20 brands catching Gen Z’s attention right now

Published quarterly, the Ad Age-Harris Poll rankings are sourced from The Harris Poll’s daily brand tracking tool, QuestBrand, to identify companies with the greatest quarter-over-quarter increase in equity among specific age cohorts. Read the last edition of the Gen Z poll here. And check out the latest edition of the baby boomer poll here. In a show of Gen Z’s love for beauty and skin care, Sephora and Ulta top the latest Ad Age-Harris Poll Gen Z brand tracker. The tracker ranked brands that made significant progress in gaining attention from Gen Z in the second quarter of 2024. Yeti, Sparkling Ice Energy drinks and discount grocer Aldi rounded out the top 5 among surveyed Gen Zers, who were born between 1997 and 2012. Sephora and Ulta’s appeals to Gen Z appear to be working. In its semi-annual survey of teens, investment banking company Piper Sandler reported that beauty spending is up among teens across categories. The report found that 37% of teen girls surveyed said that Sephora was their favorite beauty shopping destination, followed by 31% of teen girls who turn to Ulta. See all of the 2024 Small Agency award winners here The momentum for both beauty retailers has been fueled in part by the TikTok craze around brands such as Rare Beauty and Drunk Elephant (which also became a favorite among Gen Alpha, and sparked controversy). Moisturizers and sunscreens have also helped boost the retailers. Sephora has also been praised for its mobile app, which helps consumers find the right shade and allows them to virtually try on makeup products. The chain also plans to open more stores and has been leaning into high-quality body-care products including creams and cleansers. It also jumped on Taylor Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department” album trend. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sephora (@sephora) Even though the brand has gained ground with Gen Z, Ulta’s executive team raised concerns in recent earnings that the company was losing market share, pointing to how many places consumers can buy beauty high-quality products now (that includes Sephora locations inside of Kohl’s). But Ulta has its own outposts in Target, which started selling Kylie Cosmetics, Kylie Jenner’s makeup line. The retailer also updated its rewards program earlier this year. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Ulta Beauty (@ultabeauty) In June, Ulta selected a bespoke unit within IPG’s Mediabrands as its media agency of record. Ulta Chief Marketing Officer Michelle Crossan-Matos was also named an Ad Age Leading Woman this year. Ad Age Leading Women Luncheon Join us Aug. 7 in New York as we recognize this year’s honorees Buy your ticket today Published quarterly, the Ad Age-Harris Poll rankings are sourced from The Harris Poll’s daily brand tracking tool, QuestBrand, to identify companies with the greatest quarter-over-quarter increase in equity among specific age cohorts—that is, how much a generation’s perception of these brands is changing from quarter to quarter. Also read: 20 brands catching baby boomers’ attention Below, a closer look at some of the trends in the second-quarter ranking. Top Gen Z brands by brand equity growth Brands are ranked by change in brand equity scores among Gen Z consumers. Hover or click over brands to see more details, including factors that make up the score and gains or losses each brand made with other generations. Scroll to see the full list. *Consideration quantifies consumers' likelihood to purchase a product or service; Momentum measures consumers' perception of whether a brand is gaining or losing market position against its competitors; Quality signals how consumers perceive the quality of a particular brand's product or service compared to the quality of their competitors' offerings; Familiarity shows how recognizable a brand is to the general population. Numbers displayed for each of these attributes show the change in the raw score for Gen Z from Q1 to Q2. Demographic numbers show how much the brand equity score increased for each generation, compared with the previous quarter. Source: Harris Poll. Credit: Infographic by Ad Age. Food and drink make a splash It was a strong quarter for beverages with Sparkling Ice, Celsius and Yeti making the list. Sparkling Ice Energy (4th) gained ground as its parent company Talking Rain Beverage Company in June kicked off a campaign in support of Girls on the Run, a non-profit that supports physical and mental health for young girls. Sparkling Ice also introduced a Starburst variety and redesigned bottles. Talking Rain Beverage Company hired its first chief growth officer at the start of the year, Procter & Gamble and Starbucks alum Rich DePencier. In March, PepsiCo rolled out Bubly Burst as a competitor to Sparkling Ice. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Sparkling Ice (@sparklingice) Celsius (11th) saw record revenue growth in the first quarter ending March 31, up 37% to $355.7 million year over year. The brand has benefited from consumers’ taste for non-alcoholic “functional” beverages, such as energy drinks and gut-healthy beverages. In the U.S., sales of functional beverages jumped 54% to $9.2 billion between March 2020 and March 2024, according to NielsenIQ. Celsius has also gotten a tentative thumbs-up from dietitians. The brand is said to be healthier than other energy drink options, but has almost double the caffeine. Dietitians say they should be consumed in moderation. Celsius has also been leaning into creators and sports to get in front of consumers. Celsius CMO Kyle Watson told Beverage Industry that NCAA name, image and likeness (NIL) regulations have helped the brand connect with Gen Z, its target demographic. Celsius is also partnering with Olympic and Paralympic athletes, including track star Noah Lyles, and has done pop-up experiences for Major League Soccer. The brand has also started expanding into restaurant chains, including Jersey Mike’s. Also read: The latest Olympic marketing news View this post on Instagram A post shared by CELSIUS Energy Drink (@celsiusofficial) To hold all those drinks, Yeti (3rd) also gained ground with Gen Z. Known for its coolers and water bottles, Yeti reported strong first quarter growth in every product category and sales channel, on top of hitting $1 billion in sales last year. It also opened a flagship store in New York City. Also Read: Yeti’s in-house agency wins Ad Age award On the food side, Good Humor Ice Cream, Aldi and Subway also