Authenticity and Impact: Crafting Ads for the Gen-Z Audience
Shared by Alkemy X Post Production Coordinator Chloe Goldstein
“Get connected for free, with education connection..” Did a tune pop in your head? Did you sing that line? Well, that advertisement jingle hit the public over 15 years ago. I am 23 years old and whenever my mind goes blank this jingle will start playing in my head. THAT is good advertising.
As a Generation Z-er, I have noticed a pattern in advertisement production that has curated an actual audience. From the Geico “Hump Day” commercial to the infamous Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial, there is something worth noting here. There has always been a connection between celebrity cameos and audience interaction, but there is something to be said about a humorous or musical production that gets Gen-Z going!
Gen-Z is inundated with product placement, influencer and celebrity endorsement, and tons of advertising within our social newsfeeds. Within the first 5 minutes of my day, I can stumble upon at least 2 advertisements. Of course this is intentional, our social media feeds are curated with ads that directly target our specific interests. Ads are even disguised through the lens of creators, like foodies who use relatable “what I eat in a day” vlogs to slip in restaurant and food delivery promotions. The question of authenticity is in constant play with Gen-Z-ers, don’t underestimate their ability to see through subliminal messaging and thoughtless strategy.
When the audience becomes aware they are being sold something, it is easy for a viewer to mentally clock out from advertisement fatigue, when it feels like we are being sold something every second. When an ad is self-aware, it becomes entertainment. This shift from formatted advertisement to branded entertainment production is the leading shift in how the viewer consumes the content provided to them. For Gen-Z, our attention span has shrunk. If you hook the viewer through a jingle or a giggle (intentional or not), well hello you have cracked the code!
In a world of oversaturated consumption, you have to get creative. The best way to appeal to mass audiences, especially Gen-Z and Gen-X is to appeal to entertainment. This helps the viewer enjoy and pay attention to your content, instead of automatically writing it off as you would a door-to-door salesman. Newer generations need to be hooked into content… If the audience isn’t sold within the first 15 seconds, they’ve already been lost as a viewer, let alone as a potential buyer. Taking the marketing consumption device, which is the current advertisement space, and expanding production beyond a simple “I sell, you buy” tactic is the key. Content that becomes a cultural artifact transforms the advertising space. Designing marketing productions as cultural products leads to brand extension into daily life and culture. The type of ads that keep on giving!