GEN Z 101 GEN Z X COOL

MaryLeigh Bliss:
Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for joining YPulse's latest Gen Z 101 webinar. Today, we're going to be taking you through all of our data on how Gen Z defines cool and what brands they're actually seeing as cool these days in a sea of brand activations and efforts to get their attention. We're really excited to take you through this data, and our subscribers can look at the exclusive report on this. Before we get into all of that, all the reasons that you're here, I just wanna introduce myself. My name is MaryLeigh Bliss. I am the chief content officer here at YPulse, and I'm joined today by my wonderful colleagues who are also going to be talking you through some of our data. I will start with, Anto.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
Introduce yourself.

Antonin Ficatier:
Thanks, MaryLeigh. And hi, everyone. My name is Anto Ficatier. I am the editorial director here in Western Europe. I'm based in London. You will soon discover that YPulse is indeed present in Western Europe, and I have the pleasure to lead the research there.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
Thank you. And, Sira?

Sira Sartori:
Hi, everyone. I'm Sira Sartori, and I'm the trend coordinator here. So I work on all of our trend reports as well as any special brand reports that we have coming out throughout the year, just like this cool brands report for our clients.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
Amazing. So we're all going to be sharing some of the data that we have on cool, how Gen Z defines it, what brands fall under that category for them as we go. Just a little bit about YPulse so you can understand more about where this data is coming from and why you should listen to us. YPulse has been leading authority on young consumers. Today, Gen Z, Millennials, and we talked to Millennial parents to get a window into their Gen Alpha children. We also survey tweens annually. So we are constantly surveying young people in both North America and Western Europe in order to really understand their behaviors, their beliefs, their POVs, we, all in all, do over 400,000 interviews of thirteen to thirty nine year olds in, those two regions alone every year. So we are looking at the data, and our insights for our clients are based on that evidence, not just Vybe.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
So we're not just looking at what's happening on social media and making wild, accusations or predictions based on it. Although, of course, we are looking at social media as well. No. We're looking at the data and really, understanding young people on a deeper level, myth busting fact finding, and looking at their lives to decode the next generations for brands. We are really taking that data and then synthesizing that that into a ton of content for our clients, daily articles, weekly reports, behavioral reports, looking at that, how much, how many, how often of their actions from what media they're watching to what they're eating to what their political beliefs are to, what, you know, social platforms they're on and where they'll go if some of them shut down. We also are looking at the big trends that they are fueling and creating that brands need to keep up with. So, big trend reports that we're publishing every month on the huge shifts that young consumers are responsible for. And then every single day, we are asking young people about the brands that they are buying and how they feel about them.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
So our youth brand tracker is really asking about specific diagnostics that matter to Gen Z across over a thousand brands in both regions, and we're gonna be sharing a lot of that data with you today. We also do custom research and for our clients to help them sift through all of that information, which is a lot. We know. We have an AI assistant that gets straight to the answer that they need in an instant. So it's your FastPass into youth culture. For my Disney adults, I see you. You know how important a FastPass is, and that and that's what YPulse is to our clients. If you want free access to some of those insights, you can sign up for our newsletter.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
We have a daily newsletter where we curate the biggest news on youth and infuse that with our expertise and our data. And we also have a weekly newsletter if daily is too much for your inboxes, that really curates the biggest news of the biggest news and lets you know the most important things to know about Gen Z and young people this week. So you can sign up for that going to YPulse.com, the news feed. And if you're interested in understanding where your brand lies in all of this or your competitors, we are offering a free Gen Z brand analysis to the attendees of this webinar. You'll see all the kinds of metrics that we track when it comes to Gen Z and Millennials and the data that we have about their behaviors, and we can really put your brand into the context of their lives and help you understand where you live, when it comes to their affinity, and beyond. So you can sign up for that free Gen Z brand analysis at ypulse.com/coolbrands2025 This webinar is being recorded, just so you know. It will be available at a future date, so no need to wildly screenshot.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
