What do these shifts mean for organizational culture, teams, and retention? What is the impact on social interaction? The new book “The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups” by Tracey Camilleri, Samantha Rockey, and Robin Dunbar looks at how our work lives are influenced by our inherited biology and how our team, leadership, and social structures can be better utilized.

Vivaldi spoke with Tracey Camilleri, Associate Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, former Director of the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme and co-founder of leadership and organizational development consultancy, Thompson Harrison, about building functional team sizes, the challenges for leadership, and the rising needs of Gen Z.

————-

Vivaldi: Can you share a bit about the origins of this book and how it relates to your work running the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme?

Tracey Camilleri: I’ve known Robin Dunbar for about 10 years, and I had always been interested in his research. I spent over 10 years as the director of the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme and my challenge always was, how do you get a group of really smart, friendly strangers, inside of a week, to open up to each other, and create a sense of a tribe? I started to experiment, and increasingly I realized that the immersive experiential side of learning was actually what made people go back and change what they do. I met Robin and I went into his study and there – amazing! –  he’d done all my research.  There it was, reams of research on the value of  things like walking together, synchrony, creating social endorphins, shared experience. Our other co-author, Sam, had been working in a huge global company, thinking about the same sorts of things, how do you make a group function as more than the sum of its parts? How do you create the right environment for it? We came together and interviewed around 50 leaders as case studies and stories for the book about how this works in all kinds of different environments from government ministries to sports teams.

Emerging from the pandemic it seems like people are re-thinking teams and their structures — are there optimal group sizes for different group functions?

In short, yes. A high-functioning small team of about five can move very fast in a kind of synchronous flow. They don’t need a leader, and that size is great for crisis teams, creative teams. The small size means that each is capable of holding the mindstate of the other (called mentalizing) which is heavy cognitive work and becomes too onerous at bigger group sizes.. Twelve to fifteen is a great group size for decision making. If you need to make a complex decision, you need different perspectives, you need time to make good decisions, and you need facilitative leadership. Too many leaders are not taught how to facilitate, mediate, empower, listen, structure conversations and so they waste the value of the diversity in the room.

I think we’re in a moment now where companies need to rethink  the skills that their future leaders are being taught. The broadcast skills of speaking in public, giving good presentations, etc. need to play second fiddle to more reciprocal relational skills. In addition, leaders need to bring the same rigor and application that they’ve been giving to developing their financial, digital or global strategies to developing social strategies for their businesses. Human connections aren’t just happening serendipitously in this hybrid world.

Trust, social capital, discretionary effort, friendship, all those things are so important and part of leadership in 2023 is to create environments within which that relational wealth can be built.

Fifty is a particularly interesting number for startups and entrepreneurs. It’s the number at which you really start to need structured leadership and begin to need subgroups. Once you get to 150, the so called “Dunbar Number,” beyond which we can’t actually have real relationships (due to the size of our neo cortex, the time constraints we live within and the way that information moves around the system), leadership there becomes more symbolic. Followers, due to the size of the group, project upon the leader their hopes and their fears as a substitute for real relationship. Thinking about the scale of teams and conceiving of an organization as a series of fractals or clusters, rather than a pyramid or a machine requires you to think differently about how you communicate, how you lead, and how you think about the future in quite a different way.

The book says that “the future is the territory of leadership” — for people to lead their teams into the future, is there a mindset shift that has to occur?

As a human species we have a unique intellectual ability to actually inhabit multiple futures. We have imaginations, we can think conceptually – and yet a lot of our organizational way of working actually militates against us using those skills. We are too often head down, task focused, time poor. We say that the territory of leadership is the future and so it needs those who are curious and can adopt different ways of looking at things. Who do we need in the room to think about the future together? It may be the most junior coder, it may be somebody from another industry or another discipline. Convening – and convening the right people – not the same-old, same-old group who meets every week, is another underrated part of leadership.

