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From shattering popular myths to surprising revelations, EJ Kritz joined Daniel Brown to share an exclusive preview of a groundbreaking new study on Gen Z and strategies for lasting success across business categories.
EJ Kritz during exclusive interview with Daniel Brown. Video credit: Daniel Brown/Networld Media Group.
EJ Kritz, EVP at APC, joined Daniel Brown, editor at Digital Signage Today, via video link to share insights from a recent groundbreaking study from APC, still under analysis, on what he argues is the deeply misunderstood consumer cohort.
Kritz shared his deep interest in the topic as a business consultant, researcher, and the father of a Gen Z child, along with serving alongside Brown as a member of the Advisory Board of the ICXA.
The full interview is available for viewing. Interview edited for clarity and length. Credit: Daniel Brown/Networld Media Group. |
The full study and data will be available, for free, to attendees of the joint ICXA Summit and BCX Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina this September.
While the study is still under development, a few insights have emerged, including the following:
- Experiences are one of the supreme values for Gen Z, particularly shared experiences where they can choose individualizing elements.
- Gen Z is deeply values-based.
- Gen Z members are generally far less addicted to phones during experiences than popular culture likes to portray them as being.
- Gen Z consumers are less interested in self-service over human interaction options, e.g. at checkout or in dining settings.
- Engineering experiences has never been more important, but it’s not enough to engineer experiences; they need to be accessible and have customization options for each user.
These are only a few of the details of the groundbreaking, data-based study showing new insights in how to reach the largest consumer generation in history, including strategy implications for retail, banking, and more.
Is this a reaction to the pandemic?
“We didn’t specifically study this,” Kritz replied. “We didn’t ask, how did Covid affect your decisions on this, that, or the other. This wasn’t a covid study.”
“But if you’re asking me what do I think? Yeah, I’d be hard pressed to believe that the pandemic didn’t play a role in shaping the buying preferences of the Gen Z consumer,” Kritz added, noting that for a generation nationally and in many international countries, missing school and social events was a major factor.
A similar example comes in so-called “revenge travel,” Kritz elaborated, in which many consumers who missed accustomed travel doubled down as soon as lockdowns eased to “make up for lost time” and to “get revenge on the pandemic” for robbing them of such experiences during the pandemic years.
Kritz shared that his family are avid travelers, and they traveled intensely in just this way as soon as travel restrictions eased.
He argued that this is part of why Gen Z is far less addicted to their phones than popular culture makes out, noting that he constantly sees groups of millennials at restaurants glued to their phones, while most gen z members he observes seem to pay attention to each other instead.
What can we learn about the near future?
We need to watch Gen Alpha, Kritz said.
A surprising feature in the gen alpha data was surprisingly low numbers for excitement about the metaverse, and Kritz suggested keeping an eye on things like the recent devaluation of NFT’s.
Another burning question for researchers: are the trends permanent, or are they temporary, even with the robust gen Z data?
“You know, Gen Z’s might save the mall, but are they going to save malls forever?” Kritz elaborated.
It’s also vital to remember that prediction always has limits, Kritz said, noting that Prime energy drink has somehow won its way to the top of bestselling charts despite all probability among industry insiders.
The success story came from influencer marketing in a time when that concept didn’t exist yet, illustrating the power of unforeseen dark horse products finding unexpected popularity despite disadvantages.
TikTok, timeless principles and agility
This is why timeless principles of success and customer experience matter for futureproofing all business plans, Kritz argues. Gen Z is an influencer hungry group, he said. But then, going back to the theme of cycles over time, celebrities selling products are as old as Ray Charles in a famous Pepsi commercial long before the age of Internet influencers (or, for students of marketing history, Teddy Roosevelt promoting Maxwell House coffee and Clark Gable making T-shirts an overnight fashion sensation in 1930’s America after a then-scandalous scene in It Happened One Night.)
