Drinks With Caroline
Caroline Levy, a veteran Wall Street analyst, delves deep into the world of beverages with some of her hero's.
Caroline’s quick wit, empathetic approach, and vibrant personality allow leaders to be vulnerable and speak truths not typically heard outside of closed-door conversations.
Drinks With Caroline
Gen Z's Shift from "We" to "Me" with Amanda Edelman - COO, Gen Z Edelman Lab
For Gen Z and for other generations, business is the most trusted institution across both ethics and competence. So the permission for business and brands to act, to be partners for change for Gen Z has never been more.
Speaker 2:Hello friends, old and new, and welcome to Drinks with Caroline. I'm so happy you've joined me for what I believe will be another stimulating conversation with an industry expert, founder or otherwise fabulous person in the consumer industry, amanda Edelman. Thank you so much for joining me today for Drinks with Caroline. I am drinking a Celsius because it's early morning and it's a brand I'm fond of. I'm on the board of the company, which has been a great journey. What are you drinking?
Speaker 1:this morning I'm drinking chamomile tea. I have to say slightly less fun than what you're drinking, but I've already had my coffee, so trying to keep it a little calm, great.
Speaker 2:Well, we're just really so happy to have you here. I heard you speak on an Extraordinary Women on Boards call and you are the Chief Operating Officer of Gen Z Lab for Edelman, as well as the Deputy GM of the Chicago office helping companies with communications and various other things. But I was so impressed with the way you presented the Gen Z findings and the fact that you've done this in the past and I just thought it was so interesting. I wanted to bring that to my audience and I think it's important to think about how this influences the way companies should be innovating in the beverage segment as well as across the board in consumer. So could you tell us a little bit about the study, how many people, and your findings?
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely Well. First off, I just want to say a huge thank you for having me. This is very lovely, and I definitely have a beverage, or multiple beverages, on me throughout the day. You know you go from coffee to water to tea, all sorts of different beverages throughout the day, so I'm glad I have a forum at least to discuss what I'm drinking. That really is the important point to get across.
Speaker 1:But no thank you again for having me and maybe I'll just take a little step back before I go into some of the findings to really contextualize the Edelman Gen Z Lab, what we've been doing and what we've been seeing since we launched. We are the largest independently held communications firm in the world, been around for over 70 years, we operate in 60 different markets and, on top of that, we have something called the Trust Barometer that we have done for the past 25 years and it measures trust in institutions across the world. The reason I'm mentioning this is because this is highly relevant to why we launched the Gen Z Lab in the first place three and a half years ago and the reason that we launched the Gen Z Lab with Edelman's Global Brand Officer, jackie Cooper. She and I co-founded the lab together. The reason that we did this is because we heard from so many of our clients across many, many different industries that they were all very concerned about Gen Z industries, that they were all very concerned about Gen Z and, on one hand, there was this tremendous excitement around this large and growing potential consumer population with a lifetime of brand loyalty ahead.
Speaker 1:But at the end of 2021, society was undergoing a lot of changes, particularly in the West, and so there was this enormous fear for our clients of saying or doing the wrong thing and getting canceled Again.
Speaker 1:End of 2021 was sort of prime cancel culture, and so, as a result, a lot of our clients felt paralyzed.
Speaker 1:They wanted to do something that earned the trust and loyalty of this generation, but they felt that the force of errors or the potential backlash almost outweighed the potential gain.
Speaker 1:And so we sort of recognize this paralysis in our clients and we're like we have to help them, we have to have them do something, we have to sort of help them navigate this moment, and so we launched the Gen Z Lab officially in June 2022, but powered by data that we had collected earlier in the year, with the simple mission to help our clients effectively engage with Gen Z, and since then it has been tremendously fun.
