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. Fashion brands New Balance, The Gap, Uniqlo and Ugg are gaining with Gen Z thanks to celebrity and streetwear partnerships and retro lines. The four brands cracked the top 10 in the latest Ad Age-Harris Poll Gen Z brand tracker, which ranks brands that made significant progress in gaining attention from Gen Z in the fourth quarter of 2024. New Balance, which ranked first, turned heads with its “snoafer”—taking the brand’s 1906 sneaker and turning it into a penny loafer. View this post on Instagram A post shared by New Balance Lifestyle (@newbalancelifestyle) Formerly known as the “dad shoe” brand, New Balance also made inroads with Gen Z by partnering with Jack Harlow for a pink shoe and adding sprinters Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Gabby Thomas to its roster of athlete endorsers, which already includes tennis star Coco Gauff and soccer player Endrick. View this post on Instagram A post shared by @jackharlow The Gap, which took second place, gained traction through a wide range of partnership campaigns. Harris Poll CEO Will Johnson pointed to Gap’s campaign highlighting its baggy jeans with a dance number starring singer Troye Sivan and dance troupe CDK Company. For its holiday campaign, Gap brought together a diverse group of a cappella singers for a rendition of Janet Jackon’s “Together Again.” Videos about Sivan and the singers each saw over 60 million views on TikTok. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gap (@gap) View this post on Instagram A post shared by Gap (@gap) In October, Gap released a collection with designer brand Cult Gaia, and a Star Wars collection was launched in early December. “Fashion brands have long courted young consumers, but some big names—including Gap and UGG—are gaining momentum with Gen Z shoppers by leaning into the marketing trends and ideals that are attractive to them,” said Johnson. 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 Q3 to Q4. 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. 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. Uniqlo, at fifth place, celebrated its 40th anniversary in November by bringing back the brand’s original logo. Uniqlo is also known for its viral round mini shoulder bag and heat tech clothing (very handy for cold weather). In December, Uniqlo rolled out a line featuring “SpongeBob SquarePants” characters in the style of streetwear brand Cactus Plant Flea Market. View this post on Instagram A post shared by UNIQLO Global (@uniqlo) Rounding out the fourth quarter top five are Quicken Loans (3rd) and High Noon hard seltzer (4th). Below, a closer look at some of the trends in the fourth-quarter ranking. Fashion forward Ugg (8th), which got the top slot a few quarters ago, worked with Post Malone for a pop-up in Los Angeles. The brand also did a collaboration with streetwear brand Gallery Dept, with shoes inspired by cowboy boots and made from recycled denim, and launched a vegan line with fashion label Collina Strada. View this post on Instagram A post shared by UGG® (@ugg) In August, Banana Republic (15th) launched a fall collection inspired by the 1990s. Clarks footwear (19th) posted a short documentary about how the brand was incorporated into Japanese streetwear in the ’90s, releasing a Harajuku line along with it. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Clarks Originals (@clarksoriginals) Clarks has also done shoe collabs with Kith founder Ronnie Feig and shoe line Ancuta Sarca. Drink up Beverages also did well last quarter. Hard seltzer brand High Noon (4th) came out with a football-themed “End Zone Pack” of 4 flavors of vodka seltzers. The brand has also continued to push its vodka iced teas. Ad Age Gen Z Contributor Column We welcome Gen Zers to submit fresh takes exploring Gen Z within the ad industry Learn more here Johnnie Walker (6th) did a “Squid Game” collaboration that saw the brand make 456 unique bottles, correlating to the number of players in “Squid Game,” for fans to collect. In October, the whiskey brand held an in-person game of “Red Light, Green Light” in Times Square, where real New Yorkers played against “Squid Game” players, with special guest Dave Burd, aka, Lil Dicky. Energy drink Alani Nu (13th) introduced a holiday flavor called “Winter Wonderland” in November and competitor energy drink Celsius (20th) released sparkling cherry cola, grape slush and watermelon ice flavors. Fintech Savings and investing platform Acorns (12th) may have gotten a boost from consumers looking to save more ahead of the holidays and the potential for tariffs pushed by Donald Trump. In late December, Acorns ran an commercial titled, “Your Money: Under Attack” that featured a squirrel calling out “buy now” buttons, credit card offers and betting apps. Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini (17th) may also have been impacted by the election. The cryptocurrency space in general saw a bump in interest; Bitcoin hit a new record of over $80,000 in November amid anticipation of Donald Trump winning the presidential election and has since soared into the low $100,000s. Here is a quick look at some of the other brands that made the list. As the NFL’s official home improvement partner, Lowe’s (16th) did a lot of advertising around the football season featuring Travis Kelce and Christian McCaffrey. The brand also stepped up perks for loyalty members: it had its first MyLowe’s Rewards Week that gave members up to 40% off certain items and launched a new digital home maintenance platform to help members keep track of warranties, manuals and maintenance reminders. Lowe’s also set up a recovery fund for small businesses in western North Carolina impacted by Hurricane Helene. Hawaiian Airlines (18th) was acquired by Alaska Airlines in September, allowing rewards members to transfer miles between accounts. After the acquisition, Hawaiian Airlines made Elon Musk’s Starlink WiFi available on its Airbuses. The airlines also announced special fares from the Pacific Northwest to New Zealand through Honolulu and daily nonstop flights from Seattle and Tokyo Narita starting in May 2025. Kinder Bueno (14th) opened a new production facility in Bloomington, Illinois. Consumers could also claim a digital coupon to allow them to try a free pack of two Kinder Buenos at participating retailers. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nat 🤍 (@eatsbynatt) Vitamins and supplements retailer GNC (11th) launched GNC Health, a virtual healthcare service offering affordable and accessible care after recognizing that a significant portion of Gen Z patients have had issues with the high costs of healthcare in the U.S. ZipRecruiter (7th) started a weekly Talent All-Stars podcast, which has included interviews with senior HR and talent professionals from Cracker Barrel, Bain Capital and NBCUniversal. The job-search platform also launched ZipIntro, a video software allowing employers to seamlessly conduct back-to-back video interviews with candidates. EV maker Polestar (9th) hosted a design contest with the winning car being turned into a Hot Wheels collectible later this year. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Polestar (@polestarcars) The automaker also sponsored an episode of the Goop podcast where Gwyneth Paltrow interviewed “Saturday Night Live” star Chloe Fineman while the pair drove around New York City in a Polestar. View this post on Instagram A post shared by goop (@goop) Become an All Access subscriber Get access to exclusive resources including Leading National Advertisers, World’s Largest Advertisers, Agency Report, Agency Review Tracker and TV Pricing Report. Click here

20 brands catching Gen Z’s attention right now

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