Tracey Camilleri

Is there a way to leverage or better leverage technology?

I think there is absolutely. But the other side of the coin is that if I run a program, I make it as analog as I can because there is something about the human need to come together with other human beings, the sensory side of it, the bonding side of it that is lost when we are mediated by screens. Technology is hugely our friend, but it is not a substitute for friendship, shared humor or experience. Most of us work  almost half our waking lives and we need to be able to thrive, to be our most human, not playing catch up with machines.

This is a quite shocking moment in terms of mental health, around $50 billion a year is being spent on mental health support at work. Most of this effort is focused on individuals.  Back in the 1950s, The World Health Organization defined wellbeing as “mental, physical, and social health.”

Not so much attention has been paid to the social side of wellbeing, loneliness and the importance of friendship at work, not just for the sake of mental health, but also for the sake of productivity, performance, innovation and impact.

As so much time is spent hybrid-working, when people do actually come together, in person it needs to matter and that requires care, design and forethought. So that’s why we’ve been thinking and working with leaders to design social strategies for their organizations.

It seems like there’s a sentiment that people in hybrid situations might feel like they are more productive, but there’s less social engagement — is that true, and how much of a tradeoff is that?

They may complete more tasks, spend less time commuting, etc. The problem is, however, that you’re in danger of mortgaging the future. If things go badly or you need to innovate, to grow and expand, you find you don’t have the bank of social capital and trust that you need to draw on. You also may be creating a future retention and belonging issue because people need to come together in person. We are relational creatures. So it depends, if you’re just head-down, getting through the tasks, possibly working from home is more productive. But how do you think coherently together? How do you learn from each other? How do you build trust? Make friends?

Younger workers, Gen Z, are changing jobs more frequently — how does that relate to the social side of things — is there less of a feeling of social connection? Are there generational differences?

We’re doing some research on Gen Z – the ones who’ve just transitioned into work. I personally think there is some psychological re-contracting that needs to be done between employers and that generation. They were hit particularly hard socially and educationally by covid and now the nature of work is being renegotiated on their watch. How do they build groups of work friends, or get the incidental learning that comes simply from sitting next to someone more experienced? On the other side, I spoke to a group of entrepreneurs recently and I got a bit of pushback from them, saying, actually we’re finding it really hard to motivate our youngest employees, they are kind of “quiet quitting,” they’re out there somewhere behind the screen, but we don’t quite know what they’re doing. I was quite surprised. There’s something that needs to be faced together about the experience this generation has had. I’m interested to learn from organizations who are being inventive here. This is a generation that also expects more, and quite rightly. Certainly in the UK they are not getting more at the moment.

Tracey Camilleri is an Associate Fellow at Oxford University’s Saïd Business School, former Director of the Oxford Strategic Leadership Programme, and co-founder of leadership and organizational development consultancy, Thompson Harrison. She is the co-author of “The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups.” 

The post Today’s Challenge to Build “Relational Wealth” with Tracey Camilleri appeared first on Vivaldi.

Founded in 2017 by former Australian army officers, Craig Cowdrey, Peter Burnheim, and Christopher Marr, Sonder is a company focused on providing active care services through its responder network and technology platform. Utilized by Woolworths, PWC, Allianz, Team Global Express and other organizations, Sonder has made an impact across Australia and New Zealand, and it’s working to take its mission global.

Vivaldi spoke with Chris Marr, Sonder’s Chief Commercial Officer, about building a care network, meeting the demands of Gen Z, and the limitations of bots in addressing human challenges.

——-

Christopher Marr, CCO, Sonder

How would you describe Sonder and the benefits it offers?

We consider Sonder a single entry point for care — and there’s a lot that those few words speak to. It recognizes that the health landscape across safety, medical, and mental health is really disparate. It has typically existed in silos; individual services or point solutions, that may, when aggregated, deal with a broad spectrum of issues, but actually there’s no ecosystem around that. We understand at Sonder that issues don’t exist in isolation, they’re conflated. For example, if you’ve got anxiety, it often doesn’t exist on its own, it exists because there’s an underlying issue. As a single entry point to care, we make it really simple for people to engage with health solutions, increasing access to care, and ultimately making impact on the health of people around the world.