Speaker 1:It's been really amazing, through our reports, through our IP, to really keep our finger on the pulse of this generation and, through that, really understand and get under the skin of some of the broader changes that we're seeing in the world, because Gen Z really is behind so many of these large societal changes, whether it's around changing workplace norms, whether it's around changing cultural norms and, in particular, the ways that businesses and brands interact with their consumers, with their broader audiences. A lot of it is sort of shaped by Gen Z, because they really are these arbiters of culture. So that's sort of the big picture perspective that I wanted to provide before really really diving into this sort of specific report.
Speaker 2:So when you did this the first time several years ago, what were some of the key findings?
Speaker 1:It was fascinating. So, I have to say, we had some hypotheses about what we would find when we did this at the end of 2021. And then we did it across six different markets US, uk, france, germany, china and Mexico to really get a sort of global understanding rather than just a Western understanding. You know, we had some hypotheses of who Gen Z were. We're starting to hear and talk a lot about cancel culture, tiktok from COVID had just really risen, and so we thought that there would be, you know, a lot about influencers and creators. What we found was totally different and very surprising for us, and there were a few key points that really rose from the data. Number one was that Gen Z has this visceral need for safety and security that was across every single market, and this was several years ago and this was at the end of 2021. Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 1:I'll give a little spoiler and say that that visceral need for safety and security has very much remained in them. That's still very much a defining force for them, but this was several years ago. And again, for several years ago, when we first did the report, this generation was between 12 and 27,. Right, they're really, really young. The median age of that is 19, 19 or 20. So it's a really, really young population and it was quite heartbreaking actually at the time to get all this data back and say, wow, fear is really a defining element for them, anxiety is a defining element for them.
Speaker 1:Again, all going back to this need for safety and security, and what was an interesting sort of sub point through that, is that Gen Z has started to define safety and security in a holistic way. It's not just about physical safety Do I feel safe walking down the street at night? It's about emotional safety. It's about health and wellness. They really are starting to think of sort of their full safety and full sense of self in a way that is different from other generations and in a way that just came through every single facet of the data. So that was finding number one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and to that point, I think that bullying is one of the things that make them feel unsafe.
Speaker 1:Right, exactly, and again, if we sort of put ourselves back in the end of 2021, tiktok had just taken off. Of course, other social media platforms, you know, have been around for the past decade, if not longer, but TikTok had really taken off. So that's exactly it, caroline. Past decade, if not longer, but TikTok had really taken off. So that's exactly it, caroline.
Speaker 1:Is Gen Z is responding to the world around them and sort of what they're seeing, and so they're seeing threats to themselves, not just physically, but also emotionally with respect to bullying. So that's why they're starting to define the need for safety and security in that 360 way. It's because they feel attacked in an almost 360 way, which I know sounds insane, but it came so clearly through the data and part of the reason for this. Again, if you think back to 2021, this generation had just been traumatized, frankly, by COVID. I mean, every generation was. But imagine if you are 17 years old, or you're 21 years old, you're 13 years old and all of a sudden, you're torn from your life as is forced to go online for many, many years. How this affects adolescents and young people is so much more seismic than how it affected everyone else. Everyone else was able to go back to normal, but for Gen Z that became their normal. The world in COVID became their normal, and that's something that we see now in the data as well, sort of skipping ahead a little bit.
Speaker 2:I think that insight you just provided helped reframe it for me, because it's so easy for any human being to just think of a major event like that through your own lens, especially if you didn't have school age kids at the time so mine were in college by then. But the impacts are forever from that sort of trauma and, as you'll go on to describe, the kids are not all right.
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly. So I'll sort of, you know, just jump through so that we can get to the good stuff, which is what the heck is happening today. To sort of recap what we found at the end of 2021, it was visceral need for safety and security. Gen Z was deeply unified, even across markets. You'd expect there to be more variation between American versus Chinese Gen Zers not at all. And then the third thing is that we found that they were a generation who prioritized we over me. They were all about collective action. They were all about community. Again, you think to the end of 2021, people were coming together to try to create social change. They really believed in the power of we and they mobilized around the power of we. So that was sort of the snapshot at the end of 2021. And that actually remained quite consistent for the next couple of years is sort of right. If we need to distill Gen Z down to their essence, it's these three things right. It really remaining.
