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rand owners have always had to adapt to the expectations of different generations and the resulting shifts in dynamics between brands and target groups. The most recent dynamic shift is related to Gen Z, the generation comprising people born between the mid-1990s and the beginning of the 2010s.
By 2030 Gen Z will represent 30% of the workforce [1] and 11% of all household spending [2] in the world. This will have significant impacts on brand management, marketing, and employer branding.
The purpose of the report is to explain the cultural moment that Gen Z are living in and how their unique experiences translate into seemingly contradictory actions that on a deeper level make perfect sense. At the same time the report aspires to demonstrate how this understanding clarifies what Gen Z expects from brands and how brands can develop meaningful and lasting relationships with people in this age cohort.
The race to explain how Gen Z is different in its motivations and behaviours from previous generations, such as the Millennials, people born between 1981 and 1996, has accelerated among media and marketing professionals. However, many of these trend reports or statistical analyses lack the contextual knowledge that would explain why this generation is different from other generations. We believe this is the fundamental question that needs to be answered in order to make accurate interpretations, beyond the 'kids will be kids' attitude. To build meaningful relationships with Gen Z, we need to understand what drives them, how the world is different for them, and what tools they need to thrive in it.
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Combining literature review and ethnographic research methods, our study offers an in-depth look at the Gen Z experience, clarifying what unites this diverse generation and making sense of the contradictions in their behaviour. It also provides a new perspective on Gen Z's attitudes towards brands and reveals the key elements behind successful brand strategies.
Ilona Hiila
Vapa Media
Annakerttu Aranko
Noren
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Contents
Young adults’ battle for authenticity in the era of political polarisation
What does Gen Z’s ideal of revealing authenticity mean for brands?
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Revealed Authenticity:
Young adults’ battle for authenticity in the era of political polarisation
In the next section, we review the research report on the study conducted by Noren. The report sheds light on Gen Z's worldview, experiences in today's society, values and how these influence what young people expect from brands.
Written by: Noren / Annakerttu Aranko, Iida Korpiniitty & Linda Sivander
Introduction and summary of main findings
The pursuit
of revealing authenticity has emerged as a counterforce to the immense mental strain.
We conducted a study in spring 2023 with the goal of gathering in-depth understanding of the experiences and lives of young adults. We also wanted to understand what roles do brands play in their lives and how they interpret brand communications and actions. Why do some brands feel inspiring and others confusing?
As a research method, ethnography seeks to understand people in all of their everyday environments. For this study, we chose to conduct ethnography with a focus on virtual worlds because, for Gen Z, virtual worlds play a central role in the lives of young people. Furthermore, little else distinguishes this generation from previous ones as clearly as growing up with and in these virtual spaces. Before entering the field, we carried out an extensive literature review which helped us comprehend the societal changes that have shaped the experiences of Gen Z and generate hypotheses on the ideals emerging among them, as well as the significance of these ideals for brands.
In the ethnographic field study, we interviewed five young adults aged between 18 and 21 from different parts of Finland on their lives, values, and goals. We also observed
their behaviours in various virtual game worlds and collected journal entries on the roles of virtual platforms, such as social media services and games, in their daily lives. As part of the interview process, we also carried out brand-related exercises with the interviewees.
The central finding of this study was that the interaction of Gen Z in both offline and online contexts is characterised by what we call the ideal of revealing authenticity. In our interpretation, the pursuit of revealing authenticity has emerged as a counterforce to the immense mental strain that young people experience today, primarily due to the pressure to continuously be aware of and control their self-presentation in social spaces. For example, the young adults we interviewed talked at length about their reluctance to post their real, authentic and vulnerable selves publicly online, and felt the need to curate their online persona carefully.
We introduce the concept of revealing authenticity to describe the style of interaction idealised by Gen Z, in which a person presents themselves with no filter, as they really are. It is intimately connected to the traditional Western
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concept of humanity that emerges in young people's speech, where each individual possesses an authentic true self, distinct from learned roles and social performativity. Relatedly, nurturing a relationship with this self is a virtue in itself (cf., e.g., Taylor 1999).
Young people feel that social media in particular has encouraged people to construct socially acceptable and consciously branded façades which they use to gain approval and attention. Their experience is that these strategic and stylized facades have turned into protective but isolating 'walls' between people, preventing genuine connections. Simultaneously, external expectations may also confuse one’s connection to their own authentic self. That can be seen as a greater problem at a fundamental level as cultivating a relationship with one’s true self carries moral value.