Understanding how all of those things work together might be a differentiator from what else is out there.

If you think of the landscape, it’s all point solutions and it’s really hard to even understand that they exist, let alone understand what’s the best way to access them. Together they present serious hurdles for people to access help, so that’s the problem we’re solving. We’re decluttering this otherwise really complex landscape to make it really simple and highly accessible in order to help people.

Who participates in the Sonder network?

Up front we have the digital interface, it’s an app focused on building earlier intervention pathways and help-seeking behavior. It does that through clinically based wellbeing and mental health assessment tools that enable you to get personalized support for your unique needs.

The mobile interface is also a mechanism to get you through to our care specialists, and that’s where the heart of the business exists. Our doctors, nurses and psychologists are there 24-7 to listen and, because we know that issues get conflated, to try to understand the holistic picture for a person and put together a bespoke care plan.

Pillar number three is our care pathways — these might be our medical, safety, or mental health teams, financial or legal support programs, internet-based cognitive behavioral therapy, a whole host of different programs. You don’t just get filtered into one of them, the plan recognizes the depth and significance of the issues, challenges or opportunities that people are facing. It also includes our responder network. Throughout Australia and New Zealand we can be by someone’s side within an hour. That provides huge peace of mind.

The fourth aspect is the data and insights. We’re a healthcare company, so all the records are medically credentialled. It’s completely anonymized, aggregated data, but it allows us to look at population trends. It lets us understand what issues are burgeoning.

Was this idea for aggregating data built in from the beginning?

In order to make sound business decisions, we needed to be data-led. By understanding the data and insights, by understanding the levers we can pull, we can ultimately have the best affect on someone’s health, and the health of a population generally.

You started with a safety focus, why is that one of the core pillars of what you offer?

Safety sits as the foundation for all the higher order needs or requirements. By being a company that has a foundation in providing safety, it gives the stepping stone to explore higher order needs. We give that platform for people to ultimately get to a place where they can have confidence and trust in the solution in order to engage on something more sensitive like mental health conditions, anxiety, depression, perhaps in its most extreme suicidal ideation.

I think many of the legacy providers that are focused on high-grade mental health are supposing that someone can jump through all these steps independently. We just don’t think that that’s how people behave. We don’t think that’s how to build trust, and if we want to make an impact on the problem and help people, then we ultimately need to provide that platform for them to move through that process themselves.

How do you see the future of the health, wellness, and safety space evolving?

We see Active Care as the future, where people have got the power to engage on their own device, in their own time, on demand, and relevant to their specific requirements, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. We need to have modern solutions that will recognize complexity, and ultimately simplify care programs for people so they can get the results that they need to crack on with life.

Are you seeing the priorities of Gen Z changing how these pieces are integrated into daily life or work life? How are they impacting where things are going?

I think they’re really demanding, and that’s a wonderful thing. The more recent generations have been exposed to some of the most sophisticated technologies. They understand what good design looks like, they understand that their needs and requirements are fundamental to good output. To the Active Care point, Gen Z are going to continue to demand that services are accessible to them on their own device on their own time for their specific requirements, and they want to have a wonderful experience. You won’t be successful without offering a world class experience because there’s just no patience for anything less.

A lot of businesses think about wellness as critical to employee retention — how are you thinking about that during these more challenging or unpredictable economic times? How do you talk about that with businesses or employers?

It’s a really critical discussion because there are so many providers now that say that they can make impact on productivity, on engagement, on staff churn, but it’s very difficult for them to draw a correlation between input on the left and outcome on the right. I think this is why the data and insights from Sonder are so important. By virtue of the program that we’ve built, the Active Care model that has a foundational focus on safety, it ultimately drives activation and utilization to levels that typically exist between 10 and 20 times the legacy providers. That’s a significant impact.