Speaker 1:We started to see some changes to that, actually starting about a year ago, and the beginning of this change was starting to see the rise of sort of far right Gen Zers, particularly Gen Z men, in the US and across Europe and across various other markets. I think Gen Z sort of stereotypically is known as okay, they're super left wing, they're super progressive, and that generally was the case in a lot of different countries, not just the US. But starting about a year ago, we began to see some changes in that political orientation and so we started to keep our ear to the ground more, because we thought that might portend some changes in the psyche of this generation. And really a conclusion we were right is some things have changed around this generation and as a result, we commissioned a report based on the findings of Edelman's Trust Barometer for this past year.
Speaker 1:Just because, as I mentioned, we do a Trust Barometer every year We've done it for the past 25 years and it measures trust in institutions around the world business, government, media, nonprofits and we do that again to sort of understand what's the world headline right now, what is the prism through which we should see the world. And for this past year, for all generations, the theme was around grievance. There's a rise in grievance and a resentment towards people who are perceived to have more than you or sort of be powerful in society and, as a result, an accompanying feeling of hostility or zero-sum mindset. That was something we saw very clearly in the data, and the numbers were highest for Gen Z. They feel the most aggrieved of all generations, they feel the most hostile, they feel the most zero-sum, which is shocking.
Speaker 2:Well, it's so interesting. I've been thinking about that word, grievance and I have no idea if the root is from grief. I assume it might be. But if I think about what a childhood is supposed to be and what your school experience is supposed to be and what your college experience is supposed to be, it makes total sense to me that there is real grief around the fact that that's gone and you never get it back. So I found it a very interesting word.
Speaker 1:I think that's so right and I might steal that if I'm honest, because I think that frames it so well. I think that frames it so well and I think that's why nostalgia as a theme has become so prominent in culture in the past few years, and for Gen Z in particular. They're nostalgic for eras they never lived through. It's kind of this idealized version of life in the 80s or 90s or even early 2000s, pre-social media, pre-communication norms. Today. I think you're so right. They're grieving for a world almost in which they never lived, but which they see through culture, tv media, but which they see through culture, tv media. I think that's absolutely right, as many of them are sort of grieving for the state of the world today and almost like this lost innocence or lost childhood. I think I think so.
Speaker 2:In beverages Olipop and Poppy, for example very fun, very colorful packaging has emerged where, if you think to traditional soda red, blue, dr Pepper's maroony red very different packaging, look and throwback, a lot of throwback. There are brands that are getting it and they're seeing the benefits.
Speaker 1:I think that's so right, and I'm going to put a pin in that because I want to also sort of contextualize some of the findings that we had. And then one of the points that we found is highly is very relevant for this. So I want to take a step back again and sort of say, right, so we commissioned this report because we saw this really alarming data of Gen Z is highly aggrieved, combined with the fact that we, with our ear to the ground, we're starting to see some changes, sort of in the psyche of this generation. And so we did another report which we just released, which exactly, caroline, as you said, I presented to this group Extraordinary Women on Boards, and it piqued your interest. So great.
Speaker 1:But really what we found in this generation is a fundamental shift. They have become the me generation Instead of the we generation. They've gone from we to me, and in some ways it makes sense, because if you have a visceral need for safety and security, if you feel like you're being attacked in that sort of 360 way that we described, of course you're going to become about yourself because you need to protect yourself. And that's what a lot of Gen Z feels like is they feel this need to protect themselves from the forces in the world. Whether that's economic instability, whether that's the threat of AI taking their jobs they are more scared about AI than any other generation.
