Gen Z marketing: CMOs at American Girl, Claire’s, eos, Starface

Ad Age’s recent Gen Z Summit was full of jokes about Gen Z lingo, from “that panel ate” to “the chief marketing officer of that brand was really smart, no cap.” In between laughs, marketing leaders at brands from Claire’s to Starface shared what they’ve learned about attracting Gen Z customers with savvy campaigns, social media presences, and more. Read on for tips on reaching—and retaining—this coveted audience. Ad Age Gen Z Contributor Column We welcome Gen Zers to submit fresh takes exploring Gen Z within the ad industry Learn more here Gen Z wants the right mix of nostalgia and modernity Anyone who has ever cringed at a Gen Zer calling early 2000s and ’90s style “vintage” knows the generation is into nostalgia—even if the eras they’re most interested in feel like yesterday to millennials and older generations. According to Claire’s Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer Kristin Patrick, brands must walk a fine line between nostalgia and seeming old-fashioned. While “the nostalgia play is important,” she said, “you don’t want to be seen as an old-fashioned brand.” “I think the way that Claire’s is doing it is to revel in the cheekiness of it,” Patrick continued. While younger Gen Zers and Gen Alpha drive the purchasing decisions at Clarie’s, it’s millennial moms and dads who actually make the purchases, she said. To appeal to both sets of the buying equation, Claire’s brought back some products from the ’90s after millennials spoke about what they used to love from Claire’s on TikTok. That created a “combination of recognizing the old and nodding to it, but making sure that there’s new happening constantly,” she said. American Girl has taken a similar approach to nostalgia, according to Jamie Cygielman, general manager and president at American Girl. More: Why American Girl is leaning into ’90s nostalgia “One of the things that we’ve seen at American Girl that’s been so successful, particularly for this generation, is the reproductions and the reissues that we’ve done with our historical characters,” she said. For example, the brand recently reissued a concert-style T-shirt that was popular in the early 2000s, using “some of the iconography and logos” from the era. Adult sizes of the shirt sold out “immediately,” Cygielman said. Ad Age Leading Women Luncheon Join us Aug. 7 in New York as we recognize this year’s honorees Buy your ticket today To walk like a Gen Zer, you have to talk like a Gen Zer Rather than trying to imitate how Gen Z speaks, eos Products CMO Soyoung Kang recommends quoting them directly in marketing materials. “Gen Z can sniff out inauthenticity a mile away,” she said. “We are now in an era where very authentic, real talk, ‘bestie’ vibes is what it takes to resonate.” In a recent campaign, Eos used direct quotes from Gen Z sourced through social listening. As Kang put it, “what’s more authentic than using your community’s words, insights, and deriving strategy from the community, rather than trying to figure it out yourself?” Also read: Gen Z marketing glossary For instance, the eos marketing team likely never would have thought to put the words “don’t wear this lotion unless you wanna go to pound town.” But Gen Z did, and the marketing team used those exact words to describe the lotion’s intoxicating scent in its latest campaign. Starface President Kara Brothers also noted that it’s important to communicate with Gen Z “in an approachable, silly way … that’s the language we use in all of our social media, even in our PDPs on our website.” “Care and showing up for them is table stakes for us … humor is icing on the cake to create that relationship [and] a vehicle for starting conversations,” Brothers said. Gen Z isn’t a monolith It’s important to remember that Gen Z isn’t just one person—there are a variety of ages, cultures and interests contained within the generation. While American Girl typically caters to the younger end of the generation and even Gen Alpha, for example, it has recognized that Gen Zers in their early 20s still seek out the brand for comfort. To cater to them, Cygielman said, American Girl now offers cocktails and alcoholic beverages in its cafes. The brand has seen older Gen Zers celebrate everything from 21st birthdays to bridal showers in these locations. At eos, Kang said the marketing team tries to recognize the differences among different Gen Zers by “focusing in on smaller, more targeted communities,” rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach. Eos recently posted a meme mimicking Taylor Swift’s new album cover on Instagram, calling her new “Tortured Poets Department” album the “Tortured Lotion Department” in an effort to appeal to the Swifties in its audience, many of whom are Gen Z. Subscribe to Ad Age Sign up now for the latest industry news and analysis Click here

Gen Z marketing advice from CMOs

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