McKinsey recently released their latest deep-dive into the youngest consumer generation and second youngest overall, Gen Z, born between 1997 and 2012. Gen Z consists of current high school and college students and early career professionals, though they’re sometimes mistaken for Millennials, their older-sister generation (born between 1981-1996.)

Gen Z is a growing segment of the population, making up roughly 20% of the US population and influencing approx. $600 billion in family spending per year. Meaning, they’re worth studying.

How are the Generations Defined?

The Pew Research Center carves out the 7 living generations as:

• The Silent Generation 1928-1945 
• Baby Boomers 1946-1964
• Generation X 1965-1980
• Millennials 1981-1996
• Generation Z 1997-2012

Now that we’ve defined the generations, we’ll also acknowledge how it’s really all just made-up. Psychologists would tell us that we can’t assign a large group of people (like those belonging to the same generation) with a bunch of shared characteristics, values or motivations. However, they can be useful tools to mark tipping points in culture and help business understand changes in consumption practices and habits. 

“Specific major-scale events can also shape the outlook of a generation and are often reflected in how they’re named,” writes McKinsey. For example, Gen Z’s nickname is “The digital natives.”

“…Gen Zers—speaking generally—are extremely online. Gen Zers are known for working, shopping, dating, and making friends online; in Asia, Gen Zers spend six or more hours per day on their phones.” Cell phones were commonplace by the time their hands were big enough to hold one.

Shaping Generational Marketing Strategy

Looking into generations for patterns in preferences, buying habits and trends can help businesses tailor their marketing strategy. The goal is twofold – to understand their life experiences and how you can use them to relate to or connect with them; and to understand the primary concerns and motivations felt by their age group. 

Adopting a generational marketing strategy means digging into who your current and target audience members are and looking for ways to segment or connect with them based on their generation. 

Insights or research into generations can help marketing teams:

1.  Build out unique buyer personas that can guide messaging and sales strategy
2. Craft personalized messages and unique calls to action that reflect generational values and motivators
3. Select platforms for ad campaigns based on target audience and where they spend the most time
4. Shape choices for marketing campaigns like slogans, music or celebrity sponsorships based on what will best connect with the target generation

Beyond marketing, generational insights can be used to shape everything from product development to customer experience to a business’ charitable giving priorities. 

Getting Started: Examining Your Audience By Generation

So, how do you get started? 

First, examine the data you currently have, asking:

1. What does your current consumer base or audience look like? 
2. How are the different age demographics represented? 
3. Where and how are different generations engaging with your brand? 
4. What trends or patterns do you notice that align with age categories? 

Next, identify your goals related to audience-building:

1. Do you want to reach new generations?
2. Do you want to expand any current generations of audiences?
3. Do you need to prepare for rising new generations?

Finally, start building out your marketing plan based on the generations you have and would like to reach. This is where you get into persona-building work, email automation, customization of messaging and consumer experience re-vamps. 

And remember, generations are fluid. Age-based generalizations, while useful, are not perfect. Especially when there are new generations popping up every decade+ or so… (did someone say Generation Alpha?)