How do you think about delivering care and what makes your method different than using a chatbot or AI tool?

Sonder uses real people. We don’t use bots. The technologies as we understand it are not sophisticated enough to achieve real impact against real human problems. A chatbot ultimately can’t have empathy. Our business is about supporting people, often in their most vulnerable state. I think when it gets down to the fundamentals of the service, human to human interaction is what we’re all craving. It’s a fundamental aspect to our wellbeing.

What can we look forward to next?

Our expansion into the United Kingdom. Sonder has achieved really significant growth and impact in the Australian and New Zealand markets. We are now expanding into the UK and then other global markets. We want to take the lessons we’ve learned in how to engage and motivate and make more productive people around the world.

—-

Christopher Marr, DSM, is the Co-founder and Chief Commercial Officer of Sonder. He has dedicated his life to serving others, previously serving 20 years as an Australian Army officer, including 10 as a leader and commander in the special forces. His role at Sonder is to lead the commercial strategy and growth of the company, both domestically and internationally. He is committed to addressing the world’s burgeoning health crisis by disrupting the way people get help.

The post Sonder’s Mission to Provide Active Care Services appeared first on Vivaldi.

Vivaldi strongly believes in WIN’s mission to close the gender gap in innovation. Vivaldians are on the global leadership and chapter leadership teams and have even been ambassadors of WIN.

Vivaldi spoke with Shakeir about advocating for women’s careers, the expectations of Gen Z, and how we define innovation.

——–

How would you explain the mission of Women in Innovation?

Women in Innovation was founded to close the gender gap of the representation of women in the innovation space. If you look at innovation firms, only 25% of top firms are actually led by women. If you look at innovation best-sellers (books and written content), only 16% are written by women. In Fortune 100 companies, only 25% Chief Innovation Officers are women. Obviously, there’s a gender disparity that we need to not only monitor closely in terms of data and how we’re moving the needle, but also to think of outside-the-box ways by which to close these gaps.

What key focus areas do you think are vital for creating equity in the innovation space?

Looking back at my own career and the interviews I’ve done for my own research around this area, there’s a lack of executive leadership sponsorship. Only about 56% of junior level women report having a senior leader who actually advocates for them. Mentorship is one thing, but someone who is willing to put their neck out there when it comes to decision-making and say, “I want this person to lead,” that’s a different story. Around 49% believe it’s more challenging for them to reach senior management positions than it is for men. If you don’t have somebody who is advocating for you, with intentionality, it’s very difficult.

If people think there’s only one spot, there may be more of a perception around competition, rather than an idea that we can build larger networks to help each other in a different way.

Absolutely. One of the main challenges women feel impede their advancement is a lack of opportunity to broaden their skill sets. Creating those spaces where you’re tapped into networks or thought leadership that’s constantly giving you previews of trends.

Another piece is peer to peer support networks. This is often where women are more hesitant than men to ask a connection for a favor or advice out of a fear of being perceived as opportunistic or weak. I think there’s room for us to really strengthen each other by creating those spaces for networking, which is one of the mandates of WIN. The last piece is a lack of female dominated inner circles. Around 75% of high-ranking women have really strong ties to female circles, which led to job placement level, and it’s 2.5 times greater than women with small networks or male dominated inner circles.

To talk specifically about the innovation piece — do you have a preferred working definition for “innovation”?

Innovation has been one of those terms that could be anything and everything. I favor the definition that innovation is a process of making changes, large and small, radical and incremental, to products, processes, and services that result in the introduction of something new for the organization that adds value to customers and contributes to the knowledge store of the organization and is profitable.

Dr. Reima Shakeir, CEO, Women in Innovation

There are so many ways that people can work in innovation-related spaces. With your background as a professor, what are students looking for when it comes to career opportunities around innovation, business reinvention, and technology?