However, breaking down the façades that protect from criticism and social sanctions is seen as a real risk, particularly in a social atmosphere where discussion is becoming increasingly intense, polarised and even harsh. While young people admire people who present themselves in public as they truly are, most of them would only feel safe fully revealing their true selves in confidential and intimate relationships. It is also likely that the significance of the risk
inherent in revealing authenticity intensifies according to factors of structural oppression, such as nominators of class, gender, ethnicity, or sexual orientation.
As the lifeworlds and ideals of young people have in many ways moved further away from each other through recent social developments, it is notable that this ideal of authenticity seems to be shared widely among Gen Z despite other major differences between them. As authenticity is one of the buzzwords of our time, so overused that it has nearly become meaningless in describing anything novel, it is vital to appreciate the conditions in which this generation has adopted what we call the ideal of authenticity or revealing authenticity - and the particular service it does for them.
When we talk about being young, we often see it as an adventurous time of identity development, experience, play and even rebellion. For Gen Z, however, this is the fundamental shift in perception. As polarisation has increased, the discourse culture become more inflammable, and the realms of private and public merged together like never before, the space for worry-free experimenting has diminished and the consequences of messing up have become harsher.
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In the last decade, social media presented new opportunities for success through influencers and viral fame. For Generation Z, these promises of success have collided with the realities of increased competition and uncertainty. Despite this, the prevailing ethos that anything is possible continues to exert pressure. Social media and the culture of personal branding greeted with excitement by the previous generations, have in many ways proven to be a burden for Generation Z.
For a generation growing up in this era, revealing authenticity is a vital coping tool. Young people focus on their mental health efforts, as well as foster relationships where they can momentarily let their walls down and abandon control – ascribing more significance to internally experienced authenticity than an externally visible façade.
Our research participants protect themselves from an excessive mental load by disappearing from the public stages of social media, constructing safe social bubbles both in and beyond virtual worlds, and by immersing themselves in meaningful hobbies, such as gaming. They are not just protecting themselves, but actively resisting a social atmosphere ruled by biases, breaking curated façades, and renouncing the logic of the attention economy of social media.
For a generation born in the golden age of new technology fuelling a culture of personal branding like never seen before, the ideal of authenticity is about nothing less than psychological survival and reclaiming existential meaning. It helps them navigate structural shifts, increasing uncertainty and intensifying competition of their time, while offering them a new concept of a good life after the old ones have ceased to serve them. While young people have limited control over traditional aspects of a 'good life' like a stable career and material success, creating authentic relationships with themselves and a few, carefully selected others is an achievable and meaningful goal.
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Revealing authenticity forms the lens through which Gen Z view and evaluate themselves and others, including institutions and brands.
At the same time, revealing authenticity as an idealised way of interacting with others forms the lens through which Gen Z view and evaluate themselves and others, including institutions and brands. The ideal of revealing authenticity turns many communication principles effective for millennials upside down: sustainability communication can seem manipulative, while unabashed sales pitches may be interpreted as ethical.
If companies want to grasp the fine line between the more general authenticity discourse and the ideal of revealing authenticity which runs to the core of Gen Z, they must understand the context in which young people operate, as well as the different demands the world places on them in comparison with previous generations. At the same time, we must see Gen Z as people who have grown up in the era of personal branding and for whom strategic content creation is a given, in terms of the content they both consume and produce on a daily basis.
The era of meaningfulness and narratives in brand communications seems to have come to an end with the advent of Gen Z. A direct commercial message and commitment to the brand’s core operations are more likely to win the trust of this target group than socially conscious
statements and symbolic brand actions, which may be perceived as tactical. Brands who want to win over Gen Z must understand the needs addressed by the ideal of revealing authenticity and offer encouraging examples of sincere, honest presentations on public arenas.
A word of warning to brands who want to address Gen Z through the ideal of authenticity: these young people are primed to recognise the difference between the performance of authenticity and a genuine authenticity. Addressing young people through the ideal of authenticity may backfire, if brands are seen as attempting to merely monetise it. Revealing authenticity is ultimately about the courage to stay true to oneself and to bring one’s internal motivations to the forefront, also in corporate communications.