BRANDS COMMUNICATING WELL WITH GEN Z

Generation Z have become one of the most influential generations, with growing up with technology and their strong opinions they are making the world really change. I recently looked into and researched Gen Z for my brief at uni and am now creating a brand to try and sell to them so I started off my research by looking at brands I feel are communicating well with Gen Z, to see what they are doing well.

The first one that came to mind instantly way Oatly, any of my friends who drink oat milk know all about Oatly and just love the brand. It was actually my dad who introduced me to Oatly a few years ago as he loves it. When I started uni I found myself buying Oatly for myself as I just loved the brand. I recently wrote a blog post about the brand and when I researched it for a project but I definitely think it communicates really well with Gen Z so had to include it in this post. First of all there packaging is really fun, casual and playful, it would definitely stand out on a shelf full of boring other milk packaging as it's not really a sector that has been very experimental with their packaging. The packaging has one side called 'the boring side' which talks all about the ingredients and well the 'boring' stuff as they know that younger people probably aren't too interested in that. They also offer a huge range of products and flavours so that consumers have the choice and can also remain loyal to the brand when buying multiple products such as custards, yogurts or ice cream.Their advertisements are very clearly targeted at Gen Z with captions such as 'we made this look like street art so you would like it better than if it was just an ad' as Gen Z are much more creative and enjoy looking at things such as street art rather than just generic adverts. Another one is 'maybe a social media celebrity will take a photo of this poster and you will see it on instagram and like it way more than you do right now.' which plays on the fact that Gen Z are known to be very into their social media and it's stereotypical that they would be more interested in an influencers post than a poster, although its stereotypical its quite amusing. They are also very active on their social media and have recently released a campaign called 'Oatly department of distraction services' which they hope will get consumers engaged with the brand and keep them busy during this time. This is a great way to connect with Gen Z as they love to see brands making that extra bit of effort especially in this time of uncertainty they are showing they are their for you and will go that extra distance.

Another brand communicating well with Gen Z are Candy Kittens, a sweet brand created by Jamie Lang from Made In Chelsea, which will also factor into the popularity of the brand with Gen Z as they love to follow and shop the products their influencers release. They are very careful with their ingredients, using all natural flavours and colourings, carnauba wax free, palm oil free and Vegan recipe, really abides to popular diets with Gen Z as they become more aware and conscious of their eating habits and the effects they have on the world. They offer customisable gift jars of the sweets which is a great success with Gen Z as they love to customise their products and make them their own and unique.They also changed their advertising to fit the times and it says 'Gift to a friend in need. Send a gift straight to their (isolated) doors' which is very timely and shows they are thinking of the consumer and want to make this time a bit easier for you as it is so convenient and timely. They also had a banner saying 'bear with us if its a bit slow like your granny on Zoom' which is again very timely as we are all Zoom calling our friends and family whilst being humorous as it's a stereotypical thing that grandparents can't use technology.

Another brand which is communicating well with Gen Z is The Ordinary, a skin care, makeup and hair care brand which has become hugely popular recently. The first time I really started to pay attention to the brand was when I saw it was a massive trend on TikTok as so many people were raving about how good the products are so they have clearly worked well and created a great word of mouth promotion as people spread how much they love the product. Another thing that is really attractive about the brand is their low prices, most products £5-£10 which is really affordable for the younger consumer who doesn't want to splash £30 on a moisturiser. The packaging is also really minimal but very high quality and it looks so much more expensive than it really is. The brand is also very transparent with its ingredients used in the products, something which has become very important to Gen Z as clean beauty and sustainability has become such a big trend. Gen Z also love for brands to be honest with them, therefore this brand sells its products under the names of the ingredients, for example 'AHA 30%+BHA 2% Peeling Solution' so you really know exactly whats in the products and that they aren't hiding behind fancy names.