I get to talk about my favorite topic: Gen Z. Let’s start by saying that the one certainty today is uncertainty. Over these past few years, with the global pandemic, rocketing inflation, climate disasters, Russia’s war on Ukraine — Gen Z is really growing up and navigating a very complex and uncertain world, along with the rest of us. They are re-thinking foundational elements of day to day life, be it building decentralized networks of emotional support to advocating for greater responsibility from companies and brands, and questioning the world they want to live in. Gen Z is truly beyond the binary in every single sense of the word. And like many of their peers, perhaps similar to millennials, they want to put their efforts into and work in companies that they can feel good about. The three pillars that have historically been relevant to my students have been sustainability, equity and integrity. These are what they look for in companies when they are joining.

One of the other things we’ve heard about people entering the career world is that they are looking for companies that have practices that reflect their values with regard to DEI. Is that something you’re seeing people evaluate more?

Gen Z is one of the most diverse generations of its time. Gen Z is a generation of inclusivity and belonging. So, the question becomes, how are you actually creating a culture of belonging in your organizations? Only 76% of companies admit that they do not have diversity and inclusion roles to begin with, so to lead into the future, leadership is going to be tasked with understanding and taking action to reflect the cultural landscape of this workforce and building an organization that reflects those values from the ground up. It’s not a choice anymore, it’s an expectation. That’s why Gen Z-ers have no problem job-hopping if they don’t find that the company is hitting those targets. Their world view is organically one of inclusivity and fairness, and they really have the expectation of organizations that they work for to reflect those values.

Are there any organizations or companies that are doing a good job of fostering belonging and inclusion in a better way?

When we see someone like Larry Fink, from Black Rock, writing an open letter that says we’re not going to do business with folks who don’t care about ESG, who don’t care about diversity, that’s a huge statement. It gets people thinking. I would say the trend is now moving more toward how we can be more intentional in our diversity efforts; let’s stop making a business case out of diversity, and try to be a bit more authentic in how we are engaging because it’s the right thing to do. Wharton just launched an MBA focused on DEI. If you’ve got a leading business school in the world dedicating a whole MBA to it because more and more leadership from corporate spaces are asking for it, I think that’s very telling.

You’ve worked in the nonprofit and philanthropy worlds – what is the approach there to innovation?

This is extremely complicated. When you think of innovation, inherently there’s risk involved. In the nonprofit and philanthropy space, there’s an accountability to donors, and so they tend to be risk averse. I think innovation has many nuances and interpretations in the business community and the same is true of philanthropy. What’s important is that foundations understand what they mean by the word and apply creativity in looking at how we’re solving for problems.

What’s happening next for WIN?

We have an exciting year unfolding for our community. Keep an eye on some of the initiatives we have coming up, the programming that we have, and how we’re aligning on our mission and sharing out our progress to our communities. Stay tuned and check us out at womenininnovation.co.

Dr. Reima Shakeir is an international scholar, author, and CEO of Women in Innovation. She previously served as COO at the Edmond de Rothschild foundations, and teaches at the MBA level at the NYU Stern School of Business and The Wharton School of Business.

The post Innovating the Innovation Space with Dr. Reima Shakeir appeared first on Vivaldi.

Does one generation alone warrant a new brand strategy? We think so. Gen-Z influences 93% of household purchases. In the U.S., 82%  of parents admit that their children influence their purchasing decisions. Win over Generation Z and you win over older generations of Gen Xers and baby boomers too. 

Our audience is changing—rapidly. Growing a business in today’s world means building a brand strategy that engages the unique expectations of Gen-Z.

Understanding Gen-Z Consumers

What makes this generation of consumers so different? While social media, smartphones, work from home, and other digital trends entered our lives as teenagers or adults, that is all Gen-Z has ever known. These young people are digital natives,  born into a world of online experiences—from social interactions to purchasing—and that is where they spend much of their time.

