Companies are struggling at times with Gen Z as customers or employees. But there is help: consulting to properly address young people.
Are there specialists to understand Gen Z? Yes, especially consulting firms have now set up their own departments. Among them is one of the largest representatives, Edelman, with a revenue of more than one billion US dollars in 2023, as reported by The Guardian. In addition, there are a number of smaller companies that often assist the top 500 companies in the world in terms of Gen Z.
Who exactly is Gen Z again? The people also referred to as Zoomers were born no earlier than 1996 and no later than 2012. After them follows the currently only theoretically describable Gen Alpha; most are still too young for real insights. The Millennials came before Gen Z.
The main question: What makes Gen Z tick?
Of course, the teams of the above departments consist exclusively of young people between 20 and 30 years old. The ZEO, or the head of the consulting group founded at Edelman named Gen Z Lab
, is Harris Reed. The title ZEO is derived from the American classic: Chief Executive Officer or simply CEO. The 26-year-old claims to regularly deal with multinational corporations trying to adapt to Gen Z.
What do these “Gen Z consultants” advise on? On the one hand, it involves breaking down prejudices. Campaigns are often created that are simply based on stereotypes, as Reed represents. Often without consulting, a real understanding of the values that guide large parts of Gen Z according to him is lost.
He always tries to shake the decision-makers awake:
Don't create a strange, outdated campaign! You have to pay attention, otherwise you won’t succeed. I don’t want to be rude, but if your older customers die out, who will buy your product?
Corporations must keep up with the times and exert a positive influence on society, the environment, and also the climate crisis. Whether this happens purely out of profit motive or from genuine inner conviction is, according to Reed and most of his colleagues at Edelman and beyond, irrelevant as the ZEO of Edelman explains.
Why is Gen Z so important to companies? Gen Z is the future and is becoming increasingly interesting as customers. The older they get, the more purchasing power stands behind the convictions of this generation. Moreover, surveys that Edelman itself conducts show that it matters greatly to members of Gen Z what a brand stands for. Gen Z wants their money to go to companies that advocate for a sustainable and socially just future.
Generation Z also has a special relationship with the office, which fundamentally differs from that of previous age groups. Many of them started their professional lives during the pandemic or just before and thus did not get to know the normal work routine. Now they celebrate it: Generation Z now finds a new reason to go from home office to the office
