Five Key Cultural Themes to Understand and Embrace to Attract Gen Z Consumers

Remember black out rage gallons a.k.a. BORGs? The gallon jugs college students were bringing to parties last year with a mix of water, electrolytes and handwritten punny names written on the front?

 

The trend had two main reactions. The first, broadcast across many mainstream news headlines, was concern around safety and binge drinking. The second was a mix of humor at the creativity and absurdity of youth, and a slight sense of doom over the future of bev-alc consumption due to the youngest legal drinking age (LDA) consumers feeling satisfied with watered down fruity liquor.

 

However, BORGs speak to many key aspects of Gen Z’s culture and priorities that bev-alc and other CPG brands can learn from, according to Tomato Baby Insights founder Angie Meltsner, who presented Wednesday at Stout Collective’s BOPP Beer Design Conference in Chicago.

 

BORGs are an example of Gen Z craving control and safety (the resealable caps and visual representation of how much they’ve drunk throughout the day), wellness and self-care (the electrolytes to help ward off a hangover the next day) and the ability to express themselves (the punny names and personalized drink mixes).

 

BORGs are also a counterexample to the claims that Gen Z doesn’t consume bev-alc. More than half (53%) of 21- to 24-year-olds consume alcohol at least monthly, according to Meltsner. And the amount that young people drink has stayed relatively consistent for the past five years, when millennials were still a part of the youngest LDA consumer group, she added.

 

The key to connecting with Gen Z LDA consumers and future consumers is to understand greater themes that drive their decision-making and spending.

 

“It’s very important to understand the culture of the people that you are trying to connect with, because that’s what’s influencing their behavior,” Meltsner said. “That’s what’s influencing their decisions.

 

“What’s most important is to really understand the cultural context that they’re living in, in your category, outside your category, [and] in the world at large,” she continued.

 

Meltsner highlighted five of those themes: Healthy Hedonism, Embracing the Absurd, Ode to Joy, Halcyon Days/Nostalgia and Third Places.

 

Healthy Hedonism

 

“It’s really important, when you’re thinking about different generations, to look at where this generation is now, and compare them not to millennials right now, but to compare them to where young people were when millennials were 18 to 24,” Meltsner said.

 

“Over three-quarters of them say COVID-19 basically f---ed up their life, compared to 38% of millennials and 27% Gen X, so [the pandemic] definitely came at a significant time for those coming of age,” she continued. “And the mental health crisis is real. [They’re] feeling nervous, anxious, on edge, down, depressed, hopeless, and many of them just don’t have a direction … don’t know what their life needs or what matters.”

 

Because of this uncertainty, Gen Z has embraced a “YOLO [you only live one] mindset.” However, what’s different from millennials, is Gen Z is framing their spontaneous decisions with self-care and being able to “find pleasure” while also being healthy.

 

How healthy hedonism shows up in imagery and branding is a great deal of dark and moody photography, and intimate scenes of “partying and nighttime debauchery.”

 

Brands that are embracing this trend in their marketing include Gush and Chaser, two products meant to be consumed while drinking alcohol to help with hangovers and other effects. Multiple campaigns and advertising show younger LDAs partying with friends in dimly lit places, holding the product in their hands as a companion to their “indulgent” drinking.

 

Another example is a recent campaign by Nike, starring rapper Megan Thee Stallion. The ad shows consumers not having to choose being healthy and indulgent, such as a woman having a bag of chips with a green juice.

 

Embracing the Absurd

 

In another reaction to the uncertainty of the future, Gen Z has embraced the “strange and surreal,” as a way to “escape from unsettling reality.”

 

A physical representation of this is the change in meme culture from when millennials dominated internet trends. Before, memes were typically straightforward: a funny image with text that speaks to a relatable feeling or situation, such as the angry baby making a fist with the text, “When the barista says they ran out of pumpkin spice syrup.” Gen Z memes have turned to the absurd, with images like a cat in a suit of armor, with psychedelic colors and the word “soup.”

 

Gen Z is also looking to connect with niche communities through the absurd. For example, Sonny Angels – a collectibles brand of naked cherubs with hats themed after fruit or animals – have inspired large communities of young people to meet up to trade or open mystery boxes.