Gen Zers spend an around of 3 hours per day on social media, far more than any other group. They expect instant results; quick responses from friends, family, or businesses; and media that inspires.

Not to be confused as a generation that only seeks instant gratification and beautiful products, Gen Zers are conscious consumers. They were raised in a recession and are keenly aware of the social, political, and economic tension that has pervaded their young lives. Their decisions are not flippant, although they do value flexibility, change, and risk.

Finally, it is important to understand that members of Gen-Z value progress—politically, socially, and environmentally—and are willing to support businesses that are doing their part to drive change.

All of these distinguishing characteristics of this generation should play a role in the way we develop brand strategy. A strong brand strategy  doesn’t simply “appeal” to this new audience of consumers but engages them. In fact, there are 5 key insights into Gen-Z that must be acknowledged in order to build new business models that empower our brands to grow and expand.

Key Insights to Build a Better Brand Strategy

Our goal is to help brands look beyond basic marketing tactics and instead create brand experiences and strategies that reach the most influential audience: Gen-Z.

Innovative solutions to meet the expectations of a generation don’t always come easily. In fact, a new business model and innovation strategy require that businesses shift away from thinking in silos and pipelines and towards an integrated model. Brand strategy must be consumer-led, valuable, and seamlessly integrated. This approach allows brands to more effectively engage new audiences on every level, from the foundation of the strategy (consumer-led) to brand-consumer relationship, customer experience, and communication.

These 5 insights help us delve deeper into the Gen-Z audience, how to engage with them, and how to become trustworthy, customer-first brands.

Access Over Ownership

Gen-Z seeks access to products and services that will make life easier, but they don’t always pursue ownership. What does this look like tangibly? Gen-Z consumers are more likely to use platform-based products that allow them to rent—not own—the things they need. For example, electric scooters that allow them to get from point A to B without actually purchasing a scooter, or streaming services that establish a month-to-month purchase agreement and no long-term commitment.

For businesses, this requires enabling direct access to products. In particular, many brands are shifting to utilizing platforms and subscription-based services to make their products more easily accessible. By 2025, it is predicted that 30% o f the world economy will be platform-based. 

This challenge to the conventional pipeline of delivering products to consumers is especially important to businesses today. Taking the time now to develop platform and digital ecosystem strategies will prepare your brand to meet these changes head-on.

Hyper-Personalization

Growing up in a digital world means Gen-Z is accustomed to products, services and customer service experiences that are tailored to their specific needs. Having become accustomed to personalised music playlists, this generation will expect personalised shopping experiences and travel planning. More than half of Gen Zers are willing to pay more  for personalized options, which is significant for a generation that also values cost savings and financial planning.

Generic products and less attractive designs are having minimal impact on this up and coming generation. Adjusting a brand strategy to meet this expectation means exploring segmentation axes around the needs, values, and experiences of the consumer. It also means finding a way to either customize a product or personalize a service around the consumers’ values.

Anchored in Ethics

It should come as no surprise that Gen-Z values ethics. Growing up among climate change, the #metoo movement, and an increasingly global call for ethical manufacturing standards, they have taken up the call for change on almost every level of society. And they expect our brands to do the same. Gen-Z consumers are more willing to engage with brands that are sustainable, authentic, and pursuing a higher social purpose. 

In fact, a majority of Gen Zers refuse to purchase from a brand that is involved in a scandal. Our product and service branding must not only capture their attention, but our entire brand strategy must be established on trustworthy and ethical practices. Not only that but value propositions must look beyond the simple value of a product and focus on the value of the brand as a whole.

Seamless Experiences

If there is one thing Gen-Z has made clear, it is that they don’t have time for long, drawn-out processes. They live in a world that is constantly on the go, and they expect brands to meet them wherever they are in the world. Seamless experiences mean building branding solutions that are fast, smooth, and easy to use. If making a purchase or interacting with a company’s service is slow or has too many barriers, Gen Zers will move on quickly. 