Speaker 1:Whether it's because homeownership has become out of reach, there is this enormous feeling of oh my gosh, I am not all right, the future is not all right for me. And it's exactly as you said, caroline. One of our headlines was the kids are not all right and so, as a result of that, the call to action for business has never been higher because, frankly, the world, young people, need business to step up and I get a lot of questions from clients around well, is it safe? Are we going to get backlash? And part of why we look at trust and sort of trust in institutions is to understand what is the permission space for businesses, for our clients to act, and for Gen Z and for other generations. Business is the most trusted institution across both ethics and competence, so the permission for business and brands to act, to be partners for change for Gen Z has never been more.
Speaker 2:And that's more trusted than government. What are you measuring against?
Speaker 1:From a methodology perspective A, we'll just ask the question. I trust this institution, so it's fundamental. And then we also have a two by two across ethics and competence. Ethics being I believe this is an ethical institution. Competence being OK, I believe this institution can get done what it promises to get done, and so, as an example, nonprofits tend to be more ethical but less competent, and so, over time, actually a macro trend that we've seen in the past five years is business actually rise to be the most as a net score, to be the most competent and ethical compared to any other institution.
Speaker 2:So more ethical than traditionally the most ethically viewed institutions.
Speaker 1:And so really, what we found is sort of distilling the state of the world. For Gen Z, we find there to be three forces that are predominantly creating this sort of destabilization and anxiety.
Speaker 2:Number one is fear.
Speaker 1:The world has become a very scary and sort of pressure-filled place for Gen Z. Number two is misinformation. There's so much information coming at Gen Z from all these different angles. How do you verify what's true, what's not, when sort of former authority figures and sources of authority have become much less top-down, it's much more side to side? And then number three is disconnection. This is really going to surprise no one, but all these article headlines we see around Gen Z, mental health, Gen Z loneliness it's all about this feeling of disconnection for Gen Z, really disrupted by COVID. So these are the three key problems that Gen Z is facing right now. As a result, we have started to talk to a lot of our clients around calls to action to solve those three problems.
Speaker 1:So, in order to move from fear, you need to provide that sense of safety and security right, that visceral need for safety and security that I talked about before. That absolutely remains. So business needs to do that. In order to combat misinformation, you need to be transparent. You need to sort of have these really authentic channels of communication and ensure that you're saying the same thing between those channels, because Gen Z with social media, they're able to see everything. So you have to be extra transparent. And then the last one, which then goes, I think, the most back to the beverage sector and I would love to hear your thoughts on this is as an antidote to disconnection. As a business and brand, you have to provide a sense of community and connection for your consumers. I think the most popular brands right now, the ones who are tapping into culture, do just that. They've created a community around their followers, around their customers, making them feel like they belong to something bigger than themselves, which is a human need, but particularly for Gen Z, they desperately need it right now.
Speaker 2:I think it's fascinating and it makes me optimistic, because I do think if business is trusted to fill a space and avoid, that means that there are wonderful growth opportunities. And if I overlay the health and wellness trends, the understanding we have from being able to hack our bodies now, of how what we put inside us affects it's at least something we can control, because there's so much that feels out of their control. And I'm laughing because I had Brandy Rand on talking about why people drink. She's an expert in the alcoholic beverage space and she was talking about you know, do you drink for energy? Do you drink for relaxation? Do you drink? Well, now it's like do I drink for safety? Oh, we're going to have a drink called safe. It's just the mood need. And I do think as you talk to your clients, you're presenting them with solutions to what can feel like a very overwhelmingly challenging environment. So that's the upside, and I'm so happy to see this work done, because the more we peel back the layers, the more you see the opportunity.
Speaker 1:I'm so glad that you've said that and that you've picked up on that, just because, frankly, when we got back to the data, we had a moment where we kind of looked at each other and we're like, oh shoot, this is really bad, this is a crisis, and I think for us it was really important to end in an optimistic space so that businesses, so that our clients, felt like they could do something about it, because they should and they need to, and so I'm so glad that you've come out of this feeling a sense of optimism. You might be the only one, because normally, when I talk about it or present it.