 

“Eighty-six percent of young people say it’s normal to be weird, 67% say it’s weird to be normal, and almost half of Gen Z, in a recent YouTube report, say that they’re part of a fandom that nobody else they know is in real life,” Meltsner said. “They are looking, through these niche communities, to share in these really new, hyper niche interests that they have.”

 

How the trend is showing up in branding is with distorted or bizarre lettering and images, whimsical characters and “nonsensical combinations,” Meltsner said.

 

One example is Juicy Marbles, a plant-based meat brand. The company’s packaging and advertising features quirky characters, such as a cat with a beret and sunglasses, or a cartoon man painting a large hunk of raw meat on a canvas.

 

Another example is what’s been coined as “chaos packaging,” where brands are putting products in packages typically associated with other categories, such as Flo, a feminine hygiene company that sells tampons in what looks like ice cream pints.

 

Ode to Joy

 

With the accessibility of daunting news and negativity on the internet, Gen Z has embraced the concept of “glimmers,” or actively finding small moments of happiness and positivity.

 

This mindset shows up in the popularity of “lil treat” culture – memes, social content and other imagery celebrating the act of rewarding yourself with a sweet treat at the end of a long day.

 

In CPG, ode to joy is mainly showing up in bright and colorful packaging, with the joy of holding or opening a product acting as the “lil treat” or moment of happiness.

 

One specific brand example Meltsner pointed to was Off Limits cereal, a “better-for-you” cereal brand that includes edible glitter, which can be poured over your morning bowl, or used as facial glitter, adding fun to a mundane activity. In a similar vein, Cinnamon Toast Crunch released a limited-edition spoon with a jade roller on the other side, adding self-care to breakfast time.

 

Halcyon Days/Nostalgia

 

One of the most talked about trends across CPG is nostalgia, which spans across multiple generations. What’s specific to Gen Z is they tend to “romanticize millennial nostalgia” and a childhood they weren’t alive for, craving a time before social media and today’s tech takeover, Meltsner said.

 

Meltsner showed a clip from a recording of high schoolers in the early 2000s that was uploaded to YouTube. The video is simple, showing kids in hallways laughing with friends and going through a typical school day. But the video has 18 million views. And the top-liked comment is “They look so much happier than people these days.”

 

“They are looking at nostalgia for a life that they didn’t have,” Meltsner said. “Coming of age in the early internet era, pre-algorithmic social media and without smartphones as a device that we can escape with.”

 

How Gen Z nostalgia is showing up in branding includes:

 

“Modern takes” on childhood associations, including both products and brands;

Aesthetic cues from the ’90s and Y2K;

And creative and expressive imagery, such as doodles, which represent how young people expressed themselves before technology.

 

One brand example is Snow Days, a pizza bites brand inspired by the snacks kids would have when school was canceled due to the weather. In bev-alc, Meltsner pointed to Whiny Baby, a California-based women-founded wine company that includes friendship bracelets and stickers with its wine bottles.

 

Third Places

 

The reason why Gen Z attaches itself to TV shows such as Friends and Senfield – shows that aired before they were born – is because they celebrate the idea of third places, according to Meltsner. Third places such as coffee shops or neighborhood bars provide a comfortable environment to socialize and connect with friends.

 

Gen Z craves human connection and connecting without technology, particularly after the pandemic took away the ability to meet in person. Some are even taking it to the extreme, forming “Luddite clubs,” where members swear off smart phones and get together for tech-free activities.

 

One brand that has embraced this concept in advertising is Heineken, which partnered with streetwear brand Bodega on an ad campaign earlier this year titled “The Boring Phone.” In one TV spot, a woman is shown engrossed in her phone while sitting at a bar, and is so distracted that she misses a Heineken bottle sliding down the bar in front of her. Folks at the end of the bar are rewarded with the beer because they’re paying attention and enjoying the social setting without being on their phones.

 

“Boring is the new interesting,” the campaign reads in another piece of marketing. “There’s more to social life when there’s less that distracts you from it.”

 

Whiny Baby also speaks to this trend with their wine labels, which feature a removable sticker. The sticker includes places to write when the wine was consumed, who with and what was being celebrated. Additionally, all the wine caps have conversation prompts.

 

“They really are encouraging people to meet up with their friends and enjoy this bottle,” Meltsner said.