Gen Z doesn’t want your brand values—it wants your platform

The collapse of the millennial DTC darling is as much a story about business as it is a cultural reckoning for brands. For nearly a decade, brands including Away, Casper, Outdoor Voices, Warby Parker and others weren’t just selling products — they were neatly merchandising a belief system. Glossier wasn’t just makeup—it was a manifesto for real beauty. Everlane wasn’t just clothing—it became a stamp of ethical consumption. Bombas didn’t make socks—it was an act of philanthropy. The unspoken logic of buying into their brand world? If you shop with us, you’re a good person. But rising ad costs, oversaturation, the emergence of an altogether new customer engagement model and “blanding” (brands adopting similar minimalist aesthetic cues) are now causing these category juggernauts to stumble. A once revolutionary ethos is giving way to a new movement: one in which brands aren’t the storytellers, nor are they the story, anymore. They’re the footnotes. Ad Age Gen Z Contributor Column We welcome Gen Zers to submit fresh takes exploring Gen Z within the ad industry Learn more here Enter Gen Z In a political moment that is revealing deep cracks in the monolithic narrative around Gen Z, the market mirrors the mood: a shift away from institutional trust altogether—from prescribed morality and the idea that consumption itself could ever be a radical act—toward something much simpler: engagement on my terms. The next generation of consumers doesn’t look to brands to dictate their values or tell them what they believe. Gen Z defines its own terms of engagement. Gen Zers thrive in a world of micro-trends, play and digital pastiche, where they have no fixed identity—so why should brands? Millennials turned to brands as cultural anchors to purchase an identity wholesale in an era of digital media characterized by the personal brand: curated, Instagram-ready and linear. For Gen Z, however, the paradigm is fundamentally different. Perpetually hitting the refresh button on the cultural landscape, Gen Z’s is a world now characterized by fragmentary sensations, eclectic nostalgia, disposable products—and with them, brands. Traditionally valued qualities of depth, coherence and meaning are now dissolved against the random churn of content, charismatic influencers and niche micro-aesthetics. The culture no longer needs brands that deliver a coherent lifestyle; brands need to fit the style of life: frenetic, disposable and idiosyncratic. The old brand playbooks are obsolete. To stay competitive in today’s hyper-fluid market, branding and marketing professionals must adapt to a new set of cultural and commercial realities, as told by Gen Z. We’ve traded coherence for virality The days of a single, unified brand narrative are over. Instead of meticulously crafted, cohesive stories, brands must now deliver moments—bite-sized, high-impact cultural flashpoints that are primed for a culture designed to share. Success in this environment isn’t about control; it’s about strategic chaos. Brands that embrace modular storytelling, adaptable aesthetics and rapid content iteration will capture attention in a fragmented media landscape. We’re replacing brand loyalty with fleeting affinity Traditional customer lifetime value models built on the assumption of long-term loyalty are eroding. In Gen Z’s world, neither brands, trends nor style point to a stable, deep truth. Everything is always surface level. The coherence that millennials sought—where brand loyalty mapped neatly to personal identity—has been replaced by momentary affinity. The aesthetic is the meaning. Brands can no longer assume that their visual language or values communicate anything beyond their immediate aesthetic appeal. Success won’t be measured by how long someone stays but how often they return. We’re ditching brands as identity for brands as interfaces Consumers no longer see brands as fixed markers of identity but as tools for self-expression, discovery and play. The brands that win will be the ones that design experiences, platforms and products that allow for customization, remix and participation—whether that’s through co-creation, open-source branding or flexible product ecosystems. Enter the free 2025 Young Creatives Contest here Brands that understand this shift aren’t building static identities; they’re building modular, adaptive brands designed for an audience that craves movement. Brands such as SSENSE, which appeals to Gen Z’s value-oriented, shape-shifting disposition, are thriving in this new environment. Their brand personality: a blend of playful, tongue-in-cheek candor and an apropos sense of ironic detachment. What they’re not doing is prescribing a way of life; they’re offering a platform through which their customers can explore how they want to live. Coach—through spinoffs such as Coachtopia—has reinvigorated a heritage brand for a new generation by acutely understanding (and being willing to embrace) that its product and brand story are secondary to Gen Z’s own narrative of self. The brands that will thrive in this new era aren’t those dictating a lifestyle—they’re the ones building support systems for consumers to define their own. When brands are as disposable as trends, identity as stable as it is fluid, the brands that endure will be those that trade permanence for adaptability and coherence for participation. The future belongs to brands that don’t just keep up with the breakneck speed of culture but are built to move with it. Ad Age A-List and Creativity Gala Buy your ticket to the in-person event Click here

Gen Z doesn’t want your brand values—it wants your platform

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