Speaker 1:People kind of have their head in their hands and they're like, oh my God, what is happening? The kids are not all right. It's really true.
Speaker 2:I've had a couple of weeks to think about it, because when I was first listening I was like, oh, this is horrible.
Speaker 1:Overwhelming.
Speaker 2:As I think about it. Let me just take the industry as an example. You could look at carbonated soft drinks and say, well, everybody's moving away from sugared colas and yet Coke has found a way to grow its business, dr Pepper's found a way to grow its business, and Poppy and Olipop have been created to grow businesses. The energy category has come to life. So there are need states we can address.
Speaker 2:The other thing coming out of the fact you said they don't believe they can buy a home and I had my own kids say that to me, mom our standard of living is not going to be as good as yours I'm like that's a terrible attitude. That's a terrible attitude. Let's have an optimistic attitude, but the fact is, if they're not saving for their house, they are spending on their bodies. They can control what they put into their bodies. They can be part of a community by carrying a brand that says something about them and their values. And so there's always opportunity, there's always the silver lining, and I wish we could also help alleviate that fear and that mental anguish. So it reminds me you were talking about some of the brands that are thriving. Can you talk about that, like why you think Rare Beauty is doing well?
Speaker 1:Yes, exactly. So I think Rare Beauty is a brand. They're like checking every box. They're doing an amazing job.
Speaker 1:Cynically, when I've given this example, some people say, oh yeah, it's because they're owned by Selena Gomez. You know, she's the most followers on Instagram. Of course, it's going to be popular. Obviously, that helps. I am not discounting how important that is. That being said, there are a lot of other celebrity brands that have not done nearly as well.
Speaker 1:So it's the combination of yes, they have, of course, a famous founder, but also they stand for something For Rare Beauty. They are very focused on mental health. That aligns with Selena Gomez's mental health struggles that she's talked about, and they also have a fund. They're not a client. So I feel you know I promise this is not, you know, a personal pitch they really are just an amazing example of a company who is doing everything right, but they have a fund that they donate I believe 1% of revenue to that supports mental health for their employees.
Speaker 1:I believe, as well as the general public, and that's also really important is that Gen Z and people overall they care how you treat your employees. If you're not walking the walk in your own backyard, how can I trust you to do that more broadly, know more broadly, and so, again, I think they've done a really excellent job at standing for something and not only that, making that known through very strong actions that affect their different communities. So it's trustworthy. You know, it's not just lip service, they really are walking the walk, not just talking the talk.
Speaker 2:I'll give an example Athletic Brewing, and I'm on the board of that as well. I'm genuinely impressed by the fact that they have been giving they call it two for the trails, but $2 million to support local running and biking trails, because the whole birth of the brand came from. I want to live in a healthier way. If I'm drinking alcohol all through the night or starting early in the day, I don't always feel my best and I want to have something that makes me feel part of a group. So the athletic beer brand is something you can feel proud to carry in your hand, but it's non-alcoholic and so, tying in, I want to be able to cycle. It was founded by an athlete. I want to be able to be part of this community and then giving something to their community, so very local activation. Coca-cola has been doing this for decades all over the world, ingraining the brand within their communities by sponsoring local events and so on, and, you know, providing water when there are water shortages, and Anheuser-Busch does the same thing.
Speaker 1:For Coca-Cola. As an example, I remember the campaign they did 15 years ago, 10 years ago. That was share a Coke with X, share a Coke with Alex, share a Coke with Sam, you know whomever. They have been creating a community and create and using their product to help people develop relationships. That is so smart. Campaigns like that are exactly what the world needs now, in conjunction with, as we're talking about, whether it's donations or sort of tangible impact in that area, but things that bring people together. For me, I think that is the most important and relevant thing that a company or brand can do, and obviously it helps your bottom line. As you say, coca-cola is doing very well right now. They've managed to grow in a tough category, so I think that's spot on.
Speaker 2:Perfect example. You, I think, talked about the fact that you've done the survey in multiple countries and I'm wondering if you're seeing any differences in emerging versus developed countries and anything you want to highlight.
