Gen Z

Born 1997–2012, Gen Z are digital natives, socially minded and a rebellious force to be reckoned with.

Youth Culture in 2025

From immersive experiences to creator-driven content and innovative storytelling, pop culture and media innovators are reshaping how audiences engage with entertainment

Macro Trends

The Future of Sports Fandom

By embracing new technologies, geographies and audiences, sport is becoming bigger than ever and offering valuable lessons on nurturing a new era of fandom

Behaviours

Gen Z in India

India’s Gen Z are reshaping tradition, blending heritage with global influences to promote sustainability, inclusivity, and individuality in the consumer landscape

Micro Trends

Erotic-tainment

A backdrop of sex-averse culture is only making audiences thirstier, leading to an explosion of entertainment that brings smut to the masses

Micro Trends

Safe Hate Spaces

A new wave of content creators is normalising complaining by sharing petty grievances and creating safe havens for connection

Viewpoints

Why Generation Z are creating activist-tainment

Tamseel Hussain, founder of Pluc TV, on how a ‘generation of misfits’ is driving more purposeful social media storytelling for India and beyond.

Youth : Media : Entertainment

Big Ideas

Socially distant dating

An increased reliance on virtual connectivity has resulted in innovations that enable daters to match from afar – and mitigate feelings of swipe fa...

Dating : Online Dating : Dating App

Big Ideas

Rebranding recruitment for Generation Z

Workplaces and education institutions are firing up their recruitment campaigns to focus on empathy, purpose and Gen Viz aesthetics.

Youth : Media : Workplace

Markets

Emerging Youth: Brazil

Disenfranchised by their president, young Brazilians are rejecting aspiration, reshaping religion and championing mindful social media.

Youth : Media : Digital

Viewpoints

Radical healing is the future of nightlife

Aisha Mirza, the founder of sober club night Misery, explains why embedding therapy into the night-time economy is empowering marginalised communit...

Youth : LGBT : Nightlife

Markets

Generation Homebody

Staying in is in. From TikTok bedroom dance-offs to CBD-infused bath bombs, the home has become Generation Z’s ultimate hangout.

Youth : Fashion : Wellbeing

Markets

Emerging Youth: Indonesia

Indonesia’s largely rural youth population are using digital channels to learn, cultivate micro-communities and reconnect with Islam.

Youth : Media : Education

Big Ideas

The emerging youth zines causing media anarchy

Zines are becoming the platform of choice for youth in Malaysia, South Africa, China and Brazil to express alternative views away from regulated me...

Youth : Media : Generation Z

Viewpoints

How to engage the Chinese travellers of tomorrow

Will Zhuang, Chinese ambassador for VisitYork and VisitLeeds, on how brands are re-imagining British culture for a new generation of Chinese touris...

Food : Travel : Tourism

Micro Trends

Piercing Pioneers

Brands are modernising the coming-of-age ritual of piercing for a new generation of teenagers who are keen to experiment with their identity.

Retail : Youth : DTC

Markets

Generation Z Stores

A youth boom is set to shake up bricks-and-mortar shopping, so retailers must adapt their strategies to meet the unique preferences of Generation Z.

Retail : Generation Z : Shopping

Micro Trends

Young Nativists

Generation Z are reconnecting with their indigenous roots, seeking communities and travel experiences that preserve ancestral knowledge.

Youth : Travel : Hospitality

Micro Trends

Skincare Networks

New online platforms are cutting through hyperbolic content with peer and expert advice designed to improve personal routines and product development.

Beauty : Skincare : Peer To Peer

Viewpoints

Inside Generation Z’s identity crisis

UAL students Nicole Angus and Nadine Gan, 21, and graduate Lucas Antunes, 23, discuss why cynicism, truth and self-education define today’s youth.

Youth : Generation Z : Media

Viewpoints

Diving into Lush’s phygital experiments

Charlotte Nisbet talks about the brand’s phygital retail experiments, from packaging-free stores and recyclable shop fit-outs to machine learning r...

Retail : Beauty : Technology

Viewpoints

Forget mental health, let’s discuss emotional fitness

Nick Bennett, CEO and co-founder of Fika, on the student mental health crisis being an issue of education and skills relating to emotional wellbeing.

Youth : Mental Health : Technology

Micro Trends

Grown-up Sodas

Consumers’ increasingly global palates are driving demand for complex flavoured soft drinks that have the double benefit of being alcohol-free.

Drinks : Soft Drinks : Non-alcoholic

Viewpoints

The human-less future of creative branding

Yali Saar, founder and CEO of Tailor Brands, discusses the positive impact that AI will have on the future of branding, copywriting and social mark...

Branding : Design : Artificial Intelligence

Viewpoints

Why the food revolution is not about progress

S Margot Finn, author of Discriminating Taste: How Class Anxiety Created the American Food Revolution, explains why our modern appetite for organic...

Food : Society : Sustainability

Markets

Georgia Travel Market

Award-winning hotels, a liberal youth population and sommelier-approved wine tourism are luring culturally curious travellers to the former Soviet ...

Travel : Tourism : Hospitality