gen Z

Generations are Messy but Meaningful

• Posted: June 20, 2023

J. Walker thanked Bobby Duffy for his insights and perspectives and offered a somewhat different take: He stressed that generations are an important way to study social change. They are a useful construct, but they are not perfect. According to J. Walker, generations are best understood as an aggregation of life trajectories, shared circumstances and events as generational members come of age. Graduating during a recession or growing up in a pandemic will shape those generations. Cohorts who grow up at the same time and share common experiences, expectations and values matter for brands and culture. The shared starting point is the critical factor. Comparing Boomers at 20 years old with Millennials at 20 is the relevant point. A general comparison of Boomers vs. Millennials is not relevant.

The Generation Myth

• Posted: June 20, 2023

Highlighting key points from his book, The Generation Myth: Why When You’re Born Matters Less Than You Think, Bobby Duffy presented his research on generational thinking as a powerful idea corrupted by stereotypes, myths, and cliches. As he tracked today’s generations over time (Pre-War, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennials and Gen Z) to see what is truly generational, Bobby looked for gaps between young and old on attitudes to everything from drinking, smoking, and loneliness to race, gender equality and climate change. He found that many analyses and forecasts about consumer behavior ignore the complexity of change, that is, they only look at one of the three mechanisms that cause changes: Cohort Effects—Behaviors, attitudes and beliefs that are more common among members of a generation; Period Effects—Changes resulting from events and circumstances that affect everybody, all generations, from war and disasters to periods of economic boom; Life-Cycle Effects—Members of all generations change as they grow older and experience getting married, having children, etc.  The key to using generational analyses in consumer behavior forecasts, therefore, is to untangle these three mechanisms and recognize the importance of period and life-cycle effects to avoid overstating cohort effects.

Welcome to the Age of Intentionalism

• Posted: June 20, 2023

The 2020 pandemic broke time, and this is still happening in 2022. Warner Media’s Mukta Chowdhardy explained that the pandemic caused consumers to focus on intentionality and making mindful decisions.

Streaming in the New Media Landscape

• Posted: June 14, 2023

Since the onset of COVID-19, viewing patterns have changed dramatically. The biggest shift, however, has been an accelerated trend towards streaming. Shelter at home policies and health concerns about gathering in large public places, such as movie theaters, are the driving forces. The ARF’s OTT virtual event was dedicated to exploring recent trends as well as identifying the drivers of viewing behavior and the business of OTT in the “new normal”: How have viewing patterns and preferences evolved? What strategies have streaming companies employed to maintain and increase market share? How have studios evaluated and overcome production challenges? 2020 OTT landscape are vastly different from 2019 – how have advertisers taken advantage of the shifts? Spanning two days, for two hours each day, leading OTT providers, advertisers and research experts shared their perspectives and predictions about changing viewing behavior and where the market is heading.

Media 101 — A Guide to Buying and Selling

• Posted: June 8, 2023

At our February Young Pros event, Meghan McGuirk, VP Group Director, Investments at Havas Media, Cristina Schlobohm, Director of Communications Strategy at Havas Media, and Kara Donahue, Account Executive at Roku, walked attendees through the media buying and selling process. They explained the five main media planning milestones: briefing, defining a strategy, tactical work, activating a campaign and reporting after it’s complete. Each speaker elaborated by using real life examples and showed the perspective and impact that all teams involved in the process have—both on the client or vendor side.

2022 Media Insights and 2023 Challenges

• Posted: June 7, 2023

An ARF event presented by the LA Media Research Council focused on insights from 2022 research and on 2023 priorities to meet business challenges. Issues addressed in research presentations and by an expert panel included the evolution of streaming during an economic downturn, how to manage subscriber churn, understanding Gen Z and the continued need for better measurement across the ecosystem.

The Future of Social Media for Marketers

• Posted: June 6, 2023

On March 16, 2023, the ARF Young Pros led an exploration of the ongoing transformation and future trajectory of social media to help organizations navigate the landscape and create more strategic social media plans. Panelists discussed trends, the role of influencers, creative branding campaigns and more.

How Retailers are Connecting the Metaverse to the Real World and Revenue

• Posted: June 5, 2023

AJ Dalal of Publicis Sapient defined the metaverse and outlined some pioneering moves certain brands have taken within it. He also shared advice on how to be successful in this burgeoning new phase of the internet. The interoperability of web 3.0 allows consumers to take their avatar and NFTs across platforms, which unlocks highly personalized and unique experiences and the ability to execute instant settlement in real time. To ensure success, a brand should remember its target market, which in this space is 16- to 25-year-olds, concentrate on what value their experience brings to the consumer, be authentic and specific and consider an evolving roadmap, being transparent with users that the experience rests on new technology and might evolve and improve over time.

The Rise of the Confident Shopper

• Posted: June 2, 2023

Vita Molis and Cassie Taylor of TikTok offered insights from four different studies conducted in the past six months: #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt, an ecommerce study, their Entertaining Ads study and one called Creators Drive Commerce. #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt was conducted in the U.S. and Canada, where over 1,000 respondents in each market filled out a 20-minute online questionnaire. They also had qualitative triads covering six categories.

Engaging the Next Generation: Challenges and Opportunities in Marketing to Gen Z

• Posted: June 2, 2023

With 90% of Gen Z using their platform, Snap’s Aarti Bhaskaran and Kara Louis shared six top trends gathered over three years of studying this cohort from a combination of consumer insights and media measurement. As the most diverse generation in the U.S., Gen Z values authenticity and looks for personal online experiences in ways that inform how they engage with content.