got a boost. Returning to the list, Aldi (5th) pledged to cut prices to combat inflation at the start of the summer. The already-low prices have paid off, with the discount grocer seeing an increase in shoppers who come to the store at least four times a month as they look for relief from high grocery bills. It also launched checkout-free tech in Chicago, similar to Amazon Go walkout checkouts. Subway’s (13th) ads continue to feature high-profile athletes including Steph Curry, Patrick Mahomes, Tom Brady and Meghan Rapinoe, in a bid to position the sandwich chain as a healthier alternative to fast food. The chain’s Footlong Cookie has returned after a four-month menu hiatus due to overwhelming demand and a supply chain that could not keep up. Good Humor ice cream (16th) seems to have turned heads with its Neighbourhood Joy Grant Program, which asked consumers to nominate their local ice cream truck driver to receive a grant. Of 200 applicants, 16 semi-finalists were given $5,000 grants, and the winner Zoe Green, won $20,000. Good Humor is also credited with inventing the ice cream truck. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Good Humor (@goodhumor_icecream) Read more: How ice cream marketing is evolving Gambling and digital services win big In January, FanDuel (6th) parent company Flutter was listed on the New York Stock Exchange. The next month, the brand returned to the Super Bowl with another Kick of Destiny featuring Rob Gronkowski and Carl Weathers, who died before the spot aired. FanDuel has the exclusive rights to sports betting in Washington, D.C., which brought in $5 million in the first 30 days of operation. FanDuel is also in its second year of a partnership with Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby. Microsoft 365 (7th) most recently made headlines for being impacted by the Crowdstrike outage, leading to “blue screens of death.” That negative PR came before the tracker survey period. Prior to that, Microsoft rolled out new features for its Copilot AI feature, including better image generation and filing in prompts. Also making gains in the tracker is Microsoft-owned LinkedIn (10th). According to Statista, just over 50% of LinkedIn’s worldwide users as of April 2024 are 25 to 34 years old (the oldest Gen Zers are around 27 years old). The networking platform reported that revenues were up 10% for the fiscal third quarter ending March 2024, compared to the same period last year. It also once again reported “record levels of engagement” (though it’s done that every quarter since October 2018.) The site has also upped its influencer marketing. In April, LinkedIn rolled out Thought Leader ads, which let advertisers pay to amplify posts from users, including some with big followings. It’s also been looking to do more with business-to-business companies. Also read: 7 influencer trends for the rest of 2024 Block-owned Cash App (8th) is looking to get more users to make the app their primary bank. In May, Block Head (and Twitter co-founder) Jack Dorsey said that Cash App needs to entice users to try new features and improve the app’s customer service. That same month, federal prosecutors began looking into alleged widespread compliance lapses at Square and Cash App. Watch: Cash App’s first campaign from Mischief The New York Times (9th) has gotten a boost from its Games and Cooking units. The game Connections, a daily puzzle challenge where players must identify common threads among four sets of words, has gotten some social media buzz. Players have posted videos sharing their frustrations over the game’s challenging and sometimes ambiguous answers. @stephenrigatoni I’ll try again tomorrow #nytgames #nytconnections ♬ original sound - stephen rigatoni The New York Times’ Cooking unit recently partnered with Instacart for shoppable recipes. In May, the company reported that it had added 201,000 digital subscribers in the first quarter, and has partnered with an outside company to track attention metrics to make sure those subscribers are seeing ads. The Times also drew attention last month when it reached a market cap of $9 billion. During Apple’s annual developer conference, Apple Pay (19th) unveiled a Tap to Cash feature, which will let iPhone users transfer money by holding their phones together. Apple Pay will also be more welcoming to Windows and Chrome users, letting those customers scan a code to approve an Apple Pay transaction on their phone. Hulu (20th) gained ground with Gen Z for being the home of hit TV shows “The Bear” and “Shogun.” In May, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced a new streaming bundle that includes Disney+, Hulu and Max. Hulu also launched a comedy stand-up brand, Hulu’s Laughing Now, that will feature 12 comedy specials per year including one with Jim Gaffigan. Behind the scenes, Disney is looking to buy out Comcast’s stake in Hulu. More brands that made the list In April, the American Red Cross named American Airlines (12th) a Mission Leader, a title given to very generous donors. American also partnered with Make-A-Wish to fly 28 children living with critical illnesses and their families to Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It also flew nearly 70 World War II veterans to Normandy for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. View this post on Instagram A post shared by American Airlines (@americanair) But the airline has had some challenges, including the departure of its chief commercial officer for alienating corporate clients, stalled union negotiations with striking flight attendants who want better pay and alleged discrimination towards Black men. 24 Hour Fitness (17th) introduced two new group fitness classes focused on core work, everyday strength and active recovery. But the gym also drew backlash from conservatives after a leaked internal memo outlined that forms of personal expression by staff were welcome at all times (including Pride pins or Black Lives Matter flags), but noted that the American flag was approved “on holidays such as Memorial Day, Flag Day, July 4th, Veteran’s Day, Patriots Day, etc." Sunglasses and apparel brand Knockaround (18th) announced a limited-edition collaboration with Fender celebrating the 70th anniversary of the Stratocaster guitar, as well as a Grateful Dead collection. The brand will also roll out an NBA line of sunglasses. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Knockaround® (@knockaround)

20 brands catching Gen Z’s attention right now

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