We've got you. If you have questions as we go, please throw those into the q and a channel. Our team is standing by to answer those live, but also to shoot some over to my team. And, hopefully, we'll have some time at the end to answer some, our on our own, if we have a little bit time when we're done. But let's get into it. Before we can talk about what Gen Z thinks is cool, we have to understand a little bit about Gen Z to put that all into context and perspective. Gen Z is not a monolith. We really emphasize this every presentation that we have because it is so important.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
So many people talk about Gen Z as this amorphous force, and they are a force, and they have a lot of power, and they do have spending power. But they are not one giant, you know, unified piece of culture. First of all, Gen Z is unique to every generation that came before them. Half of Gen Z identify as people of color, so diversity is core to their identities. And the fact that half are people of color means that they cannot be viewed as a monolith. We are always looking deeper into the data to look at the differences between Gen Z people of color and Gen Z Gen Z white non Hispanics. And then within that differences between different races and ethnicity, their identities as people of color is so important. And especially now, as we know, there are huge shifts in the making.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
But we are always looking at how important, their identities are to them and how they filter the brands that they are using through those identities. We'll talk a little bit about that as we go. But, certainly, it's important for all brands to understand that, diversity is not, you know, a nice to have. It is core to reaching this generation and to reflect them back at themselves, is vital. So you really have to be looking at them as, again, not that one amorphous group, but as a really collection of communities. We talk a lot about subcultures as well at YPulse and published a whole subculture report last year. Gen Z's identities are, you know, really so diverse, but so are their interests. And so much of this is really creating a cross section of cultures that brands need to understand.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
And their diversity is not just about their skin color, their ethnicity, their, their race. One out of four, young people, Gen Z in North America identify as LGBTQ plus. It's one out of five in Western Europe. So, also a huge part of identities there as well. So diversity is not just, again, about, their race and ethnicity. It's about so many things that they identify as. It's about body acceptance. It's about their gender and their sexuality.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
So while, again, in this time, it can be really easy to follow the wave of trying to put those things aside. For Gen Z, these are not trends. This is who they are, and just innate to how they go about the world, how they decide what brands they are going to be giving their money to, as well as what brands appeal to them. We also really emphasize to our clients that we're not just talking about one age group here with Gen Z. This is a generation. So when we look at the data, we're looking at different life stages that Gen Z is in right now. We look at those in middle school and grade school versus those in high school. We look at those in college.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
We look at the age groups, to compare teens to young adults, to those in their twenties versus those in their thirties. And we're going to be looking at these age groups as we talk through this data, because there are huge differences between what a teen likes and what a young adult likes because they're going through hugely different things in their lives. So not only are they bringing a different set of experiences and identities to the world than previous generations, but also within that, they are going through wildly different things and different phases, facing different milestones. So we are not just looking at young people, but zooming in even farther to look at teens, young adults, and, those older and always really trying to identify the differences for our clients so that they can really be hyper focused on specific groups. Let's talk about cool. With that background, it's, you know, a lot to kind of, synthesize, and brands can really get lost in understanding what's important to this generation. And a question that we have gotten in the past is, does cool still even matter? You know, there have been a litany of slang words that Gen Z has invented, which again can kind of pull focus and make brands wonder, do they even still use this term? Does it matter to them at all if we are cool? What does cool mean? Our data very clearly shows that as much as skibbidy or sleigh might be things that they say, cool is still cool, and cool still matters to them. Not only do they still say it, it is still one of their top slang words if that matters, but they actually do consider it when they are buying products.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
