Did Gen Z Kill Old Marketing?

Gen Z did not kill marketing. 

But they may have finally killed a lot of the rubbish we have been calling marketing for the past 20 years. 

And to be honest, I’m not sad about it. 

The boring polished corporate ads. 

The fake “act now or the world will end” urgency. 

The perfectly posed stock photos. 

The painfully obvious celebrity scripts. 

Gen Z grew up surrounded by sponsored YouTube videos and everyone on earth trying to sell them something. 

They can smell a pitch from three suburbs away. 

So, when businesses complain that “marketing doesn’t work like it used to”, they are partly right. 

Old marketing is struggling. 

But good marketing is doing just fine. 

Gen Z Did Not Change Human Nature 

This is the part a lot of marketers miss. 

People still buy for largely the same reasons they always have. 

They want to solve problems, save time, heal headaches, and make money. 

They want certainty, convenience, and a business they can trust. 

That has not suddenly disappeared because somebody was born after 1997. 

Human nature is still human nature. 

What has changed is how quickly people decide whether they trust you. 

Gen Z has had a lifetime of advertising coming at them from every direction. 

They have become incredibly good at filtering. 

And that filter is brutal. 

If something feels fake, overly polished or obviously engineered to sell them something, they scroll. 

The Old Attention Tricks Are Getting Weaker 

There was a time when simply getting someone's attention was half the battle. 

Today, attention is everywhere, but the trust is scarce. 

That changes the job of your marketing. 

You do not just need someone to stop scrolling. 

You need them to think: 

“This person understands me.” 

“This actually makes sense.” 

“I believe them.” 

“I’ve been looking for something like this!” 

“That might solve my problem.” 

That is a very different standard. 

And it is why businesses chasing the latest hack are struggling. 

A clever hook might get the click. 

A viral video might get views. 

A trending audio might get reach. 

None of those things automatically get sales. 

Which is why I have never been interested in likes for the sake of likes. 

Authentic Does Not Mean Sloppy 

There is another mistake happening here. 

Businesses hear that younger audiences want authenticity, so they assume everything needs to look amateur. 

That is not what authenticity means. 

You can have brilliant branding. 

You can have professionally produced content. 

You can run highly sophisticated advertising campaigns. 

You can automate half your marketing. 

People do not reject professionalism, they reject bullshit. 

There is a difference. 

Before I run an ad campaign, I want to know what people are worried about, what they want, what they have already tried, what frustrates them and what might stop them buying. 

Not because it gives us clever marketing language. 

Because it allows us to have a more relevant conversation. 

Gen Z Has Made Marketing More Human 

This is probably the biggest shift. 

Brands used to speak at people. 

Modern marketing works much better when it feels like you are speaking with them. 

That means less corporate waffle. 

Less carefully sanitised brand language. 

Less pretending every business is “passionate about delivering exceptional customer outcomes”. 

Please, nobody talks like that. 

If you want to see a great example of down-to-earth and engaging, creative marketing, check out Duolingo’s social media presence.  

They talk like a human, have opinions, teach useful things, and bring fun into their campaigns. 

Answer the questions they are already asking. 

Give them enough value that they want to hear from you again. 

This is not just for a Gen Z audience either. 

It works with nearly every generation. 

Because people have always preferred buying from people and businesses they trust. 

What Gen Z Actually Killed 

If Gen Z killed anything, I think they helped kill lazy marketing. 

Marketing that assumes people will believe you because you said something loudly enough. 

Marketing that treats customers like numbers rather than intelligent people who can make their own decisions. 

Good riddance. 

Because the businesses winning now are not necessarily the loudest… they are the ones that understand their customers best. 

If you wanna chat more about how to actually run good ads in this day and age, watch the replay of my masterclass. 

https://app.socialmediaplusone.com/master-meta-7196

Kerry x