How To Make Gen Z Stop Scrolling And Pay Attention

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Retail is not dead, far from it. But what consumers are looking for at a physical store—as well as an online version of it—is changing. In its quarterly Signals report released last month, Mastercard delved into what it called the “Retail Renaissance,” and how technology and AI are changing the experience for consumers.

AI and other new technologies are changing both shopping and brand experiences. The report found that only 9% of shoppers are happy with in-store experiences as they are, but more than half feel like some kind of augmented reality, virtual reality or AI-powered experience could improve that. The report goes through different applications currently being tested, such as grocery apps helping shoppers find items in the store, smart mirrors in dressing rooms that make clothing suggestions, and pop-up stores with AR-powered interactive experiences. Physical stores, the report suggests, could be places for experiential brand-building. After all, e-commerce represented just 20% of retail in 2023.

AI-powered personalization also figures into the consumer equation. The study found three in four shoppers expect retail companies to understand their needs and deliver customized interactions. Companies growing quickly generate 40% more revenue from personalization than others, the study says. Generative AI systems can help companies collect information to provide a new degree of personalization, and four in five online shoppers feel that AI personalization enhances their experience.

The study reinforces what has been a steady refrain throughout business and marketing for the last year: Technology can redefine the retail experience, improving it for the consumers of tomorrow. AI, VR and AR are all in their early days of influencing brand building, and the experiences they provide consumers are beginning to pay off in terms of brand value and actual sales.

Technology has already defined how Gen Z consumers interact with the world, and it involves a lot of scrolling on a phone. PadSquad recently had some success stopping the scroll with a short video campaign with the American Dairy Association and Savor Recipes. I talked to PadSquad Head of Strategy and Marketing Lance Wolder about why this worked and other strategies to catch Gen Z’s attention. Excerpts from our conversation are later in this newsletter.

IN THE NEWS

It’s an election year, so it’s not surprising that TV programming related to presidential candidates is dominating viewership when it’s on. In May, Fox News viewership spiked 1.6%, as viewers flocked to the conservative-leaning channel for coverage of former President Donald Trump’s criminal hush money trial. Fox’s show that was on when the guilty verdict was announced, and the program directly after that, were the week’s top non-sports programs. Liberal-leaning MSNBC coverage of the verdict directly followed. And CNN’s verdict coverage ranked far behind those for viewership, in 20th place.

The June 27 debate between Trump, the Republican nominee, and President Joe Biden drew an estimated 51.3 million people watching on TV and online. And while that seems like a lot, it’s actually pretty poor performance for a presidential debate. Viewership of the early-season debate, which was hosted by CNN and simulcast over a dozen networks, was 30% lower than the first debate between Biden and Trump when they faced off in 2020. However, enough people saw the debate for it to ignite widespread doubt as to whether Biden is up to the task of another term as president, which led to his prime time interview on ABC with George Stephanopoulos last Friday. The interview, which the Biden camp intended to be a rebuttal to the debate criticism, was a ratings smash, drawing 8.5 million viewers and leading all Friday night programming, according to Nielsen.

There’s even more politics coming on the air soon, with the Republican National Convention taking place next week in Milwaukee. Fox’s news channels will be broadcasting from the convention for much of the week, while many broadcast stations are likely to carry major speeches or moments. Then planned U.S. political programming will take a hiatus until the Democratic National Convention in August, while the world turns its attention to the Paris Olympics.

BRANDS + MESSAGING

Agricultural retail giant Tractor Supply Company announced a big pivot at the end of last month, refocusing on “rural America priorities.” According to the company, these include taking care of employees, veterans’ causes, emergency response, animal shelters, state fairs, land and water conservation, rodeos and farmers markets—but not DEI, Pride festivals, voting campaigns or lowering carbon emissions. Forbes senior contributor Pamela N. Danziger writes about the company’s change in stance, which came weeks after conservative director and influencer Robby Starbuck began encouraging a boycott of Tractor Supply on X, saying the company’s DEI and ESG policies didn’t align with the priorities of the store’s often more conservative shoppers.

Tractor Supply CEO Hal Lawson has been working to grow the company since he joined in 2020, concentrating on serving its customers—though paying close attention to a recent slowdown in comparable store sales growth. Among more traditional-values-espousing rural shoppers, DEI and carbon emissions goals could be seen as a waste of time and effort. Analysts told Danziger the move showed Lawson responding to what his shoppers want, though what it means for the store has yet to be seen.

NOW TRENDING

The traditional television show model has changed dramatically in the age of streaming. Where hit network TV shows in the ‘90s once brought actors and studios millions in paychecks, profits and eventual syndication residuals, the landscape today has shifted. Forbes reporter Matt Craig breaks down how it works today: Single companies act as the studio that produces the show, the network where it is first aired and the syndicator. These companies are often the streaming services themselves, which make their money off of content-agnostic subscriptions. The current model allows for dozens of new shows all of the time, instead of limiting content to a single time slot, so success is seen somewhat differently. Entertainment companies have worked on compensation models that reward individual shows—like Disney’s “Series Bonus Exhibit,” or SBE, which gives points that pay out set amounts for things like season renewals, reaching the top 10, and receiving award nominations. Other companies are trying to go back to the old model, with Netflix and Amazon making presentations at this year’s Upfronts to bring back advertisers. But as it is, there’s still a problem with the model for advertisers: Streaming shows don’t right now result in any “must see TV” blocks that bring a substantial number of viewers to watch at once.

