Why good storytelling is the perfect tool to connect and communicate with GenZ

• Ad & Media Insider in partnership with Wattpad, hosted a 2-part webinar where we brought industry experts to discuss what makes this generation different from others before them, how marketers need to approach them differently, if they want to become a part of their lives.
• The panel was moderated by Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch and had Mohit Joshi, CEO, Havas Media Group, Archana Tiwari-Nayudu, Director - Content & Communications, upGrad, Vikas Bagaria, Founder, Pee Safe and Devashish Sharma, Country Manager, Wattpad India as panelists.

GenZ, the tech-savvy, digital native generation that is often blamed for having an attention span which is even lesser than that of a goldfish, is also a difficult target group to decode, from a marketing perspective.

GenZs are visibly different from previous generations of consumers. True they have shorter attention spans but if they feel a particular kind of content resonates with them, they will stick around, even if it is long-form content. They are also on the lookout for brands that go above and beyond just selling their products. They instantly connect with brands that they feel are socially and environmentally conscious.

To find out more about this often difficult-to-please consumer set, Ad & Media Insider in partnership with Wattpad, hosted a 2-part webinar where we brought industry experts to discuss what makes this generation different from others before them, how marketers need to approach them differently, if they want to become a part of their lives. The panel also discussed the role good storytelling plays in ensuring that GenZers like a particular brand.

The panel was moderated by Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch and had Mohit Joshi, CEO, Havas Media Group, Archana Tiwari-Nayudu, Director - Content & Communications, upGrad, Vikas Bagaria, Founder, Pee Safe and Devashish Sharma, Country Manager, Wattpad India as panelists.

Millennials vs GenZ – The key differentiators

The conversation started with charting out the major differences between GenZ and the preceding generation, Millennials.

The textbook definitions of these two generations are anyone born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 23 to 39 in 2020) are millennials whereas people born between 1996 and 2012 are categorized as GenZ.

Explaining what he thinks defines GenZ and differentiates them from millennials and other generations before them, Sharma said, “What differentiates GenZ from previous generations is that they are digital and mobile native, they are great at creating content and they are also people who genuinely want to connect on social causes.”

Adding to Sharma’s opinion, Joshi said, “GenZ is socially conscious but also very ruthless. When it comes to choosing a brand, they go beyond the functional benefits and look for the social benefits. And you have to be really fast when talking to them because their attention span is abysmal.”

“This is a generation that believes in being real and bold,” added Tiwari-Nayudu.

On how stories are an important part of engaging with this audience, Sharma said, “Memes to movies, stories can link brands to culture. While in the past, brand jingles used to help consumers connect with brands and build a recall, today things are different. Today memes do the same job. What has changed is, jingles used to be a one-way communication whereas memes are much more participative and that’s what GenZ is looking for,” added Sharma.

The importance of consistency in customer experience

For this generation, the kind of experience they get while talking to a brand is very important. Therefore, customer and brand experience becomes an important factor when it comes to this set of audience rooting for a brand.

Sharing his thought, Bagaria said, “This is a generation that is looking for a solution and not just a product. This is also a generation that is vocal. They will talk to you and they will tell you what they want and the more you talk to them and give them solutions and information, the more they will stick to you.”

Relevance and meaningfulness is important for GenZ added Joshi. “If you want to build a brand for this younger generation, it has to be built in alignment with their values and beliefs,” he added.

Joshi also gave the example of recent campaigns Havas Media Group had done for Durex including ‘Mutual Climax’ and ‘Durex Jeans’. “These campaigns happened because we listened to the brand’s consumers and created a narrative around that. Today it is all about creating a product which this generation wants. For them, engaging with a product doesn’t make sense unless it’s been made for them. Therefore, successful marketers have to build a product bottoms up,” elaborated Joshi.

“Listening to consumers on every touchpoint is extremely important,” added Jauhari.

Throwing some light on how a marketer’s approach towards crafting communication is also changing today, Tiwari-Nayudu added, “I am very happy to see that today, everybody is thinking of a pull model rather than a push model. In the pull model, storytelling is at the core of everything you do. You have to connect with the audience in a way that it is immersive and engaging because you want the audience to be a part of your storytelling."

Authenticity in storytelling

upGrad recently came up with a campaign that showed people in an office kissing a donkey. The campaign took the phase, kissing ass literally and created a campaign around it. And the ad went viral, owing to both the novelty of the story and the way it was told and also because a lot of people related to it.

“When we were working on the idea, we had several rounds of discussion to understand how to go about it. We wanted to be real and authentic. What we came up with resonated with the audience. SOo it is very important that you use a language that your audience understands and tell it in a way that they relate to it because they want real stuff,” shared Tiwari-Nayudu.

The conversation also steered towards ‘Causevertising’, which is a term used for brands who create communications around a cause.

When asked if GenZ believes in cause-vertising, Joshi said, “For GenZ, cause-vertising is a bad word. They are aware of everything so you can’t really fool them. They will see right through you. At Havas, we have come up with a notion of meaningfulness and there are 3 parts to it. When consumers look at a brand, they look at its functional benefits, that is, what are the basic functions of the product. They look at the personal benefits, which means they see how it is helping them personally. Then thirdly, and this is the most important one for GenZ, they look at the collective benefits.”

Giving a recent example, Joshi spoke about Baba ka Dhaba and how that initiative was all about meaningfulness. “Once the conversation started, Swiggy and Zomato got into it and added Baba ka Dhaba to their platforms. That’s something that GenZ considers meaningful. It wasn’t cause-vertising but it was meaningful advertising. They are asking what are you as a brand doing for the industry and the community? They also want to see what you’re doing and if you are able to convince them about your authenticity, they will buy your product. In fact, they are ready to pay more for products that have higher collective benefits,” explained Joshi.

Bagaria also shone the light on the importance of creating products by listening to your consumers. “Ours is a brand that is by GenZ and for GenZ. We have come up with so many products just by listening to this young generation. Therefore, it is very important to take a bottoms up approach. Listen to your consumers and then create your products. If you do that much, you won’t need to advertise. Your products will sell automatically,” he said.

On what a marketer should focus on in the future to be able to connect with this set of audience, Sharma said, “User-generated content is something that works well for GenZ and that is something marketers should look at. Today, its not just about targeting a direct audience but also about giving a push to these creators through whose content you can unlock newer audiences.”

Watch the full conversation here: