After deciding to pursue the Penguin book brief, we analysed the brief more closely and reduced the brief to fewer words, which helped us focus on the main crux of the brief. As a team, we identified that we had to produce products that would encourage Gen Z to read and supported the readership of the books produced by Penguin. This could include merchandise to promote Penguin as a publishing company.
I tried to guide the Team by focussing on the finding out about the Gen Z what they were interested, concerned about and what they did in their spare time and how much they read as a hobby/spare time activity. I wanted to understand the target audience and what their interests were so that we could come up with products that would better serve the target market and would be address a need or create one. To understand Gen z we had to find out the exact ages of this cohort.
Who are GenZ?
Generation Z, or colloquially Gen Z, refers to the generation cohort that was born between 1997-2010, succeeding Millennials. Gen Z grew up with technology, social media and the internet and can be described as digital natives.
How many Gen Z’s are in the UK?
Mintel’s data shows that there are 10 million Gen Z’s in the UK, which accounts for around 15% of the population.
How big is Gen Z globally?
There are more than 2 billion people in the Generation Z age range globally. These individuals, born between 1997 and 2010, represent about 30% of the total global population—and it's predicted that by 2025, Gen Z will make up about 27% of the workforce
What are the characteristics of Gen Z?
Gen Z is often portrayed as the most socially and environmentally-conscious. Although Mintel’s data shows that this generation does care deeply about these issues, it also shows that Gen Z don’t necessarily see this as a defining characteristic. They’re much more likely to see themselves as creative (36%), ambitious (29%) or adventurous (25%) than they are to say that they’re ethical (16%).
How does this have an impact on their buying considerations?
#1 Striving towards a better world
Gen Z is known as the ambitious generation. They not only push themselves forward, but aim to drive change for issues such as social equality, mental health and sustainable planet solutions. Gen Z utilise tech-savviness and apply it when investigating brands and organisations who do not embrace social equality, mental health and environmentally conscious at their core. Attracting the custom base of Gen Z relies on the companies' ability to communicate integrity and authenticity not just through branding but operations and practice as well as making value based statements. According to GWI, 37% of them say the most important thing a brand can do is stand for something and be purposeful.
Companies who meet the expectations of Gen Z are far more likely to attract the buying power of Gen Z. Looking at Penguin sustainability policies to become carbon neutral by 2030 - the company is heading in the right direction.

Companies who meet the expectations of Gen Z are far more likely to attract the buying power of Gen Z. Looking at Penguin sustainability policies to become carbon neutral by 2030 - the company is heading in the right direction to attracting Gen Z's readership and buying power.
Nostalgia, belonging and comfort
#2 They look to the past for belonging and comfort
Mental health struggles is a big concern for Gen Z. Covid-19 pandemic has increased a feeling of disconnection thus social anxiety. Of the Gen Z cohort, 37% more likely to have experienced feelings of anxiety since the beginning of the outbreak. Not only are they uncertain about the future of the pandemic, but the rise of tech and looming sustainability crisis has left this generation acutely aware and frankly quite nervous of the challenges they face moving forward.
Searching for solace amongst the chaos, a large swathe of Gen Z have turned to nostalgia as a form of escapism. Gen Z are creating their own comfort blanket by embracing trends from the early 2000s.

We see this manifested in Instagram accounts like @2000sanxiety, which revels in the past and describes its content as appreciating the ‘elegance’ and ‘sophistication’ of the time. Nostalgia of the early 2000s can be found in today's fashion and music.
In 2022, Y2K fashion is informs the fashion trends.Examples of some of the quintessential late '90s and early 2000s styles back on the scene, hot pink colour palette, low-rise jeans, bedazzled logos, baguette bag feature heavily.

In music, we see references to iconic noughties films recent songs Ariana Grande's vidoe for Thank U, Next has a clear reference from a scene from the iconic film Mean Girls.
Gen Z conflicting trends of aspiration, belonging and comfort ethical considerations - how does that translate into buying power in other industries?
Gen Z’s mindset is quite conflicting. They experience tension between longing for the past and trying to shape the future. Gen Z’s mindsets are merging: their nostalgic tendency towards the 2000s era and their heightened consideration for the planet.
However, an example of seemingly Gen Z's conflicting values is the booming vintage and resale market we are seeing on sites such as Depop, where the “Y2K” hashtag has become increasingly popular. According to YPulse, the shopping app has received a 65% uplift in sales since March 2020, with a large proportion of the items listed being customised or upcycled.
In this case, they are looking to make ethical fashion choices and are using the style they know and love to do so.
This generation's emotional drive sits largely with nostalgic messaging. Their values on the other hand, mean they want to tackle social and environmental issues head on. Gen Z love the idea of an old school product, but what’s key to remember is they won’t respond to old school values. Gen Z like old school branding but not their values.
But how can marketers navigate this complex set of needs?
What we have learnt from the fashion industry of preloved and vintage clothing is to embrace the tension is key to success to targeting Gen Z as an audience. Marketing to Gen Z using a mixture of comfort and inspiration. The concept and design of the product should hook them with what they know, and give them a reason to believe by showcasing what they want to be. You are appealing to their hearts whilst reasoning with their heads, and this can be translated and adapted in multiple ways:
The nostalgic element could come through in the style of your content, whilst the aspiration for the future could be part of your messaging. It could be as simple as a vintage filter used over content which promotes a sustainable product, or a reference from an old TV show or character.
Some companies have used brand heritage as a way to get consumers to fall in love with your brand again by highlighting the qualities they already know and love. Burger King’s recent rebrand returns to their original 60’s logo. This is the perfect time to introduce something new your brand is doing and appeal to Gen Z’s need for relevance.
Reading trends and Gen Z
The next task is to establish what Gen Z like to do in their spare time when they are not studying or working. Gen Z, in fact, are more likely to pick reading than reviewing social media (17%) or playing video and online games (17% and 16%, respectively). Establishing that reading is an important spare-time activity for Gen Z because there is readership base already exists. To appeal to this readership base, it is important to establish what types of fiction that Gen Z read so that the group designs a product that appeals to the target audience. According to the survey, Gen Z readers are embracing more of every genre, including more Fantasy and Sci-fi (42% vs.30%), Horror (38% vs.20%), and Superhero/Action (34% vs.18%). With fantasy and sci-fi topping the charts, it appears that the general trends for escapism and social and ethical considerations themes are reflected in the reading habits of Gen Z.
How can we establish nostalgia, a sense of belonging, comfort and ethical considerations and translate into the book and reading market?
Understanding Gen Z and what is trending with them is the first step because we can target products that embrace nostalgia of the past and ethical branding of the future. We can translate Gen Z trends into our answer for the Penguin client's brief. As, the logo is to remain unchanged that taps into Gen Z's desire for Nostalgia. Perhaps nostalgia around the logo would lend itself well to merchandise for Penguin Random House to promote the publishing company as itself as a brand. Or we can develop products which celebrate the books that are published by Penguin Random House and promote further readership of Gen Z. This would provide a challenging and exciting prospect creatively and practically. Nostalgia and the belonging and comfort that it provides can be found in books as books provide a sort of escapism.
After our research, it turns out that Gen Z spend a lot of their spare time reading more than other demographics and their favoured genre is sci-fi or fantasy. This highlights the importance of doing market research before ideas generation as it can steer in the group and ideas generations. Team 15 group members decided to come up product ideas for next week so that we could to the group with ideas and develop them.
References
https://www.nielsen.com/insights/2015/on-the-same-page-no-matter-the-age-reading-is-a-top-spare-time-activity/
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