We are looking at an array of diagnostics when we are trying to understand the brand brands that they are choosing. So why score is the bigger kind of diametric, diagnostic that Y Pulse is tracking, but that is made up of many different diagnostics that are youth specific. Everything from what brands are hot, to what brands are talked about, to what brands are popular, and, yes, what brands are cool. And we are constantly really looking at these diagnostics and testing them to see which one of them still matter, how much they matter to brands, which are drivers of their purchases. And our brand tracking, our youth specific brand tracking, is really giving us a deep look at not only the fact that cool still matters, but that, which exactly which brands are cool to them today. And it is important to them that the brands that they purchase are cool. We run surveys against those diagnostics to find out what the definitions of those diagnostics are for them and how important they are. And our most recent data, which is just from the end of twenty twenty four, shows us that the majority of young people in both North America and Western Europe, Teens and young adults, say it's important that the brands they purchase are cool.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
We ask us about all our diagnostics, and, yes, they continue to be all important. So cool matters, and brands need to understand how they can achieve and attain the cool status in the eyes of Gen Z. We also ask them just about their buying behavior across many different surveys in our behavioral and trend work. And our mass, mass merch mentality trend report looked at the kinds of products that Gen Z typically buys. And cool is a top driver of the products that they are buying according to them. Number two, below just good value, and we know how price driven this generation is, which we'll talk more about. They are thinking about what's cool when they are adding to their cart, whether that is in person or online. And this is something that is a decider of the products that they buy and the brands that they are choosing.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
So with that said, what does this exactly mean? What is cool to them today? We know that they are bringing different things to brands than previous generations did. So has cool changed? What exactly do they think of cool brands, and what can brands do to seem cool in the eyes of Gen Z? Well, of course, we ask them that. That survey that I mentioned asked them multiple questions about how brands can be perceived as cool and how they would define a cool brand. And the top thing that we found is that two Gen Z, cool means keeping up with trends and trying new things. So really always evolving, always experimenting is an ex is an expectation of this generation. And they think it's cool when brands keep up with the trends that they are creating because, let's face it, brands don't really set the trends anymore. This generation does. They are the ones who believe that they start trends and then other people follow.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
And they're right. Social media has democratized the trend structure, and they are the ones who are really creating the trends that now brands need to follow. But brands that do follow those trends and do try new things are seen as cool in their eyes. And here's the data around that. We ask them how can a brand show that they're cool. And in North America, the top answer for both teens and young adults is keeps up with trends. And I mentioned that we're kind of constantly testing these diagnostics. We asked them about their definition of cool back in 2022, and we asked them again at the end of twenty twenty four.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
And what we found was that the number of teens who say that brands can keep up with trends to show they're cool or need to keep up with trends to show that they're cool has actually increased. So this has become even more important in the last few years that brands keep up with the trends that young people are starting or following, in order to appear cool in their eyes. It actually increased 12 points among thirteen to seventeen year olds. It increased as well among young adults, six points among eighteen to twenty four year olds. And as you can see, it's the top way that a brand can show their cool in North America. Now these are the top five ways that brands can show their cool. So they're all important for sure. Keeping up with trends and always trying new things are at the top or near the top for both of these groups.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
We also see here prices. I said they're incredibly price conscious, so price does factor into how cool a brand is. That doesn't necessarily mean the lowest price of all, but, certainly, value for money matters to them. Products and services. And for teens, unique and outside the box offerings makes the top five. For young adults, social media content and partnerships makes the top five. And we also saw the importance of that increase in the last few years for that group. Again, I said this is the top four five.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
We ask about things like eco friendly products, marketing efforts, transparency. So we're asking about a lot of different ways that brands could be perceived as cool or show that they are cool in the eyes of these groups. So keeping up with trends is by far the top way, especially for teens. Look at that 54 say that keeping up with trends is a way that brands can show that they are cool. But we do also ask this in Western Europe, and I'm gonna pass it over to Anto to talk about how this is different or the same, among Gen Z in that region.

