‘If you look at Australia, 34 per cent of the population now is Gen Z’, she says. They’re entering the workforce. And they don’t know the world without the Internet. And so their needs are actually very different, even different from millennials.

‘They don’t really make a distinction between online and offline. And so maybe those terms don’t actually really even resonate with a Gen Zer. The digital experience is their human experience. And then this really interesting statistic: 52 per cent of Gen Zers cannot go more than four hours without accessing the Internet! Contrast that with 52 per cent of Boomers who said they could go more than a day or two. So holy smokes, if I’m marketing to Gen Z my content has to move very quickly or change.

‘The oldest Gen Zers are about twenty-five. And we know that business decision-makers can be as young as thirty. So brands have only a few years to get their head around marketing to this generation, because they’re going to be significant buyers, certainly in Australia with 34 per cent of the of the population.

‘And it’s not just B2C’, says Mary Ellen. ‘It’s also B2B now as they get older. For that reason, they’re in your organisation. They’re not only making decisions, it’s how they’re going to interact with your customers and your customers’ customers.’

Mary Ellen points to three major findings from their research:

The first finding is that 66 per cent of Gen Zers use the Internet for entertainment more than information. Other generations go for more for information. What does that mean?

‘I have never as a marketer figured out what my entertainment quotient of the brand is like’, Mary Ellen says. ‘Are we funny or are we serious? Are we provocative? There was always a tone of voice, but entertaining somebody in some way before they got to the information was not actually something that I have ever looked at.

‘And when you say entertainment, we’re all entertained in different ways. Some people like documentaries, some like humor, some like drama. So thinking about this whole change of entertainment first, then information, how do you hook somebody quickly in a B2B or B2C?’

The second major finding is that 44 per cent of Gen Zers are willing to give you personal information about themselves, but in return they expect you to predict their needs. Mary Ellen says they’ll say, ‘I’ll give you everything you want, but boy it better be good. And if you don’t give it to me, I’m leaving you.’ I think even in this pandemic we’ve really seen that people want quicker, faster. They’re like, I don’t have time, I’m online all the time and I want it to be more productive.’

The third major finding is that 75 per cent of Gen Zers said they would buy from someone who was active in social causes that they support. But Mary Ellen considers this both a positive and frightening statistic. ‘So if you hit it right as a marketer, you can really win. Seventy-five per cent said they are more likely to buy from your company or interact with your company if you promote a social cause they’re enamored with. But contrast that with the 34 per cent who said if you promote a social cause that they don’t like, they’re going to leave you.

‘If I went to the CFO and said, “Hey, we’re going to go promote this social cause. And the downside is 34 per cent of our customers might leave us”, I guarantee you my CFO would say, “Don’t do it. Don’t take the risk”. So I think what’s happened with this last statistic is we used to think of corporate social responsibility as just something you should do. It’s great if your brand has a program. But now you better pick the right cause.’