Why Gen Z Might Be the Easiest Generation to Market To (If You Know What You’re Doing)

It’s become ‘the thing’ to complain about how hard Gen Z are to market to. They hate ads. They use ad blockers. They demand authenticity. They see through everything.

But…. the reality: they’re also the most online, the most trend-led, and the most likely to make a brand go viral just because it looks good in content.

They’re not actually hard to market to. They’re just hard to impress.

The logic of liking what other people like

For all the supposed cynicism, Gen Z still follow trends en masse. If something is hot on TikTok, they don’t need convincing, they need a reason not to jump on it.

We’ve seen people queue for a mascara just because it “hit different” in one video. A lip balm sells out nationwide because someone said it smells like a high school ex. They’ll wear ugly platform Crocs ironically, and then unironically. Let’s not forget the Labubu trend right now, there’s practically a shopping war to have a pretty ugly monster thing hanging off your handbag.

It’s not that Gen Z are easily fooled. It’s that they’re fuelled by communal discovery. The dopamine hit isn’t just in the product. It’s in the shared knowledge of the product being a thing.

They may not like this but they’re not often trend setters, they need a trend to follow… Which is usually smart marketing by a business or one celebrity sighting.

Content is the campaign

Unlike millennials, who still vaguely remember a world where ads lived on billboards and in magazines, Gen Z’s entire purchasing logic is driven by how something will look in content.

They’re not asking, “Does this moisturiser work?”
They’re asking, “Does it film well in low light and look aesthetic on my shelf?”

Gen Z buys for the content, not just because of it. If the packaging is cute, the reviews are memeable, and the brand has a vaguely chaotic social media manager, that’s the whole funnel.

Millennials justify. Gen Z observes.

Millennials tend to approach purchases like small research projects. They’ll look at the ethics, the ingredients, the price per use. They want reasons. Ideally several.

Gen Z, on the other hand, wants to see how it fits into the world they’ve built online. Will it look good in a mirror selfie? Is it recognisable enough to spark a comment? Does it align with the tone of their personal brand, whether that’s ironic, soft-core granola, or Y2K revivalist?

They don’t need a full paragraph of corporate reassurance. If your caption reads like it was written by Legal, it’s already too late. They want to feel it, not be walked through it.

A trending sound, a two-second flash of a logo, or a throwaway comment in a GRWM, that’s what actually sells.

Scarcity over strategy

Many Gen Z trends are essentially driven by the illusion of scarcity.
Drop culture. Blind boxes. Things that feel like a game.

A lip oil that’s permanently “sold out” will outperform a clinically perfect serum with a £500k campaign. The psychology is simple. If you want Gen Z’s money, make it look like everyone else already spent theirs.

They love a brand… until they don’t

This is where it gets trickier. Gen Z are loyal until they’re bored.
Millennials tend to develop habits. Once they like a brand, they’ll buy it for years. Gen Z will love something passionately for three weeks, and then ditch it the moment it starts feeling too mainstream or not cool to own anymore.

So while Gen Z are easier to attract, they’re much harder to retain.

You’re not building a customer base. You’re renting attention.

But here’s the kicker…

If your product is just good, that might not be enough.
You need to be good, and viral, and ironic, and self-aware, and sustainable but not smug, and messy but not offensive.

Gen Z wants you to feel real, but only the kind of real that looks good with the Paris filter.

That said, if you get it right, they’ll do your entire marketing campaign for you.
They’ll post it, share it, duet it, defend it on Reddit, and gatekeep it like it’s their own invention.

And that’s why, despite the noise, they’re secretly the easiest generation to market to.
You just have to stop treating them like a problem and start treating them like a media channel.