Antonin Ficatier:
Thank you, MaryLeigh. And, you know, it's kind of my job, to highlight, differences between Western Europe and North America and also similarities. And, you know, we have here a perfect example of, you know, you can see that the top two, criteria or factors that young consumers think of, a brand is is cool among teens are exactly the same in Western Europe and North America, which is quite remarkable and speaks to the fact that really Gen Z is a global culture. This is a theme that, you know, YPulse extensively, researched, and we wrote a lot on the topic if you're interested. Gen Z, you know, especially between those two regions, is growing up with similar, pop culture, cultural events, memes even. And so they are shaped by, similar brands too. And you can see here that so teens in Western Europe say that keeping up with trends and always trying to new things, all the top two things they they think brands can do in order to be cool. Now things look, a bit different when it comes to young adults, so 18 to 24 years old in Western Europe.

Antonin Ficatier:
You can see here that although keeping up with trends and always trying new things are, you know, in the top five, don't get me wrong. It is obviously still the perfect definition of what cool, means to them, but they are likely they are probably more likely to be to to be saying that prices is something that, brands can work on in order to be cool. Here again, it's really important as Marley told us, that to think that prices doesn't mean cheap. We're not talking about, you know, brands that are really trying hard to offer cheap products for, young consumers. Price is really about getting something at the right value. It's not a secret that Nike scores really high in the cool factor among, young Europeans and North Americans. And, you know, Nike has this kind of sweet spot when it comes to, the pricing of his product. It's not it's not a luxury product, but it's not cheap.

Antonin Ficatier:
It's it's it's at the right value, and young consumers feel that they're really, this is the perfect spot for, for this, brand. Now interestingly, marketing and advertising, is quite high on the list of young adults, the the kind of things that brands can do in order to be cool for them. So definitely, we'd recommend for brands, if your brand is specifically targeting young consumers in Western Europe and, among young adults to think of how your marketing and advertising can really, show how cool your brand is. This is definitely something that these consumers specifically, think of when we ask them about how really they think about how a brand can be cool. So here you have it, you know, similarities, differences between young consumers in the two regions. If that is something that your brand is interested in, White Post is definitely in the business of telling you everything about differences and similarities between Gen Z in Europe and North America. And now I'm gonna turn back to you, MaryLeigh, because we are at this point of the webinar, the probably the most exciting time where you will discover, our very own ranking of what are the brands that made it to our coolest ranking.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
Thank you, Anto. So, yes, we've taken you through what you need to know about Gen Z a little bit. We've taken you through their definition of cool, and I do think it's really interesting that marketing and advertising actually doesn't make the top five in North America. It really speaks to how much social media and social media presence has taken over for this, generation in terms of their perception of brands. It's the top place that they notice brands by far. We have really hard data on that, and we are constantly asking them where they're paying attention to or noticing brands. They're not paying attention to those commercials. I can tell you that much.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
But we've gone over all of that. So finally, the reason that you are here, the top ranking of the coolest brands. And we're going to start with teens, and I'll talk a little bit about how these brands are resonating with 13 to 17 year olds, and then I'll pass it over to Sira to talk about young adult Gen Zs and the top brands in that group. So the top coolest brands among thirteen to seventeen year olds in North America are here. Nike is number one on the list, followed by Sour Patch Kids, Pink, TikTok, Doritos, YouTube, Axe, iPhone, Apple Pay, and Reese's. You'll notice a lot of candy brands on that. And we talked about how age and life stage really does impact the brands that they are buying and their perception of brands. I think we have a true classic among all generations.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
There are some things that are tried and true, and candy brands just they succeed with this age group for sure. But I also wanna call out that Nike is at the top of the list here. Twenty twenty four was full of headlines about Nike's struggles with direct to consumer sales. Certainly, we have plenty of thoughts on why that might be happening, but it's really clear in our data that it is not an affinity problem. They are still the top cool brand among Gen Z in North America, and, it's really consistent across many of our diagnostic, if not most of our diagnostics, that Nike is still on top. So their affinity among young consumers is still incredibly high. We see other things at play, potentially the secondhand market being one of them. We just released a huge trend report on secondhand and thrift and how much that factors into Gen Z's spending and their shopping behavior, that could be impacting Nike as well as their shifting definition of luxury.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
Eto mentioned price and, the fact that Nike is a little bit on the edge of luxury for this generation at this point. So price points can be a difficult, a difficulty for them as well. This generation tends to be on a budget. But our affinity measuring shows that they are still very strong, so they absolutely can move their way back in. And, clearly, they are doing the things that keep them cool in Gen Z's eyes. They are trying new things. They're always experimenting, and they're keeping up with trends, if not starting them. So, you know, a great example is their recently announced partnership with SKIMS, which is also incredibly highly rated in terms of affinity among Gen Z, and we'll actually see them on the list later on in the presentation.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
