Tapping into Gen Z’s unique approach to community
Janet Dell, CEO at Freeman, said Gen Z wants more than belonging to a community.
“They want to participate in the community,” said Dell. “With the experiential marketing or building out your brands, they want to be a part of it, touch it, learn, and then develop that trust, which really is the ultimate outcome.”
Gabrielle Wesley, CMO at Mars Wrigley, said shaping a brand with Gen Z is driven by how consumers already see it, not by what marketers want them to think. It’s not necessarily about inserting brands into Gen Z’s community.
“At Mars, we talk a lot about consumer obsession, and if you’re obsessed with something, you’re constantly looking at what they’re doing, thinking, feeling,” shared Wesley. “And I think that the challenge for marketing going forward is not so much what we want to show to the consumer, but what the consumer thinks about us.”
Sarah Zurell, CMO at Chinese Laundry, said that with Gen Z, there has been a shift toward being solutions-oriented and seeing problems as opportunities.
“As brands, it’s our responsibility to help make it easier for them to solve problems in their lives that will drive loyalty and keep them opted in to you as a brand, but also give them this space to solve problems creatively, because they’re thinking about it from such a different perspective,” said Zurell. “And I think that’s what’s really fun and beautiful about the time that we’re in now.”
Featured Conversation Leaders
- Kendra Barnett, Senior Tech Reporter, ADWEEK
- Matty Beckerman, CEO, IRCODE
- Janet Dell, CEO, Freeman
- Heather Malenshek, CMO, Land O’Lakes
- Marni Schapiro, Global Head of Commerce Sales, Cash App
- Jake Schneider, SVP of Marketing and Brand, Gold’s Gym
- Gabrielle Wesley, CMO, Mars Wrigley
- Sarah Zurell, CMO, Chinese Laundry