Speaker 1:Yes, 100%. So I mentioned that when we did this survey a few years ago, we found that Gen Z were very unified and our hypothesis around that was the continued rise of social media, particularly TikTok, making trends global right. If you think about Korean skincare and the movie Parasite I'm just using Korea as an example but like Korean skincare, k-pop, k-dramas like that has just exploded onto the global scene and it has been for a while, but it's really been accelerated by social media. So, as a result of social media, culture has gone global. So that's why we've sort of found that we thought that there would be global unification of Gen Z.
Speaker 2:I was doing a lot of work in China as a stock analyst. But looking at the Chinese businesses of the Procter Gamble and the Cokes and even then, and actually particularly Estee Lauder, because Estee Lauder had this huge portfolio of very desirable brands Estee Lauder, lemaire, mac, clinique and they were absolutely killing it in China. And then, literally 20 years ago, you started to see the growth of local brands. Initially they were perceived to be much lower quality and they would never actually anyone who had real money would never buy them and that is really changing. It's as if the idea bubbles up. It might take 15 years and then boom, it just hits an exponential growth curve. So I think what you're saying in talking about brand nationalism is it might have just hit that exponential part of the curve.
Speaker 1:I think that's absolutely right, and in Chinese movie theaters, people are boycotting certain Marvel movies that they feel are overly American or don't portray China in the best light, and so it's definitely affecting brand purchase. It's also affecting entertainment, and both of those things influence each other across culture, so that is definitely a significant trend that we're seeing now, which is quite robust. The other thing, though, that I've found really interesting less from a brand perspective, but more from a psyche perspective to really understand Gen Z is again 2021, 2022, globally unified right. That was sort of the theme.
Speaker 1:What we saw in this most recent report is a significant optimism gap between Gen Zers in developed countries versus Gen Zers in developing countries, and what that means is exactly what your daughter said to you, which is my standard of living is not going to be better than my parents. Most Gen Zers in developed countries believe that, whether it's in Western Europe or the US or Canada, that is a prevailing attitude. However, if you look at Gen Zers in developing countries Southeast Asia, the Middle East, et cetera there's a lot of economic optimism. My life is getting better year after year. My life will be better than my parents. Obviously, a significant portion of that is sort of the relative aspect of it. If you are already in a developed country, just from definitionally you have more resources than if you are in a developing country. But still how that affects people and sort of their psyche is that young people in developed countries, again, they don't feel like their lives are getting better, whereas young people in developing countries do.
Speaker 2:Talking about opportunities, interesting to me that, in fact, even at a time where maybe people are moving against buying American brands, it's an opportunity for global companies to either invest more in local brands so step up M&A which they've done over the years anyway but really activate that step it up and do things to further localize their brands and make them relevant to local communities, rather than pulling back and saying, oh, anti-american sentiment, we have to be careful, but to actually double down.
Speaker 1:Completely. It's just doubling down in the right way To your point. You absolutely cannot ignore quote unquote developing world, the non-Western world. That is the largest population, that is the largest growing population. Of course, you can't put your head in the sand, but exactly it's about doing it in the right way, which it's exactly what you said. It's M&A, so you're purchasing sort of local brands that have that market familiarity and understanding of the market brand love, or it's also just understanding there's not a one size fits all to a global campaign.
Speaker 1:What I will say, though, which I think is really important, is people pretty much understand that you have to be quite local. You can't just be global. People have been recognizing that for a long time. I think what is new, though, and what people don't fully recognize, is information and news is now global, such that your markets, what you do locally, has to pass the smell test globally. It doesn't have to be relevant globally. It has to pass the smell test because it doesn't have to be relevant globally. It has to pass the smell test because news is now global. So you have an activation in a certain market or a campaign, you have to make sure that people globally wouldn't take offense to that, despite language barriers, the risk is too high of people finding out Again. It doesn't have to be relevant globally. It has to pass the smell test globally.