But one great example of how they're kind of, working partnerships, testing new things. I think Nike Land is another great example. They launched that back in, I believe 2021 or 2022 in Roblox. And, you know, we're, you know, one of the brands that really made their mark in that metaverse and continue to offer new things on a continual basis, really evolving that experience within the game, which is so important to Gen Z. Again, we just released a gaming marketing report, so, all of that is very top of mind for me. So Nike is doing all the right things to maintain that affinity and to maintain that cool status with Gen Z. Trying new things, keeping up with trends. We do see some differences, though, between teen males and teen females, and our report, on cool that we just published for our subscribers shows the differences between males and females for every demographic because we do, of course, see major differences often between these groups.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
Similarities as well, but we'll talk about the differences here. Of course, here, Nike is performing really well as as well, you know, in top three, but TikTok is the number one cool brand among teen females. There's without a doubt that young females have been the fuel behind TikTok's popularity, and many of the trends that have succeeded on that platform. TikTok changed the game in social media and is the place where they are finding trends. So it kind of goes hand in hand for keeping up with trends to them. And it's where they're going to keep up with trends as well. So, really, it's kind of synonymous with that definition for this group particularly. Pink as well, high on the list, and we're gonna talk more about Victoria's Secret leader and how they've really managed to capture Gen Z and change, their reputation in the eyes of this generation and become cool for them.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
But I wanna shine a spotlight on Snapchat here, especially with TikTok's future in question, which we know, still TBD on what the future of TikTok will be. We do have data on where they'll go if TikTok TikTok does disappear out of their lives. But we wanted to talk about Snapchat and the high performance that Snapchat has on this cool ranking among teen females. Snapchat, I think, really gets overlooked by a lot of brands. And if you are a brand that is targeting young consumers and particularly young females, Snapchat is a vital space. 66% of teen females say that Snapchat is cool. That's more than teen males, but still 53% of males, say that it's cool as well. So they are there as well.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
59% of teen females use Snapchat. That means they use it more than Facebook or Instagram. It is one of their top platform, and it is really sticking out for them in terms of being a unique experience. And our data shows that being unique and standing out from competitors is another key part of being cool in the eyes of Gen Z. Snapchat absolutely does that. And, interestingly, they're doing that not just by keeping up with trends, which they absolutely do, but sometimes by staying true to their, core ethos or the core reason that young people are going there, which is to keep up with friends and family. That's the top reason that they're going to the app, and a lot of other social media apps have become entertainment apps to them. The top reason they're going to TikTok is for entertainment.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
And a lot of other apps like Instagram, and others have, of course, tried to, you know, follow in TikTok's footsteps and get those views and have become very entertainment focused. But Snapchat is still a place for connection with peers for teen females, and there's so many ways that they're doing that. The top features that they're using on the app are stories and streaks and lenses. So there's really always something new there for them because lenses are so, kind of integrated with brand experiences as well. It's a huge opportunity for brands to still be in front of them. You know, brands who have kind of moved on from Snapchat because it was so big with their AR innovations when they first come came out, and the attention really went to TikTok in the last few years should really be rethinking that. Brand lenses recently include Oreo and Post Malone. There continue to be this, you know, rollout of new features when we talk about keeping up with trends or trying new things.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
Absolutely, Snapchat is doing that for teen females. Live location sharing is one of the newer features that they, have rolled out, which is huge. Location sharing is a big part of Gen Z's life. They it's a normal part of their world sharing their location with their families and their friends. And they also care about being safe, and so something like that actually is cool to them. But they also have a new focus on creator, Snapchat, especially again in the wake of the ban. They had a huge campaign to attract more creators. But creators are a big part of the platform and, certainly a reason that teen females are attracted to the app, and so they are finding out about trends there as well.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
There's, again, kind of a constant rollout from Snapchat of new innovations, new faces, and it also stands out from the pack of social media, standing out from competitors and offering something unique from the rest because they have really maintained this, focus on connection, and they've done that in their in their marketing as well. So definitely one to not overlook, and it's important to remember as well that even though a brand or marketing world might have moved on from thinking something is cool, that doesn't mean young consumers have. And, clearly, Snapchat is winning when it comes to being cool in the eyes of teens and teen females in particular. But how does this compare to young adults? I'm going to pass on the mic to Sira to take you through the data on 18 to 24 year olds.

