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Brands Chasing Youth

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The marketing industry’s obsession with youth is nothing new.  Thinking about what makes the next generation of consumers tick is a perennial activity.

Generic one-size-fits-all advice on how to crack the code on Gen Z (age 16-29) and Gen Alpha (age 0-16) circulates constantly. Sometimes these generations are awkwardly bundled together as "Gen Zalpha." Much of it trades in lazy stereotypes. And it's all pretty easy to spot.

SKIM, an insights agency, released a global study that found the number one reason younger consumers reject brands is for "trying too hard."

I like this timeless advice from Ad Contrarian Bob Hoffman:

“There’s as much variation within generations as there is between generations.”

When talking about the impact of different generations, it’s easy to default to sweeping generalizations.  But generations are not monoliths.  And chasing the tropes of a new generation can be a distraction.

Bob Hoffman continues:

“Researchers, media, and marketing experts have been selling us the exact same generational twaddle for over fifty years now…

“It’s astrology. How can you possibly take an enormous component of the population—tens of millions of people—and say they all have this or that characteristic?”

Keynote Updates

I'm giving a keynote at the legendary Dot Innovations Trade Show (hosted by Dot Foods) in Houston, Texas on April 22.

Much of my early marketing career was in food innovation (my tastiest stint was helping create new Häagen-Dazs flavors), so I'm excited to get together with food innovators of all stripes. I hope to see some of you there.

As always, please let me know if you’d like to talk about any events you’re planning (or know of) that you think could be a good fit for some cartoon levity and insight.

For an idea of my approach to keynotes, here’s a full 30-minute keynote from one of my favorite events last year — Opticon 2025 hosted by Optimizely:

Cartoon From The Archives

Here’s a related cartoon I drew in 2017. And here’s where you can read and search all 24 years of these cartoons.

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Thank you for all of your support (and cartoon material)!

-Tom

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About Marketoonist

Marketoonist is the thought bubble of me, Tom Fishburne. I first started drawing cartoons as a student in the Harvard Business School newspaper (not quite as well-known for humor as the Lampoon) and later started this newsletter from a General Mills cubicle in 2002. The cartoons have followed my career ever since. I poke fun at the ever-changing world of marketing and business because I believe that laughing at ourselves can help us do our best work.