A branding strategy that utilizes innovations and creates value-driven customer experiences, however, will keep them coming back again and again. The way we view value propositions must shift. Brand value lies in the overall experience of the consumer, and not only the value of our unique product or service. This transition impacts every layer of business and brand strategy, including the way we choose to build our platforms and interact with our customers.

Capturing Attention

Gen-Z decide in mere seconds if a brand is worth their time and attention. Short, to-the-point content that drives a conversation is how many brands are choosing to engage with Gen-Z. Think TikTok or Instagram Reels. These short video-based social media solutions quickly capture the attention of a young audience. 

Other social media brand strategy examples include Oreo’s “Show your playful side” campaign on Snapchat, which invites consumers to be part of the conversation and the brand as a whole.

The challenge brands face is establishing that they are worth the attention of their Gen-Z consumer audience. Building a dialogue with your audience is about more than just great digital marketing. Brand leadership starts with a business model and brand strategy that is integrated, micro-targeted, and tailored to meet the unique needs of your consumers.

Building the Future of Your Brand

Gen-Z is a force to be reckoned with. Understanding their unique consumer behaviors is a significant key to growing and building an effective and innovative strategy for even an established brand. Vivaldi helps companies hone in on the purchasing and lifestyle trends of Gen-Z—and other target audiences—to develop brand strategies and new business models that create extensive opportunities for growth. To build the future of your brand, download our in-depth guide the 5 challenges brands face in engaging Gen-Z, and how to solve them.

The post Gen-Z Insights: Why It’s Time For A New Brand Strategy appeared first on Vivaldi.

To learn more about this new demand on modern brands, Tom Ajello, Chief Creative Officer at Vivaldi, shared the insights he’s acquired by working with brands like Coach, Sephora, and Google, just to name a few.

Jeff Fromm: Compared to Millennials, what does Gen Z value most?

Ajello: Where Millennials have become a jaded generation, Gen Z is idealistic and seeks to bring about change. Entertainment is their escape into this world, where a key theme is overcoming adversity against all odds. To them, making a difference is important. They’re tuned in to what is happening both around the world and in their communities, and they want to be a part of the change.

Fromm: Given these values, what are Gen Z consumers looking for from brands, products, and the overall shopping experience?

Ajello: Gen Z has become accustomed to getting what they want. When they want it. Where they want it and how they want it. From every platform that serves them.

These services are not magic to them like they might feel to you and I. They are a baseline requirement, and brands, products and services who intend on being relevant will need to have this kind of clairvoyance.

Then there are platforms like Roblox and Scribblenauts with hoards of Gen Z’ers flocking to them every month. They offer instant social, experiential, and even monetary gratification by letting users be designers of the entire ecosystem.

In other words, Gen Z has been spoiled by the services and algorithms we have surrounded them with.

This has created an unprecedented set of expectations of brands and business that wish to serve them. You and I might dream of a world as clairvoyant as Netflix. Gen Z will demand it—of the grocery store, of their transportation, of their entertainment. They have also redefined brand loyalty. Gen Z isn’t very interested in having to pledge their allegiance to any one brand. They’d rather be given options so they can get what they want, when they want it.

Fromm: What are the best ways to reach Gen Z consumers and meet their unspoken expectations?

Ajello: Gen Z doesn’t want to feel marketed to. As above, clairvoyant things don’t feel like marketing.  Or at least they won’t to Gen Z. The more personal the recommendations are, the more valuable and actionable the service. Want to reach Gen Z? Serve them or be served, as they say.

It goes beyond a “set it and forget it” algorithm and some real-time relevance. Authenticity still rules the day.

Here’s where it gets complicated: just because Gen Z has become accustomed to (and spoiled by) technology does not overshadow the fact that they love the connection and authenticity technology enables. They are still the generation described above—loving the authentic story of the underdog against all odds.