Sira Sartori:
Yes. So we consider young adults to be 18 to 24 years old in this webinar and in our report. So when we're looking at the top 10 for young adults, Nike still takes the top slot just like it does with teens, but we do see some different brands popping up. So on the top 10 list, five are the same as teens, five are different. We see the NBA, Instagram, Jordan, PlayStation, and Savage by Fenty pop up on the list, which just represents some of their interests as they start to age up. And Instagram, for example, is really a popular platform among this age group, so it does break into the top 10. And then as we move into the differences between young adult males as well as females, we really see some interesting differences here. Again, there are some similarities across both genders.

Sira Sartori:
But if you look at the adult males, you'll see Call of Duty as well as PlayStation, so really big into the video gaming brands. Also, Louis Vuitton is the only luxury brand that bakes, breaks the top 10, for the 18 20 four age group. They have done a lot of gaming activations in the past, which could be part of the reason that it does pop up into the top 10 for young males. Looking at young adult females, you'll see a lot of social media platforms on the list. So TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok shop all make the top 10. We actually track TikTok shop separately from TikTok just to analyze and see how that's doing, compared to TikTok as well. And this, age group of young females are very social forward. A lot of the big social media trends that we saw last year, like brat summer and memes around very mindful or very demure, very mindful, We're really driven by females on TikTok sharing and talking about these trends.

Sira Sartori:
So they're really pushing forward some of these cultural, trends that are happening on socials. And then as we move into our spotlight, we're actually going to highlight Apple Pay. So this might be a surprise to see this on the list as one of the top coolest brands for 18 to 24 year olds, but it just goes to show that truly any brand and any industry can make the top cool brands list. It really just depends on what they're doing. Right? If they're stay keeping up with trends and innovating and trying new things, they can really hit the mark with this age group, which is absolutely what Apple Pay has done and delivered on here. So 67% of young adults say that Apple Pay is cool. It makes the top 10 list for both young, males and females in this age bracket, so popular across the board. Apple Pay is really, you know, an innovator.

Sira Sartori:
Apple's known for their innovations, really across all of their products, but Apple Pay is really a pioneer in the digital wallet space. Now they definitely weren't the first ones to create a digital wallet, but they were really the first to connect it and really embed it into their devices. And so it just seamlessly integrates with everything that young consumers are already doing, which is spending a lot of time on their phones. So So we know they're going on to their phones to watch Netflix, go on Instagram, take pictures, stay in contact with their friends and family. So much of their lives happen on their phone, and now they can easily pay in person or online using a double tap with Apple Pay. So, again, it just seamlessly integrates, with everything that they're already doing. Another interesting thing for this age group specifically is when we ask them how they would describe a brand that's cool, they say one that would is popular and wanted by people my age. So this bracket of Gen Z really sees themselves and their generation and their peers as the ones who define what's cool.

Sira Sartori:
And they're saying Apple Pay is cool, and they're really big iPhone users. So 76% of smartphone users in this age group use iPhones over Androids. So they already have the iPhone. They're using Apple Pay. They're the ones defining what's cool. Them and all of their friends are using it, and that's just another aspect of what makes Apple Pay cool. So, ultimately, there's no one way for brands to reach cool. In this instance, having financial freedom and convenience is one way that Apple Pay is really, reaching these young consumers and defining what's cool in their industry and really not just keeping up with trends, but really setting the trends in this industry.

Sira Sartori:
And with that, I'll pass it over to Anto to chat about Western Europe.

Antonin Ficatier:
Thank you so much, Sira. And, just a few words just to clarify, what you're gonna see in this slide and and the next one are the the top coolest brands according to, young Europeans, teens, young adults. And for time's sake, we didn't dig into all the details that my colleagues in North America are going through, but we do have all the data in our reports and in this cool brand reports that we have. So just to make sure that you're not thinking, oh, Western Europe is just like, you know, we have few data. No. No. No. White pulse has all the data you need and you want should your brand be interested in and and is reaching young consumers in Western Europe.

Antonin Ficatier:
So you can see here that we have similarities again. Many of the top kudos brands among European teens are really staples at all. These are very popular, brands. And I I just want you to have a look at the list and find the one brand that is actually from Western Europe. I think you have it. It's Adidas, which is a German, brand. All the other brands are from North America, which tells you a lot, on this kind of, like, cool dominance that, North American brands have when they reach young consumers in Western Europe. I think it's fascinating, and it just speaks to the fact that for young Europeans owning a brand that comes from North America and more specifically from The US, it's just it's winning the cool factor, for them.

