Digital natives: How to win the trust of Gen Z and Millennials
73 percent of digital natives are involved in B2B product or purchase decision-making, and about one-third are sole decision-makers. Learn how to win their trust.
Millions more members of Generation Alpha have yet to be born, and already their generation – one that will number 2.2 billion by 2024 – is turning heads. They’re the COVID babies. Dubbed “mini-millennials, they’re the cohort under 12 years old. And by 2030, they’ll make up 11% of the workforce.
Kids age fast, they say, and many brands are already wondering how they can alter their marketing and messaging to grow up right alongside the youngest people on the planet.
To do that, though, brands need to understand who Generation Alpha is exactly (hint: we don’t know a lot yet – they’re kids!), how they’re different from the generations before them, and what all of this means for predictions on how this cohort will shop, work, and more.
Let’s dive in.
What is Generation Alpha?
Generation Alpha or Gen Alpha, is the group of people born between 2010 and 2024. Today, more than 2.5 million people are born into Generation Alpha every week – and by 2024, there will be more than 2 billion of them.
This generation represents a growing consumer phenomenon for three main reasons:
- They’re expected to be the largest generation yet
- Almost two out of three children ages 8 to 11 have access to a smartphone
- Many of these kids have unique digital savviness due to their school experience during the pandemic
Gen Alpha is the generation after Gen Z and includes our COVID kids, the ones who masked in elementary and were part of remote schooling efforts in various countries. They’ve stayed at home, a lot, and learned to use screens to communicate, learn, and play at early ages.
Early access to screens and the internet means that this generation is more global than any ever before – sharing customs, values, and experiences across cultures.
They’re also more social and more visual than some earlier generations, growing up in a world of frequent Facetimes, the verge of the metaverse, and the rising popularity of artificial reality.
Potential jobs they’ll hold include:- Cybersecurity specialist
- UX manager
- Drone pilot
- Blockchain developer
- Data designer
- Virtual reality engineer
- Robotics mechanic
- Sleep technician
- Sustainability officer
- Driverless train operator
- Wellbeing manager
- AI specialist
- Life simplifier
- Urban farmer
- Space tourism agent
How are Generation Alpha different from Gen Z?
Generation Z also grew up with screens, and share a lot in common with Generation Alpha. Both cohorts care deeply about sustainability and the warming climate, social and policy change, and rebuilding our societies into more equitable spaces for all.
One big difference between Gen Z and Gen Alpha, however, is who’s raising them. Generation Alpha is often dubbed the “mini-millennial” generation, as it’s typically millennials who are their parents.
And just as millennials did when they first came into the workforce, they’re bringing new attitudes and habits to parenting that experts believe will result in a marked difference in shopping styles and brand loyalty compared to Gen Z.
So, to understand how mini-millennials differ from their Gen Z counterparts, you must understand millennial parents.
Generation Z consumer behavior: What brands need to know
Gen Z consumers are beginning to flex their economic muscles, bringing different perspectives and expectations than previous generations. Brands need to adapt.
Parental internet usage
Millennial parents are heavy social media users, and their children are on the internet long before consenting age.
- 6% of millennial parents created a social media account and 8% an email account for their baby or toddler, according to a 2014 report from cybersecurity firm AVG
- 79% of millennial mothers use social media on a daily basis, according to BabyCenter
- 63% of millennial mothers use their smartphones more frequently since becoming pregnant or giving birth, BabyCenter found
Parental research habits
Millennial parents have restructured childhood in their own muted, Scandinavian-style wooden toy aesthetic. They’re a generation looking to provide the best for their own children, and they research products a lot before they buy them in an effort to do so.
“As health-conscious caretakers, millennial parents seek out a lot of information about the products they buy and expose their kids to,” says Heather Dretsch, a North Carolina Poole College of Management assistant marketing professor. “From toys and food to clothing and personal care products, they love to be in the know about the best brands for their children, and they choose only the safest, cleanest, highest-quality ones.”
Dretschu suggests that this may turn mini-millennials, or Generation Alpha, into more brand loyalists than we might expect, a marked difference from Gen Z. High trust in products heavily researched by their parents may give some brands a leg up in winning long-term loyalty with this rising group.
Parental brand preference
Millennial parents are leaning hard into nostalgia, and it may be a trend their children carry forward, too.
“Many millennials want their kids to have the same experiences that they did as children, so they’re emphasizing play with Legos, Hot Wheels, Barbies, Fisher-Price toys and other brands with retro vibes and packaging,” says Dretsch.
This nostalgia focus may soon play into screen UX, and make a longer-term impression on the design choices and aesthetics of this new generation.
TikTok search tops Google for Generation Z
TikTok is replacing Google as the preferred search engine for Generation Z. How can brands get in on this hot organic search trend?
What do brands need to understand about Gen Alpha?
So, what does all of this mean for brands and their marketing campaigns over the next decade? Well, not too much just yet. Gen Alpha are still young, and coming into their own.
Their Millennial parents currently have heavy sway over them, but we haven’t seen this generation hit their teenage years yet. Nor do we know what global changes will come and affect how this new generation perceives the world.
So far, there are two main things we can already tell:
1. Sustainability & inheriting a warmer, more chaotic world
Generation Alpha will experience 2-7 times more extreme weather events compared to people born in 1960. This will be especially true for heat waves.
Like their Gen Z counterparts, it’s likely mini-millennials will care, a lot, about the environment and putting global, federal and local policies in place to protect it.
We’re already seeing how this plays out for brands––they’ll need to have a social, or sustainable, aspect to their brand and marketing. Both Gen Z and Gen Alpha will support brands that support their beliefs, especially as governments around the world stall on what these generations see as urgent issues.
2. Major aging population burden – or opportunity
As the first wave of Generation Alpha reaches adulthood in 2030, the global human population will be nearing 9 billion––and the world will have the highest ever proportion of people aged over 60. This is thanks in large part to improvements in healthcare over the last several decades, but many existing societal systems are not exactly set up to manage such large older––potentially retired––populations.
This can be a burden or an opportunity for Generation Alpha, potentially bringing the wisdom of the 60+ set to workplaces environments and helping Generation Alpha level-up in the workplace quicker.
After all, mini-millennials will be diversity-seeking in their environments. Will that apply to age, too?
Or, perhaps there will be more innovation that comes to retirement care. Already, we’re seeing communities pop up around the world to support the 60+ set, many of whom are in the prime of their lives. How will a younger Generation respond to such a large population of retirees, especially as labor and tax income will be heavily reliant on the Alphas?
For that, we’ll have to wait and see.
What’s next for Generation Alpha?
As the first generation to be born entirely in the 21st century, there are high-expectations for Generation Alpha.
Their millennial parents are teaching them the power of research for products, which may translate into higher brand loyalty than their Gen Z counterparts. Their parents are also hyper-focusing on nostalgic brands, and trying to give these youngsters a taste of a 1990s childhood. What will that mean for their future preferences in UX and design?
Still, their focus on sustainability, managing the world’s largest ever aging boom, and their deep technical skills will present a cohort of people who think unlike any that have come before.