Still, the power of influencers on TikTok in particular is perhaps unprecedented for a single platform/channel, and brands desperately need to be leveraging this powerful tool, Kritz argued. “If you’re a brand, and you’re not on TikTok, in the eyes of GenZ you don’t exist,” Kritz said. “It’s not only essential from a brand perspective, it’s even essential from the standpoint of recruitment of new employees.”
TikTok is far, far more than a small entertainment channel, he explained, at least for Gen Z users. “This is the functional dissemination of information,” he explained, with the one possible exception of financial services — even in Gen Z, the notion that financial information deserves a “serious” mode of transmitting information means that financial brands are somewhat less beholden to the channel — at least, for now. “But as it relates to food, as it relates to retail, one hundred percent. If you’ve got a sick new product coming out, you better tell the world on TikTok. Don’t be sending me an email. Don’t be sending me a text.”
Of course, despite the emerging nature of the platform, regulations and transparency are just as important as any other channel (especially for sensitive industries like financial services) — transparency and making it clear that a promotional segment is an ad is vital, Kritz said, citing examples of some influencers who have faced legal troubles due to alleged non-transparency.
The other big thing here is using social media to listen, not just to speak, Kritz says. “If you’re a brand and you’re not engaged in some form of social listening, you’re missing a huge piece of the pie.
“You know, we deal in survey — we’re a survey company,” Kritz added. “But we also do social listening. Because we’ve learned that not everybody fills out a survey; but they’ll run onto Twitter and complain there,” or post a Google or Yelp review, or (on the positive side) post a picture of an excellent meal on Instagram.
“You have to be picking that stuff up,” Kritz said. “Not only about you but about your key competition as well.”
Principles in action
Even so, some cutting-edge institutions like Valley Bank have been leaning heavily into reaching Gen Z along with existing customer bases with things like digital signage, social media engagement, apps, and more, in ways that larger banks (think the largest national bank brands) tend to have an easier time with due to more resources and staff.
“And Valley Bank is an anomaly in that,” Kritz said. “You know, I think the big banks are doing great, right? Because they have the money, they have the staff — so your BOA’s, your City’s, your Chase’s, your Wells.
Banking expert Bradley Cooper joins Daniel Brown to weigh in on the Valley Bank digital transformation and all it means for the banking industry, from digital signage to customer experience. Video credit: Daniel Brown/Networld Media Group. |
“But when you talk about a bank like Valley, they’re unique. They are unique in many ways, but they are unique in that they are — I’ll use the word – they’re cool!” Kritz said. “But banks aren’t cool, though! Banks aren’t cool at all. But they’re cool! I mean, they are willing to do things differently, and they understand the role that certain activities play in appealing to a young customer. And why Valley is so smart in doing that is because generally speaking when we look at Gen Z, younger consumers are gravitating towards big banks.”
With unusually high JD Power scores for a bank its size in competition with the biggest national banks. Kritz says that Valley’s agile, tech-savvy approach that blends traditional customer experience and values with cutting-edge technology is part of their success.
“If you’re a bank and you want to earn business, you need to appear to be innovative,” Kritz said. “That’s why kids are going to Bank of America and Chase, is because they position themselves as these wildly innovative banks.
“They don’t need the branch, in the traditional sense,” Kritz added. “They don’t need the branch to make a deposit. They don’t even need the branch to open an account, per se. What they need the branch to be, and this is where Valley is taking a great step forward, is they need the branch to be the physical extension of the digital form. The place where the physical experience and the digital experience can live together.”
When asked if the data and study have revealed any surprising, essential truths to close with, Kritz replied: “Gen Z wants proactive brands, not reactive brands. They were loud and clear about that. They want authenticity.”
To learn more about this (and to receive the full report and data from the study), register today for the Interactive Customer Experience Summit! The event will be held alongside the Bank Customer Experience Summit in Charlotte, North Carolina.
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Related:
Valley Bank’s digital transformation fuses technology, human touch
Daniel Brown is the editor of Digital Signage Today. He is an accomplished technology writer whose experience includes creating knowledge base content for a major university’s computing services department. His previous experience also includes IT project management, technical support and education. He can usually be found in a coffee shop near a large pile of books.
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