Antonin Ficatier:
It's something that they want to show others. And, you know, when we look at Apple, for example, we know from our data that young Europeans are less likely to own an iPhone than their North American peers, but it still makes the brand a cool one, and it's one that they want to own, despite the fact that they might not be able to. Actually, Android is is quite popular in the region. So, again, very important to keep in mind that, North American brands are really dominating the the, when it comes to the cool factor among young Europeans. And just to reassure you, we do have, European brands on our brand tracker. In fact, we have a lot. So this is not a bias or just to say, hey. We've only shown them, brands that are present in North America.

Antonin Ficatier:
No. No. No. We have, brands in, Western Europe. And in fact, in our report, we highlighted one which come just a bit, you know, further below, in fourteenth place among teens, which is Red Bull. And it's a drink brand, which you might know, from Austria. So, you know, we make sure to highlight brands out from Western Europe too. But the truth is, this demographic really is looking up true brands from North America.

Antonin Ficatier:
And it is the same for young adults. You know, you will see now on on the slides the ranking of the coolest brands, according to young adults in Western Europe. And you can see here again, just the fact that 90% are from North America with the exception of TikTok, which isn't. We also have a very interesting blend of, brands, you know, that that kind of make this mix of the coolest brands, brands in the kind of media slash tech, social media industry, but also kind of like, big retail brands, Victoria's Secret, SKIMS, Coca Cola. So here you have it, the top, 10 kudos brands, among young adults in Western Europe. But the one brand that we at YPulse wanted to highlight and to, you know, spend a few minutes explaining a bit the reason why, brand is such an important currency is a Victoria's Secret. So, you know, first of all, Victoria's Secret is present in Western Europe. It's not, you know, only in North America.

Antonin Ficatier:
There are stores. It's, it's a known brand among, young consumers in Western Europe. You can see here that 61% of, teens say it's a cool brand, 64% among young adults. But among teens, Victoria's Secret is actually the third coolest brand, which is quite an achievement, you know, next to huge brands like Nike and Coca Cola. It's very important to understand, and, I'm gonna take a guess here and guess that you're probably not a Gen Z, watching this webinar. You, are probably Millennial, like me or Gen Xer or we might have some boomers in the room. So here's the thing. What you might think of what you the associations that come to your mind when we tell you Victoria's Secret, are probably very different, than from Gen Z.

Antonin Ficatier:
And Victoria's Secret is a established, brand. It's not one that was just created a few years ago, but it went through, some major, revamp and and rebranding in the past few years. This was definitely noticed by young consumers in Western Europe, and they think that this is really cool what Victoria's Secret, has been doing. I don't think it's a coincidence that, Victoria's Secret relaunched the the fashion show, which was interrupted for, you know, over five years and just restarted six months ago and clearly was noticed by, young Europeans. I mean, the show itself was was incredible. It had over 2,000,000 views on YouTube, and it was just a perfect example of how a brand is keeping up with trends. Because it wasn't like the old, fashion show, what Victoria's Secret did was, investing immensely into body positivity. There were transgender models at the new fashion show.

