really no need to search online. That may change in the future when they are actively looking to settle down, but if Generation Z follows the trend set by Millennials that won't be any time soon.
Restructuring Families
While the traditional nuclear family unit, a husband and wife with two kids, has not been the reality for many families for a long time, most previous generations still held on to it as an ideal. Millennials are delaying getting married and having children until their mid-thirties. Although what many do not see is that Millennials are not delaying marriage and starting a family because they do not believe in the institutions. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Millennials have grown up with a high divorce rate and faced an unstable economy as they began to arrive on the job market. These two traits combine to make Millennials cautious about getting married too soon. They want to be certain they have chosen the right partner. Additionally, they want to feel as though they are financially able to support a family before starting one.
Generation Z, on the other hand, has grown up in a wide array of family structures. They do not revere the nuclear family as the glue keeping society together. Around one-third of the members of Generation Z have grown up in single parent households. Many have been raised in multigenerational homes, living with parents and grandparents. They tend to be close to their parents, with nearly 90 percent referring to parents as their best friends.
Additionally, this generation's families are more diverse than their predecessors in nearly every way imaginable. Generation Z is coming of age in a world where same-sex marriage is legal. They have peers with two moms or two dads and accept it as normal. The religious, racial, and ethnic makeup of Generation Z's families are also far more diverse than the families of Millennials. For members of Generation Z, the only essential component for a family is love and love can look any number of ways.
Yet, despite their overall satisfaction with their families of origin, Generation Z does not rank getting married as important to them. Part of this could be a sign of their age. The generation before them is putting off marriage until after they feel established in their careers. If that is not until their mid-30s, many members of Generation Z are less than halfway there.
It is also possible that members of Generation Z are not invested in the institution of marriage. As mentioned earlier, Gen-Z has come of age in a time filled with the falling of monoliths, both figuratively and literally. From the World Trade Center Towers in New York to the real estate economy and large banks, Gen-Z has grown up with the knowledge that no institution is impenetrable or eternal. They are inherently skeptical of anything that claims to last forever. Members of Gen-Z may very well consider marriage to be one of many things that may have had value in the past, but it is of little use today. As they have embraced a spectrum of gender and sexuality, Gen-Z may also believe in a spectrum of family, including chosen family.
The concept of chosen family arose from within the LGBT community. Chosen family includes the people in your life who are most important to you. Two of the main reasons the LGBT community developed chosen family was due to the inability to get married and the loss of family of origin.
Until very recently, same-sex marriage was not legal in all states and coming out as LGBT often resulted in being rejected by your family of origin. But human beings are social creatures who thrive in communities and tend to wither in isolation. Chosen family fills this need but does not require outside recognition of its validity. Gen-Z may be drawn to the concept of chosen family for its flexibility. A generation that believes in the fluidity of gender and sexuality is likely to prefer commitments that allow for malleability as well.
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What Do These Changes Mean for Marketing?
Millennials have been the focus of a lot of research and study, but companies really need to be thinking about and researching Generation Z, as I have been doing for a decade. A recent study by New York-based ad company, Sparks & Honey, revealed that more than 25 percent of the American population belongs to Generation Z and they have money to spend. The average member of Generation Z gets a weekly allowance of $16.90 each week. Collectively, that means Generation Z has $44 billion in allowance each year. As they come of age and join the workforce, their income and market share is going to start to increase pretty quickly. Marketers who are not already strategizing about how to appeal to Gen-Z, need to get started and fast.
Social Media Natives
Where Millennials are digital natives that grew up consuming large amounts of content, Gen-Z is a generation of social media natives. They have grown up creating content. Gen-Z may be on Facebook, but that's not where they spend the majority of their time. Sponsored Facebook ads, no matter how effectively Facebook's algorithms may target users, are not going to attract the attention of Gen-Z.
Recently Facebook started allowing advertisements to play in the middle of certain types of shared content, which reflects the age of the average Facebook user. Where older users will sit through the ad to see the rest of the video, Gen-Z does not have the patience for that. According to research, they have an 8-second attention span and if your ad interrupts their video, they will simply close the video. They will either move onto the next thing or find the video on another platform.
If Gen-Z is not on Facebook, where are they? They use social media in two distinctly different ways from previous generations: to be anonymous or to create content. Gen-Z interacts with their peers largely on social media platforms, such as Whisper and Snapchat. They can be found creating content on Instagram, Vimeo, and YouTube. To appeal to Gen-Z, on social media as well as on other platforms, marketing companies need to create ads that have value for Gen-Z and communicate their message in an environment that reflects their ideals.
Sex Sells, But Generation Z Isn't Buying
Gen-Z is a generation of diversity. In addition to the gender and sexuality diversity mentioned above, there has been a 50 percent increase in young people who identify as multicultural since the year 2000. Marketing campaigns that do not reflect the diversity of Gen-Z will be seen as outdated. Inclusivity is the name of the game with Gen-Z because they believe that representation matters. They want to see people, relationships, and families similar to their own on screen and they will not tolerate anything that resembles sexism, racism, homophobia, or transphobia.
The message here is clear: gone are the days where objectifying women was met with a wink and nudge. Millennials may have been willing to embrace it as "all in good fun," but Gen-Z is simply not having it.
Be Inclusive or You'll Be Irrelevant
Additionally, Gen-Z will reward advertising campaigns that reflect family and individual diversity. They understand social media influence and will gladly share content that promotes inclusivity. Dove experienced great success with their Real Women campaign, where they began including more size and racial diversity into their marketing and explicitly stated that it was time to portray "Real Women" in advertising.
In April 2017, Dove launched their Real Moms campaign to introduce their baby product line. Designed to bust stereotypes of what a typical mother looks like, the series of commercials will feature cattle ranchers and break-dancers. With their first advertisement in the campaign, they broke entirely new ground in marketing by featuring a transgender mom. The commercial brilliantly shows this mom performing the mundane tasks of motherhood, such as changing diapers, as she discusses the difficult and insensitive comments she gets as a transgender mom. It's very clear in the ad that she is, within her home and family, just another real mom who deserves to be seen as such. This is exactly the type of advertisement that will resonate with Gen-Z.
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Conclusion
If you want to market to Generation Z, and you should, you need to embrace their ideals. Both Dove and Carl's Jr. understand that Gen-Z is not going to accept anything less than full inclusivity. Companies that worry about losing the market of older generations are ignoring the size and potential power of Gen-Z. The future of successful marketing is a lot like Gen-Z and their views on gender and relationships: diverse, inclusive, and groundbreaking.
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