Speaker 2:That's an excellent point, Amanda. So how does this affect employers when they think about attracting and keeping motivating their employees who are Gen Z?
Speaker 1:It's a great question and one that I get all of the time, because I think people, post-covid, are still really figuring out workplace norms and what that looks like. What I will say is that I think, from an employee perspective, gen Z can get scapegoated. I think for trends that are generation-wide and by that I mean when I talk to a lot of our clients or people in the world there's this pervasive feeling of Gen Z doesn't want to go back to the office.
Speaker 1:They're entitled all these things. When I give presentations, sometimes I'll start and sort of ask OK, audience, if you had to describe Gen Z in one word, what would it be? And I hear all sorts of negative things entitled snowflakes, et cetera. And I think people are mostly thinking of their Gen Z colleagues when they say that I. And I think people are mostly thinking of their Gen Z colleagues when they say that I don't think it's all Gen Z.
Speaker 1:Gen Z of course gets the blame for these cultural changes because they're just coming into the workforce, but it's a lot of people. Now I think things have settled such that Gen Zers are actually coming back to the office. They want to be in the office. There's a movement now around more millennials and Gen Xers who they're parents, they're overburdened, they want to sort of have better work-life balance and flexibility and so they're really pushing back and coming to the office. But again Gen Z gets scapegoated for that.
Speaker 1:The reason I say that and the reason I think it's relevant and this is sort of the red thread across the work that we do is, in order to create a solution, you need to really strongly and smartly identify the problem, and, I think, at a really high level. One of the macro themes we see around Gen Z is people just don't really understand them and so, as a result, the work that they do to connect with them, either from a consumer perspective and particularly from an employee perspective, often misses the mark. Because you're not actually listening to your Gen Zers, you're sort of taking stereotypes from what you think they want and sort of what you think they are.
Speaker 2:Can you size for us just what percent of the population they might represent, or percent of spending? I'm not sure how you look at it.
Speaker 1:So our stat on spending is that they will have $12 trillion of purchasing power by 2030. It is enormous. Is that global, really really large? The reason is because in markets like India, et cetera, they skew young, so that number is certainly not the same across market. That number, I believe, is around 25, maybe 22% for the US somewhere around there but is really buoyed by a lot of more sort of developing markets India, brazil, et cetera where the percentage of young people is higher.
Speaker 1:But, it's an enormously large generation. I think is what you're getting at. To sort of ground people in statistics. This is a significantly large generation.
Speaker 2:Right, and it is the workforce in some places of now and certainly of the future. And so peeling back the layers, not making assumptions based on what we used to think was true.
Speaker 1:The two simplistic solutions that I would say is actually listen to Gen Zers. We've done this for a few clients where we've convened panels of either it's Gen Zers that we've pulled from the market or Gen Zers in those companies to sort of convene direct conversations and almost focus groups of what do you want to see. And really what we've been able to do is unearth and sort of address mistaken stereotypes. And it gets back to this idea of don't create solutions based on assumption, right, like, actually listen to the target audience Again, whether from a consumer or an employee perspective. Actually listen to your target audience.
Speaker 1:And a lot of what Gen Z wants from an employee perspective, it goes back to that safety and security. They are really concerned about AI taking their jobs more than any other generation. And it makes sense, right, because when you think of Gen Z's, when you think of AI's capabilities, it's a lot of entry-level work, it's a lot of sort of preliminary analysis. These are all things that entry-level employees tend to do, and Gen Zers are the entry-level employees, so they're more concerned than any other generation to do.
Speaker 2:And Gen Zers are the entry-level employees, so they're more concerned than any other generation. Us in the older generation can fool ourselves because we've had this experience of well, things change but it always works out okay. And some of us more towards the tail end of a career traditional career. I'm not done yet lots more to do. But if you're just coming in and all you've seen is that every three years.