Antonin Ficatier:
So it it's really embracing the cultural changes that, Gen Z likes to see. You can also, you know, just a quick look at their websites will tell you that really Victoria's Secret adapted to the changes that Gen Z wanted, the trends of athleisure, which we talk about in in in our reports. Body positivity, you know, diversity, all of these things are things that Victoria's Secret's really, regain, and it helped the brand to position itself as one of the coolest among young consumers in Western Europe, which is quite something. So it tells you a lot about how, you know, being cool is a currency that that can that brands can win back. Although they went through some, you know, difficulties in the past in terms of image, brands can definitely kind of recover and appear cool again in the eyes of young consumers. And now, you know, it's just like that. It's been so much fun to be with you today, and it's gonna be the end of our webinar. But before that, MaryLeigh is gonna walk you through some of the key insights of this webinar.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
Thank you so much, Anto. So, yes, we are almost done with our time, but just a few big takeaways for you. One, any brand can be considered cool. The diversity of brands and industries that were on all of the rankings that we showed you, really speak to that if you're doing the right things. What are the right things? Staying cool is keeping up with trends and trying new things. Keeping up with trends, though, these days means something a little bit different. Very often, it means keeping up with the trends that young people are starting. As Sira explained, so much of the content entrance that are on social media are being fueled by Gen Z.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
Gen Z see young Gen Z young adults especially see their peers as deciders of cool, and brands that are popular with their peers are the ones that are cool in their eyes. So really keeping up with the trends that Gen Z is setting, is incredibly important for brands who want to be seen as cool, in Gen Z's eyes. So if you are interested in understanding how your brand is perceived and whether you make the cool ranking in any way, please go to whitepulse.comcoolbrands2020five. You can sign up for your free Gen Z brand analysis as well as seeing a more blown out list of the cool ranking four teens. We are at the end of our time, but we have, for those who want to stay on, a few questions that we're happy to answer live. I know our wonderful team was answering some questions as we went. I'll leave up the site that you can visit as we address some of the, trickier questions, for you here live. So one question that we got was wanting to hear more about the shifting definition of luxury for Gen Z, how they define luxury versus how it's been defined in the past.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
This is really interesting. This is something that YPulse has covered very extensively. We have an annual luxury report where we look at how they define luxury. For previous generations, luxury tended to be about, well, a high price point, and exclusivity. But for these generations, luxury is more of a feeling, and it is absolutely about uniqueness, but not necessarily about being able to get something that no one else can get. Luxury has also been redefined to really include experiences in a way that previous generations, certainly Millennials did, but generations before might not have included in that luxury definition. And what we've really seen that's different with Gen Z is that they've started to categorize some brands as luxury that would really surprise older generations. Nike, I mentioned, is one of them.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
When we ask about the top luxury brands that they want to buy, and we ask that as an open end question. Nike is in the top ranking. We've written articles about this. You can search, YPulse.com for those. If you're a daily intelligence subscriber, pro or prime subscriber, you can find our articles on this topic. Nike being categorized as luxury in their eyes says a lot. Luxury is about quality, but also the price point for luxury is really having to be is needs to be put in context with their other behavior, which is mass merch shopping. They've been trained to have access to the cheapest of goods at all times.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
And so now anything that once would have been mid market almost feels like a splurge to them. So there's a lot of things at play here in their redefinition of luxury, certainly, that's changing things compared to previous generations. I'll answer one more question before we go. We had somebody ask, does cool backfire? Coming off like a brand is trying to be cool? So try hard as we would call it. Absolutely, if it's not authentic to your brand personality, what you'll notice is that the definition of cool here, keeping up with trends, does not necessarily say you have to use their slang. It doesn't say that you have to talk like a Gen Z. In fact, there was a huge wave of viral videos at the end of twenty four in both North America and Western Europe of brands kind of playing at using Gen Z slang, and kind of playing off the idea that it is cringe for some brands to use the terms that, you know, were the top words of the year, demure, and things like that. It's not gonna work for every brand.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
Not every brand is Duolingo. But the definition of cool for this, generation is not about sounding like them and looking like them. It's keeping up with trends, which can mean so many things. Trends in your industry, starting trends in your industry. It could mean trends really in social media. It can mean viral things and memes. There's really a wide expanse here. Fashion trends, of course, if that's, you know, applicable to your brand.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
So it's, again, not about cosplaying as Gen Z. It's about innovating, experimenting, trying new things, and continuing to do that, never resting on your laurels, as well as being unique to them. That, again, is a big part of being cool in the eyes of Gen Z according to our data. So, yes, there are times that it can come off as try hard. We wouldn't recommend that every brand use Gen Z slang. In fact, when we define Gen Z slang, we say, all brands should not be using this. But, it works for some. They do like when brands have personalities.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
That personality should be authentic to your brand, and not necessarily just trying hard to sound like or be a Gen Z yourself. So that brings us to the end of our time. I think that's the last question we're going to be answering. Thank you so much for joining us, and thank you so much to Anto and Sira for sharing this data with me. We're always so excited to share our brand tracking data or our behavioral or trend data, with those who are interested. So please join us for another Gen Z 101 later on in the year. We'll be sharing other information about brands, other data from YPulse. Again, all evidence mixed with us, but, really, we are asking young consumers how they feel and sharing that with you.

MaryLeigh Bliss:
So we hope we'll see you again soon. Thank you so much.