Gen Z represents $143 billion in purchasing power, and possibly one of the biggest missed opportunities in marketing right now.
They’re filling their first shopping carts and influencing countless other purchases made by their parents, friends, and social media followers.
Through all this, they’re trying to figure out how your product fits into their lives.
The key to grabbing — and holding — their attention is understanding what they care about. While some researchers estimate the Gen Z attention span at eight seconds, they have passions and motivations just like you, me, and everyone else.
To help you connect more authentically, let’s dive into their top interests from our new report, Gen Z: All Grown Up.
What’s in with Gen Z
The first thing you need to understand about Gen Z is their love of gaming. For the men of Gen Z, two-thirds even consider gaming a core component of who they are.
You may have a picture in your head of young gamers in their basements, shying away from social interaction, but that’s simply not the reality. This is the generation that launched eSports into the mainstream.
The oldest members of this generation were still toddlers when Sony introduced online gaming in 2000 with the PlayStation 2. It’s always been a communal activity for them.
And that community aspect appears in their other top interests too.
In defiance of the stereotypes, this generation loves outdoor activities and sports.
One of the five segments we looked at in the report, defined by their love of competition, encompassed all of the above. They engaged with professional athletes and played sports in real life, but they also loved professional gamers and took the field as their favorite team in FIFA 20.
Gen Z is multifaceted in that way, and hard to pin down, but you probably won’t be surprised by their love of all things related to entertainment.
What may surprise you though, is the variety of the content they consume and the channels that supply it.
The segment most interested in entertainment had high affinities for music-related interests, online video platforms, TV shows, and gaming influencers.
Capitalizing on these interests will help you connect with Gen Z in more authentic ways.
We did the research, so you don’t have to
Gen Z is more likely to connect with your brand online than any generation before them, according to our findings. But if you want the opportunity to speak to them directly, you need a deeper understanding of their passions and motivations.
That’s why we focused on Gen Z in our newest report. It’s free to download and packed with twice the insights of the last edition.
Insights like the passions that motivate them. The influencers that keep them refreshing their feeds. The factors that motivate them to fill their carts and the brands that make it in.
Gen Z is ready to connect. Are you?
And if you’re interested in seeing how these insights apply to your specific audience, please reach out.
Ryan is the Marketing Communications Manager at Helixa, where he leads content strategy from the NYC office. He believes in a lot of things, but never ghosts, guilty pleasures, or his Florida Gators’ offense.
