What marketers can learn from Gen Z’s love of memes

When thinking about how my Gen Z friends and I would like brands to advertise to us, I struggle to find an answer straight away. It's not an easy question. Many brands claim they’ve “cracked the code” on how to market to us—by focusing on influencers, TikTok dances and Snapchat filters. But that doesn’t work for everyone. There's a huge gap between who brands assume we are and who we actually are. Gen Z includes everyone born between 1997 and 2012, so there are people at different life stages within the generation. I have friends who are getting engaged, while others live in university dorm rooms. Most of them don’t even have TikTok, as most brands assume they do. Ad Age Gen Z Contributor Column We welcome Gen Zers to submit fresh takes exploring Gen Z within the ad industry Learn more here So, how can brands truly understand Gen Z when our experiences and needs are so varied? I do have one observation: While we don’t all share the same interests, one thing we can all agree on is that we all love memes. Memes have become a universal form of entertainment within Gen Z because they tap into humor, relatability and real human insights. As a creative, I often pitch ideas based on insights that I believe are real because they come from personal experiences. But there's often doubt: Is this actually a thing, or is it just a thing for me? Sometimes, if I need a quick validation about what I think is a shared experience, I write down the insight, add the word “meme” to it, and search for it on Google. Maybe it sounds silly, but most of the time, I find the validation I was looking for. If there are memes about it, I take it as a universal truth, which means I can trust that the core of my idea isn’t just a made-up thing that only I believe in. The truth is, memes make fun of humans, and Gen Z humans love it. The best ads do the same thing. They don’t just show a polished image of life, they reflect the raw, relatable and sometimes absurd moments that resonate with real people. Some brands that have leaned into meme-like humor recently include Visit Oslo’s “Is it even a city?” This campaign is a master class in using cynicism and self-deprecating humor to stand out in a saturated advertising market. By boldly leaning into a sarcastic critique of itself, the campaign flips what could be perceived as Oslo’s weaknesses (its quietness, simplicity and lack of a bustling city vibe) into quirky selling points. It’s a subtle commentary on how we often undervalue the things closest to us, making the campaign not just about Oslo but about shared human behaviors. This approach resonated deeply with Gen Z because of its authenticity and the advertiser’s ability to laugh at itself. Another example is Reese’s: “Yes!”, a campaign that brilliantly represents the essence of online humor loved by Gen Z. Memes thrive on relatability, and this ad nails it by poking fun at the unrealistic ways people often behave in ads, combined with how the public can react when a beloved product is changed. Ad Age A-List and Creativity Gala Buy your ticket to the in-person event Click here Playtomic’s “The perfect app if you are not Rafa Nadal” campaign uses humor to highlight the app's services: It's the best platform for booking tennis courts and finding people to play with, as long as you're not Rafa Nadal. What I find so refreshing about the ad is that it easily could have gone the expected route of highlighting all the good things about playing tennis—how it’s a great workout or how it helps people make new friends. Instead, it focuses on an absurd “flaw” of the app—that Nadal could never use it. Other campaigns that I believe were inspired by meme-like insights include We Road’s “Holiday Reaper,” a campaign that serves as a reminder to book your holidays before HR takes them at the start of the new year. Or Lynx’s “The Power of a Fragrance,” which targeted Gen Z boys using dark humor, which has become a way for this generation to communicate complex thoughts and feelings to the world. And then there is the really famous one: CeraVe’s award-winning “Michael CeraVe” campaign, launched during Super Bowl 2024. The campaign proved that beauty consumers, if approached the right way, don’t always need to see traditional beauty imagery to remember a product. Instead, they just want to laugh at something quirky and unexpected. Humor is undeniably a powerful tool to connect with Gen Z, but it works best when it's smart, self-aware and culturally relevant. While some people claim that Gen Z is overly sensitive or that humor has lost its edge, the truth is we’ve simply established a baseline of respect and decency. This doesn’t mean humor has become boring—it’s more clever, unhinged and faster than ever. Just like a meme.

What marketers can learn from Gen Z’s love of memes

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