Speaker 1:It's all different. That reinforces that fear 100%. I was just reading this article the other day that literally there is slowing hiring. There is slowing hiring in the US. People are ascribing that to AI. You're in an economically volatile environment, which is not helping that and really tough.
Speaker 1:But Gen Zers are very concerned about their economic future, both in the immediate term. So I would say it's similar to the 2008 recession for millennials that people are feeling now amplified by sort of long-term economic anxiety and labor anxiety because of AI. So it's not just the immediate wow, I can't get a job because the economy isn't doing well, because in the back of your head things are cyclical Okay, it's going to come back in two or three years. It's painful, but it's going to come back. This is sort of the world is recalibrating. How am I going to get a foot in? How am I going to start and sort of begin? So that anxiety again, when employers hear this, when we've done this for clients, and they sort of hear this, there's this aha moment of oh my God, I didn't realize that was the reality that these Gen Zers are facing. Oh my God.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it certainly gives you more empathy. So any other findings, pieces of advice that you want to leave our listeners with? Amanda, this is such great work and I do hope when you do this in a couple of years it's going to be more optimistic.
Speaker 1:So do I? Oh my gosh, I do. I have one last piece that ends in an optimistic note, so a lot of campaigns and companies that are doing well right now are ones that embrace levity, ones that embrace lightness. They embrace fun, spontaneity, and I've gotten a number of questions from our clients who try to square the sort of dark picture that we're painting from our data with the cultural reality of. Okay, then, why are all these silly TikToks getting so much love, getting so much virality? And I think it's particularly relevant for food and beverage brands, because those are the ones who tend to lean in more into that.
Speaker 1:I would actually say, going back to this idea of permission space, in a really dark world, people are looking for laughter, people are looking for light, they're looking for fun, and so, as a brand it's actually in business it's actually really essential to lean into that.
Speaker 1:The way that you can do that, though, is by listening to your audience and understanding what they need and what they want from you. The worst thing you can do is sort of wag your finger at them and say you should be having more fun, and that is it, sort of point blank. You have to do it in a way that is responsive to your audience and authentic to you as a brand and business. And if you do that and you're able to sort of land the plane around levity laughter light, that is amazing. That is something much greater than the sum of its parts and something that brings people together. Coming back to this idea of community, people want community, they want the laughter, they want the lightness, and so I think the moment and opportunity for brands and businesses, particularly in the beverage space, has never been greater.
Speaker 2:I want to close with just reiterating what you just said about listening. My dad had a lot of wonderful sayings, but one of them was one mouth, two ears, and I do think we tend to think we know so much because, say, you've been around the beverage industry for 30 years or the food industry for 25 years, whatever it is, but everything changes and it's just great. And Nick Modi, who we've just released a podcast with him. He talks about the fact that you've got a whole multitude of people If you're a company of any scale, whether it's 10 employees, a thousand employees or hundreds of thousands of employees for the global brands who are close to the customers.
Speaker 2:So just listen to your employees and they'll tell you a lot, as well as your customers. So two ears, one mouth. I think it's a lovely way to end and, amanda, thank you. This is great work, if there's anything you want to leave us. Last thought about Edelman, and welcome to Chicago, welcome back to the US. I know you just moved back from England.
Speaker 1:Yes, I appreciate it. No, thank you so much for having me on. I'll just say, on a personal level, I honestly love the Gen Z Lab and what we do and, I think, providing context on what's happening in the world and, as a result, businesses licensed to operate and how they can add value. Frankly, it's all about adding value to your customers, to your employees, and really trying to do that I think has never been more important than now.
Speaker 2:And we can find you at worldwidewebedelmancom, is that right?
Speaker 1:Yes, you can find exactly wwwedelmancom. Thank you, Amanda. Look forward to next year. Thank you so much, Caroline. Appreciate it If you enjoyed this session.
Speaker 2:please do comment, rate and follow us on Apple Podcasts, spotify or wherever you listen, and please share this with your friends and colleagues.