Why are advertisers so intent on marketing to Gen Zers who have little disposable income and seemingly very little interest?
Gen Z individuals scroll for 25 meters on their smartphones every day - 12 miles a year - demonstrating how tough it is to get successful marketing messages to this generation.
TBWA executive director Andrew Murray told Breakfast Business the marketing world gets “very excited” when there's talk of Gen Z.
“Gen Z really dominate culture and kind of set the tone for many digital marketing strategies,” he said.
“I think a lot of brands have really skewed younger and it's fair to say that many people like to think of themselves in that younger light.
“I feel that brands are starting to go all in and are really genuflecting at the altar of Gen Z trend-based reactive social media.
“You've probably seen Ryanair, Duolingo, Monzo, Nutter Butter in the States… and some of them are doing a really, really good job, but it's genuinely difficult to understand or interpret for people beyond Gen Z some of the language that they're using.”
Gen Z are not "there yet"
Mr Murray said it is an odd strategy for brands to target this demographic who have less disposable income.
“If you look at Millennials who are 28 to 43 or Gen X who are 44 to 59 - they not only represent a larger segment of the population but they're also more profitable in sectors and they have a little more disposable income for hospitality, for fashion, for retail, for grocery, home improvement and lots more,” he said.
“I think Gen Z will get there, but they're not there yet, and they just probably don't have that spending power.”
Mr Murray said he believes that advertisers are chasing the future market.
“It is fair to say that that many brands are thinking of the future but I think there's probably a lot of a lot of money to be made now going after the audiences that have that little bit more disposable income,” he said.
“I think to future proof, absolutely go after Gen Z's for brands, but I think they're probably leaving a lot on the table right now when it comes to the here and now and the Millennial and Gen X audiences.”
TikTok shop
Mr Murray said that Gen Z are more interested in buying physical things than paying into experiences, which older generations tend to favour.
This is good news for the likes of TikTok and Meta, he said.
“TikTok shop launched last week in Ireland and some major brands are really going to kind of go there," he said.
“Actually, a lot of the beauty brands here in Ireland, some fantastic Irish brands, like Sculpted by Amy and So Sue Me, they've really kind of gone all in on TikTok shop with lots of products available there.”
The luxury brands on the way too, Mr Murray said, and generally they will be “targeting millennials and Gen X”.
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Group using smartphone with coffee at university college campus. Image: Alamy