ON MESSAGE

PadSquad’s Lance Wolder On How To Reach Gen Z—And Stop Them From Scrolling

Attracting Gen Z’s attention on a phone is not easy, but PadSquad recently was able to break through with a short form video campaign for the American Dairy Association. PadSquad worked with Savor Recipes to create eye-catching mid-scroll recipe videos that college students and young adults could make with dairy products, which PadSquad said had a 275% increase in site traffic, and an 84.6% higher click-through rate compared with Savor Recipes banner ads. I talked to PadSquad Head of Strategy and Marketing Lance Wolder about why this kind of campaign succeeded with Gen Z. This interview has been edited for length, clarity and continuity.

Why did this campaign work so well with Gen Z?

Wolder: If you’ve ever spent any time on social media, one of the things that really sucks you in, and the algorithm digs in on, is that idea of really fun, lighthearted short videos, showing people how to put together recipes. The way Savor and their marketing team created these assets— whether they be videos, short videos, or photo-based recipes—was specifically designed to them. How can they be quick? How can they be tailored to what life is like in a dorm room? I think what really resonated with the audience themselves was that it was quick, it was easy. Most of the time, it’s cheap, just a few ingredients. Gen Z really just gravitates toward that: Yes, I want to share this and make this recipe.

If you were to do a similar type of campaign targeting Millennials five or 10 years ago, how would it have been different?

A lot of the energy—at least from our side, when we’re building creative and we’re thinking about what the creative experiences are—was focused more on benefits. To use the dairy conversation: What are the benefits of dairy? Why should you incorporate milk into your every single day? Features and benefits storytelling would be a tactic we would use in the old days—let’s call it 10 years ago—versus trying to connect on more of a human level of saying these recipes are delicious and you want to be making them. And by the way, they just happen to be made with dairy. I think that nuance of creating an authentic piece of content that a college grad or somebody with a really busy schedule, who’s maybe working [and] can do something quick and easy, is a mindset shift: to be able to connect to what they want and need, and not what we want them to believe. It’s like, I’m not telling you that you should use my product. I’m showing you why.

A lot of what drives marketing to Gen Z is driven by social media, and social media is always changing. How quickly is your strategy changing when you’re speaking to this demographic?

I think leveraging insights is a really critical part of the process, and just testing and learning. Because many times I and my team feel like we know what Gen Z is going to do, but they go a completely different direction. As the marketer in the building, I try not to assume. We do a ton of this research—whether it’s proactive research around the audience that we’re trying to reach or reactive—and then analyzing those results to try and test our theories. I think that the campaign results themselves and the voices that speak to us through Gen Z are the ones that are going to help us decide what to do as we go forward.

What are some things in your research that stand out about marketing to Gen Z?

Authenticity and transparency are probably the No. 1 things that Gen Z cares about because they value honesty and social responsibility in a meaningful way. What I’ve seen from a lot of our clients is really trying to figure out how they can inject some of the cause work that they do, or the community action work that they do, into future campaigns. Our campaign last year with [Savor and the American Dairy Association] did all sorts of great things to drive website traffic, great reach and engagement. But what was more important was we ran this campaign targeted to specific college campuses, creative designs for that audience, recipes designed for that campus uniquely.

As they move forward this year with new campaigns, they’re doubling down on their investment, creating more of those personalized campaigns. They have this college athlete program that they’re doing, and they’re injecting the creative and the campaign that they’re going to run in digital with what they’re doing offline. How can you bring those sorts of responsibility pieces, and partnering with different college athletes, into the campaign at a bigger level? I think that’s really smart marketing.

It’s a small group that’s doing really phenomenal work that other brands should aspire to do. How do you connect all of these sometimes disparate initiatives, as a marketer, into your paid media strategy—social, TikTok, Instagram, Snap—as well as what we’re doing together in the traditional digital space?

FACTS + COMMENTS

Social commerce app Flip—similar to TikTok Shop, but requires all merchandise to come from the U.S. and is very careful about selection—acquired expert shopping recommendation platform Curated.

$330 million: Amount in stock with which Flip bought Curated

5 million: Number of users who have downloaded Flip

‘Emphasizing authentic human interaction and high-quality products’: What Flip founder and CEO Noor Agha said the acquisition does for Flip

STRATEGIES + ADVICE

Everyone knows ChatGPT can help you write a letter or presentation, but it can also help refine your marketing strategy. Here are seven prompts to get you started.

Employee engagement is vital to build company culture and productivity. Here are some ways to build it among your team.

VIDEO

QUIZ

Which of these was the most downloaded app on both Apple and Android platforms for the first half of 2024?

A. Temu

B. Threads

C. TikTok

D. ChatGPT

See if you got the answer right here.