Brands that stand for diversity, inclusion and equality score well because they fight for the underdog, showing a concern for “doing good.”

Fromm: What are some of the biggest “watch outs” for brands trying to reach Gen Z?

Ajello: Your marketing will need to be a service, so use “clickbait” at your peril.

Gen Z are connected within an hour of waking up and social media isn’t a past time so much as a lifestyle. As technology (and the authentic experiences technology enables) weave into Gen Z’s life—service design becomes critical. Gen Z is not interested in disruptive gimmickry. They will be the ultimate “what’s in it for me” consumer.

As platforms like Minecraft, YouTube, and Roblox rise, Gen Z has become hyper-aware of the idea of “clickbait.” Gen Z has learned how platform participants and content creators use “clickbait” to lure them in.

Big brands that use social media openly and honestly form the strongest connections.

This article was originally published in Forbes.

The post Unspoken Expectations: How Brands Can Read Gen Z Minds appeared first on Vivaldi.

Mario Bartels is a Senior Consultant with Vivaldi, a strategic management consultancy group, headquartered in New York City. He has a passion for branding and entrepreneurship and co-founded a German tech startup focusing on “the first mile of shipping.” He notes that one of the things that most clearly defines Gen Z is that they are digital natives. “These Snapchatters and Instagrammers already make up 25% of the US population — and contribute $44 billion to the economy each year,” Bartels notes. “Born with instant access to mountains of data, and shaped by the war on terror and the most recent serious recession, they have a unique view of the world. This differentiates Gen Z from their immediate predecessors, the Millennials.”

The combination of entrepreneurial spirit and philanthropic mindset makes them a unique target for startups, both from a marketing and human resources perspective. According to Bartels, to attract Gen Z’ers as customers and bring them in as talent, startups must understand three crucial dynamics:

1. Be real

Gen Z’ers are hungry, and constantly on the search for education and inspiration. “63% of these young people prefer to be engaged by real people. They seek inspiration from YouTubers, bloggers, and social influencers,” Bartels notes. “Startups need to follow suit by sharing content that is insightful yet authentic. The ‘Behind the Scenes at Shyp’ blog post, for example, offers insights into the daily routines of their employees, while also having actual customers talk about their experiences SHYP, a custom packaging service. This startup’s authentic human touch satisfies their Gen Z’ers interest in relatable and educational information.”

2. Be engaging

Gen Z’ers do not want to sit back and be entertained — they want to be a part of the experience and leave their own mark. “In just eight seconds, they usually decide whether something is worthy of their attention. If it is, they will commit and focus. But getting past their initial (and speedy) filter requires the promise of an engaging experience. Provide a Gen Z with a tangible way to get involved in your brand, and the payoff is huge: they’ll become brand advocates to their cohort. While Millennials brought about the age of sharing branded content, Gen Z’ers prefer to create it themselves,” Bartels explains.

3. Do good

“Being raised in the post 9/11 era, watching their parents struggle through a difficult recession, Gen Z’ers have a distinct sense of social justice, philanthropy, and maturity,” Bartels notes. “In contrast to the more optimistic Millennials who preceded them, they are both more realistic and more hands-on, knowing that change for the better will not come unless and until action is taken. This results in 60% of Generation Z aiming for a job that makes a positive impact on the world; they specifically seek out career opportunities that will fulfill this key value.”

Bartels summarizes: “Startups should move past traditional corporate social responsibility programs and find new and creative ways to do good that fit the mission of the company. For example, Warby Parker, the online eyeglass company, adopted the ‘One for One’ philosophy of TOM’s Shoes and matched a good cause with a successful business model in an authentic way. Startups need to define their mission, and convey the good it brings to Gen Z’ers, in order to reach them.

This article was originally published on Inc.com.

The post To Attract Gen Z, What Will Businesses Have to Do? appeared first on Vivaldi.