5 Gen Z trends for brands to watch

Deciphering internet culture and keeping up with the rapid social media trend cycle that shapes it is an essential skill for marketers seeking to engage with Gen Z consumers. And it’s largely members of Gen Z—those born between 1997 and 2012—who are behind many of these online trends in the first place (look no further than the “Grimace Shake” TikTok craze of last summer or the rapid ascent of “dupe culture” among both young consumers and brands). Marketers looking to enter these conversations without being declared “cringe” by Gen Z must first understand the trends, creators and viral moments dominating the generation’s attention—a task easier said than done. Below, we’ve rounded up five of the trends drawing Gen Z’s attention. Check out the latest Ad Age events and award programs 2024 “ins” and “outs” The start of a new year often triggers a wave of social media content revolving around people’s goals or resolutions for the next 12 months, whether in the form of a “vision board” on Pinterest or Instagram or a TikTok video describing the lifestyle they want to “manifest” in the new year. This year, though, Gen Z is instead opting to outline their 2024 ambitions using lists of things that are “in” and “out” for them—for example, “positive self-talk” could be considered “in,” while “oversharing” is strictly “out” in 2024. These lists have been especially popular on TikTok, where the hashtag #InsAndOuts (not to be confused with restaurant chain In-N-Out) currently sits at more than 118 million views, and #InsAndOuts2024 has amassed another 41 million. The trend has extended to Instagram and X (formerly Twitter), too. Casey Lewis, author of the Gen Z trendspotting newsletter “After School,” combed through hundreds of these videos to look for potential patterns in Gen Z’s 2024 goals, and her analysis revealed the cohort is planning to prioritize self-care this year. @spencer.barbosa my 2024 ins & outs✨✨✨#girls #relatable #2024 #trend ♬ classic vibes - قصايد Also read: 5 Gen Z shopping trends to watch in 2024 “Saltburn” Though many people spent the days leading up to Christmas streaming classic holiday movies such as “Home Alone” or “Elf,” a swath of consumers (many of them Gen Z) instead pressed play on “Saltburn,” a dark comedy film from Amazon MGM Studios. The film quickly blew up across social media as Gen Z viewers took to TikTok and X to share their astonished reactions to several of its most disturbing scenes, from its now-infamous “bathtub scene” to its scandalous (and entirely improvised, according to actor Barry Keoghan) gravesite sex scene. The Dec. 22 Prime Video premiere of “Saltburn” meant many Gen Zers were home with their family for the holidays when they watched it—and a number of those viewers who naively decided to tune in with their parents, siblings or other relatives quickly regretted it. The movie has held onto its initial burst of internet popularity, though, as Gen Zers have “memeified” several “Saltburn” moments and fawned over the film’s two main actors: Keoghan and Jacob Elordi. On TikTok, the hashtag #Saltburn soared to more than 3 billion total views in just a few weeks, and roughly one in 10 of those views stems from the past week. Gen Z’s frequent online conversations about the film also pushed Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s 2001 song “Murder on the Dancefloor”—which accompanies “Saltburn’s” final scenes of its main character dancing in the nude—to the top music charts across both Spotify and TikTok. @chrisklemens ♬ Murder On The Dancefloor - Sophie Ellis-Bextor Royal Caribbean’s “Ultimate World Cruise” On Dec. 10, Royal Caribbean’s “Ultimate World Cruise” embarked on its 274-day-long global voyage—and TikTok has been engrossed in the drama unfolding onboard ever since. The “nine-month cruise,” as it’s known colloquially on the platform, is effectively serving as a reality show for Gen Z, complete with several “characters” (or passengers on the ship) and “plotlines” (such as the ship’s journey through the infamously dangerous Drake Passage). Many of these world cruise enthusiasts are also regularly referring to a bingo card shared by TikTok user @whimsysoul that lists a number of dramatic events that could potentially occur throughout the nine-month voyage, from a fistfight to a passenger falling off the boat. The hashtag #UltimateWorldCruise has amassed more than 215 million views on TikTok since the ship’s mid-December departure, nearly 40 million of which came in just the past week. @whimsysoul Ultimate World Cruise Bingo Card!!! who's playing with me? 🛥️ 🌊 🌍 🍿 #ultimateworldcruise #royalcaribbean #worldcruise #cruise #bingo #travel #whimsysoul ♬ original sound - Kara • Bingo Girl Jeremy Allen White If Pedro Pascal was the internet’s favorite Hollywood heartthrob in 2023, actor Jeremy Allen White, who currently stars in FX’s popular comedy-drama series “The Bear,” is already on track to fill that role in 2024. White’s Gen Z fans were sent into a frenzy late last week when Calvin Klein rolled out a slew of racy photos and videos from its new underwear ad campaign with the actor. Many took to social media to document their awestruck reactions to videos of White exercising while half-naked or Calvin Klein’s New York billboards displaying sensual images of the actor. Luggage brand Away even spoofed the viral ads by dressing one of its suitcases in a pair of Calvin Klein boxers. Gen Z’s fixation on White as the new “it boy” of the internet will doubtlessly endure beyond his Calvin Klein collaboration. His win at Sunday’s Golden Globe Awards has kept the social media spotlight firmly pointed at White, and the phrase, “Yes, chef” (frequently thrown around in the fictional kitchen of “The Bear” and closely associated with White’s character) is a mainstay of Gen Z vocabulary. Additionally, the TikTok hashtag #JeremyAllenWhite has already garnered over 1.4 billion total views—admittedly, a fraction of the 11.6 billion views of #PedroPascal, but nothing that a viral fancam or CapCut template can’t fix. @kylientidmore Had to visit this national treasure today 🫶🏼😫🫦🥵🥵 #jeremyallenwhite #calvinklein #nyc ♬ Misty - Lesley Gore Gypsy Rose Blanchard White may be the biggest male celebrity grabbing Gen Z’s attention at the moment, but the female celebrity popping up most frequently across the cohort’s social media posts is a bit more unconventional. Perhaps owing to Gen Z’s enthusiasm for true crime content, the generation has become fixated on Gypsy Rose Blanchard following her Dec. 28 release from prison after serving eight years for the murder of her mother. Blanchard was convicted of second-degree murder after convincing her boyfriend at the time to kill her mother, who had abused Blanchard for years. The surge of Gen Z attention being directed toward Blanchard has been buoyed by her almost immediately establishing an active presence across both Instagram and TikTok in the days following her prison release. Blanchard is already sharing everything from “outfit of the day” videos to vlogs of her recent trip to New York, and has since received tens of millions of views on nearly all of her TikTok videos. Pop culture writer Sophie Ross highlighted Gen Z’s eagerness to soak up Blanchard’s content with a screenshot of an Instagram post from Blanchard that racked up more than 300,000 likes in under 20 minutes. “There’s a new It girl in town,” Ross wrote in her X post. “Kris Jenner is literally shaking.” The promotional campaign for her new Lifetime documentary series “The Prison Confessions of Gypsy Rose Blanchard” also kept her in Gen Z’s online conversations and generated a plethora of additional social content, including videos featuring creators such as Estefanía “Tefi” Pessoa and Amanda Hirsch. Ad Age Gen Z Contributor Column We welcome Gen Zers to submit fresh takes exploring Gen Z within the ad industry Learn more here

5 Gen Z trends for brands to watch

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