How to talk to Gen Z about your organisation’s social purpose (in a brat summer)
By Kenza Essalama, Senior Associate at Purpose Union
PSA: it’s brat summer.
The significance of lime green and stretched lowercase font may seem an unlikely thread to tie together an article about communicating your organisation’s social purpose to a Gen Z audience. But stay with me - it’s actually key to this story.
When Charli XCX tweeted “kamala IS brat”, Gen Z reared their heads to take notice of Kamala Harris’ presidential candidacy. On the surface, this may seem inconsequential. A singer using her new album title to endorse a political candidate in just three words? I can feel your eyebrows raising.
But take note: Kamala HQ has already rebranded with a brat-inspired X banner. Headlines are dominated by explanations of why Charli XCX and brat are having such an outsized influence on US election discourse. And most importantly, this moment is being driven by Gen Z.
What brat represents is the huge social currency that Gen Z hold. Now accounting for 40% of the global population, this is a generation starting to really shape culture and politics. And if you don’t get on board with what makes them tick, you’re missing out on massive opportunities to push your agenda.
So how exactly do Gen Z relate to socio-political issues? First things first, let’s take a look at the stereotypes that are skewing the real picture.
As a Gen Z woman myself, I was interested in what non-Gen Zs think of us. So, rather than talking to any real humans, I asked Chat GPT. Here’s what it came up with:
Always online
Lazy and entitled
Cynical
Influencer-obsessed
I’ve got to admit, this was a hard read. Okay, well the first one is potentially true. But lazy, entitled, cynical and influencer-obsessed - those ones I can’t let slide. Luckily, I have a preview of our latest Purpose Pulse* data to bust these myths and provide a deeper understanding of the Gen Z psyche and how to engage us around your organisation’s social purpose issues.
Myth #1: Gen Z are lazy and entitled
Perhaps this is just the eternal perception curse of being one of the youngest generations. But Gen Z are actually an incredibly activist generation.
Our Purpose Pulse findings show that Gen Z are more likely than Millennials to take direct action. Interestingly, donation - arguably one of the more passive forms of activism - is the only form of direct action where Gen Z and Millennials are fairly equal. But when it comes to protests, boycotts, signing petitions and volunteering, Gen Z are significantly more active.
In fact, they are 10% more likely than Millennials to have boycotted a company in the past 12 months. You only need to look at the case of Starbucks in relation to Israel-Palestine to see just how prevalent this is. Earlier this year, Starbucks reported a 15% drop in net income and this is closely related to the global boycott driven by primarily Gen Z audiences through social media. It’s clear that Gen Z aren’t afraid to take a stand on the issues they care about and beyond this, be vocal about that online.
So where does this lazy and entitled myth come from then? Our data provides an interesting insight here in the context of the climate crisis. 60% of Gen Z do not believe that they can personally have a measurable impact on the environment. What does this mean? No, it’s not that they aren’t interested in tackling climate change. Instead, they have wised up to greenwashing and flimsy asks for individuals to ‘turn your lights off’ and ‘recycle’. They know that the real power lies with governments and businesses to bring about systemic change.
Myth #2: Gen Z are cynical
So we now know that Gen Z are a passionate, activist generation. But are they cynical? It’s true that they don’t believe individual action is enough to shift the dial when it comes to issues like climate change. But that doesn’t mean they aren’t hopeful for the future.
In fact, quite the opposite. Gen Z are even more likely than Millennials to feel ‘excited’, ‘optimistic’ and ‘hopeful’ about the future. In particular, while ‘hopeful’ was the most common word used by Gen Z to describe their view of the future, the word ‘excited’ reflects the biggest discrepancy between the two generations, with Gen Z taking an almost 10% lead on Millennials.
So where should this excitement be channelled? As established, Gen Z don’t believe that they can individually make a difference when it comes to solving today’s big challenges. However, both Gen Z and Millennials are big believers in the power of individuals coming together to tackle the issues facing us today. In fact, they trust collective action almost twice as much as governments and businesses.
This doesn’t mean that those actors don’t have a place at all for Gen Z. What it does mean is that both governments and businesses need to provide more meaningful spaces for young people to collaborate, engage and shape the future.
But don’t forget that Gen Z are not monolithic. This is a generation spanning 12 to 27 years old - that’s everyone from a current Year 7 student to an account manager at a marketing agency. Take the difference between Gen Z men and Gen Z women. As the chart below shows, Gen Z men are far more trusting of government, businesses and non-profits than Gen Z women. But Gen Z women trust individuals coming together more than Gen Z men.
The lesson here? Think about who your audience really is beyond a broad generation when it comes to communicating your purpose. For example, if you’re a business targeting young women, you may need to work harder to gain their trust.
Myth #3: Gen Z are influencer-obsessed
That brings us to the final myth to bust. Who is the right messenger for your organisation’s social purpose? Gen Z are seen as the influencer generation. But the reality isn’t so simple.
When it comes to the most important people for solving the challenge of climate change specifically, Gen Z rank politicians and business leaders far higher than influencers and celebrities. So before throwing your entire marketing budget at Alix Earle or other influencers, consider that your most trusted messengers might come from within your organisation.
So how do employee ambassadors work? It’s not as simple as asking them to reshare a post. When it comes to Gen Z, your organisation’s social purpose work is essential. The chart below shows that Gen Z and Millennial employees are significantly more likely to engage and act as ambassadors if their employer takes concrete social purpose actions.
If a Gen Z or Millennial employee shares the same view as your organisation on an issue and your organisation takes concrete social purpose action, they are 21% more likely to share employer content online. But here’s where it’s even more interesting. If your organisation takes concrete social purpose action, even if your Gen Z or Millennial employee doesn’t share all the same views as you, they are still 17% more likely to share employer content.
So, the secret ingredient is doing the hard work and the right thing. Your employee influencers will then develop organically and willingly as a result of your social purpose work. With that in mind, consider investing in personal branding training and purpose-oriented employee advocacy programmes to spread your purpose to networks beyond your organisational presence.
Brat summer is yours for the taking
I started this article by invoking Charli XCX’s brat energy to highlight the social power of Gen Z. By the time you finished reading, another viral moment probably emerged from the US election campaign. But the insights from our Purpose Pulse into Gen Z and social purpose will see you through it all. To make sure you’re effectively communicating your organisation’s purpose to Gen Z, remember these five key learnings:
Provide opportunities for direct action and meaningful participation
Harness excitement and hope in your communication
Highlight and encourage collective action
Don’t generalise: Gen Z contain multitudes
Remember that your employees can be your best influencers
Happy brat summer!
Purpose Union combines the power of strategy, communications and creative thinking to build new solutions for DEI, sustainability and advocacy challenges, leading to organisational and community resilience. Want to work with us? Get in touch.
*Purpose Union and the Brand & Reputation Collective conducted an online survey of 832 Gen Z and Millennials in the UK. Get in touch if you would like more information about the methodology of this survey.