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00:00How many of you self-identify as boomers? Let's try with boomers first. Okay. I'm on the cusp so
00:07I can raise my hand. How about Xers? Oh, I'm so sorry for you alienated lost people. Okay.
00:16Millennials. A lot of millennial love here. Okay. Any Gen Z in the room? Okay. Great. Keep us honest.
00:25Okay. We may have time for questions, so if we say something you don't like, please let us know.
00:32Thank you. Thank you, Suzanne and Variety, for inviting us. We have an amazing panel here.
00:37I'm going to let them introduce themselves in a second. Just want to talk about why Gen Z is so
00:43important in terms of spending power. They have been incredibly studied, analyzed, picked apart
00:50microscopically, and we've seen a 25% increase in their spending year over year, according to the
00:56Wall Street Journal. They are also on track, not today, but in the next 10 years to inherit a massive
01:05amount of wealth from those boomers who are not in the room. And their spending levels are anticipated
01:11to be 36 trillion by 2040 or something like that. So while things may be bleak now, you know, we need
01:20to sort of engage these hearts and minds for the future. So I'm going to start off giving you a little
01:26homework. So take notes. Usually we do this at the end of the panel, but I wanted to start, have each of our
01:32panelists, our lovely panelists, introduce themselves, giving you something to look up later on, not during our
01:38panel. Okay. But maybe later on, if you really kind of understand from their perspective, what Gen Z is,
01:45what sort of epitomizes the Gen Z mentality right now. So first, we're just going to do a little
01:49one by one. Patrick will start with you. You can introduce, that's Patrick. Patrick will introduce
01:56himself with what do you think these folks should look up later on today? I'm going to give you a name.
02:02His name is Ziad Adid. You're going to have to spell that. Yeah. I'll get it to you in a second. But
02:09my name is Patrick O'Keefe. I'm the chief integrated marketing officer at Elf Beauty.
02:14How many of you are fans of Elf Beauty? How many know Elf Beauty? Okay, great, great, great, great.
02:19For the men in the room, we do have skincare. So that's really exciting.
02:23Elf Beauty has been around. We have four or five brands in our portfolio. I'm going to talk today
02:29primarily about Elf Cosmetics and Elf Skin. What my job is, it's integrated marketing. So what is
02:34that? Innovation creates the product. Brand and creative create the story. My job is to bring
02:39it to life. And under my purview, I also have entertainment. So it's very fitting for us to
02:45be here today. So excited to be part of this conversation. Great. And what is the thing they
02:49should look up? Can you spell it? Ziad is, it's a person. Okay. Why I brought Ziad to the table is he is
02:57the epitome of Gen Z. So I don't know how to spell his last name. It's A-H-M-E-D. But he is truly a
03:06driver and is a change maker in the space of Gen Z. And I'm a super fan. Great. So Ziad? Ziad. Z-I-A-D.
03:15Ziad. Okay, we'll try that. All right. Zakiya. Hi, I'm Zakiya Holland. I run brand marketing for
03:22Sony Pictures Television. And for Sony Pictures Television, we are the studio that creates all
03:29the shows that you know and love. The Boys, Outlander, Wheel of Time, just to name a few.
03:35And we work with several amazing network partners like Hulu, Disney, Netflix, all of them. We
03:42are the creators behind a lot of those key shows. I didn't do the person. I did the hashtag.
03:50Anything that they should look for. The hashtag that I have for Gen Z is YOLO or live your best
03:57life. Live your best life. Okay. Great. Thank you. Julia. Hi. Oh, is this on? Yes. Julia Collier. I'm
04:06the chief marketing officer of J.Crew. I am the only retailer up here today, which is very
04:13interesting. Well, you know, clothing, obviously. So I actually recently joined J.Crew just a few
04:20months ago from Skims, which obviously is one of the Gen Z brands. So coming to J.Crew and really
04:29thinking about how does heritage become redefined for a newer audience and taking some of those very,
04:38you know, key tenants of an American retail brand and reinterpreting them for a young audience
04:44is really interesting. So I'm excited to be here today. We'll dig into that. Yeah, absolutely. Oh,
04:51and my thing is, so again, just staying in my world, there is an amazing New York Times article. It came
04:57out a couple months ago, which is titled Gen Z Hates Trends. And this is something that, you know,
05:06it's a great article. It's all about reclaiming your personal style. And I think especially in the
05:10macro of everything that's happening right now, the sentiment amongst Gen Z is something that I
05:17think is applicable to everyone and how people are engaging with brands and how people are making,
05:22you know, purchase decisions, especially when it comes to their wardrobe. So yes, that's my homework
05:27in New York Times. New York Times, Gen Z Hates Trends. Gen Z Hates Trends. Right. You heard it here.
05:32Or from them, really, not from me. Check that out. Monica. Hello, hello. Monica Austin. I am the chief
05:40marketing officer at Blizzard. We are a gaming publisher, part of the Xbox ecosystem. And let's see,
05:49we talked about a little backstage, and this is for the Gen Z folks in the room. You know, I would say
05:55cringe would be something to talk about, you know, as it relates to this. None of us are Gen Z,
06:02you know, and I think that's something we should talk about on this stage, which is,
06:05you know, how do we bring in Gen Z to the most relevant tables to make sure we're building their
06:10perspective in. And so we just want to acknowledge that as a group. It's a little cringe. The thing I
06:16would say from like a look it up that maybe you haven't seen is core core. It's a gaming deep cut.
06:22Have fun. Barry. Hi, I'm Barry. I lead Hulu marketing. And okay,
06:32some fans will take it. I'm not, I'm a geriatric millennial, but I, I did ask for elder, but
06:38elder. Yeah. I don't know. Maybe I'm older than you. Um, I, uh, I did ask some Gen Zers to make
06:45sure that my perspective was not cringe before I sat up here to represent. Um, I would say to look up
06:53Loewe's tomato clutch bag. It hit my radar just this week. They, they released it, but I feel like
07:01they did a really good job of, um, jumping into a meme. And, uh, I also want one. So if anybody here
07:08works at Loewe, let me know and Loewe, if you are not a luxury brand followers, L O E W E, that's how
07:16it's spelled in Spanish. So, um, thank you for that. And, um, my hashtag that I would say, or my, the thing I
07:23would ask you to look up if you're not familiar with it, and this will resonate with you is chicken
07:28jockey. Okay. That's good. Yeah. Hashtag chicken jockey. Go look that up and you'll understand why.
07:34So let, let's talk about Gen Z and their, it's specific role in each of your companies because
07:39it's very different from company to company. Monica, since I picked on chicken jockey, which
07:44is a Minecraft reference and Minecraft is blown up and the last of us is blowing up and gaming
07:48has always been a huge force in entertainment. What's, what is the role of Gen Z in, at Blizzard right
07:56now? Are they still sort of the, the lead for you all? Are you, you know, hot on alpha and, you
08:03know, what, what is the role for Gen Z of Gen Z? Yeah. I mean, Gen Z, um, I'd say that they are the
08:09core, you know, gaming, uh, Blizzard has some of the biggest gaming IP that there is across PC and
08:15console. Um, and we're talking about, you know, 10 year old games, 20 year old games, 30 year old
08:20games. Um, as you highlighted, you know, gaming is one of the largest, if not
08:26the largest entertainment medium in the world. And we're certainly seeing testament to Minecraft,
08:33testament to some of these massive IP coming from the gaming space that are blowing up
08:37across, um, theatrical and other media landscapes is that, you know, these cohorts, we want to
08:45call them these, this generation is not only critical to our current games, but absolutely
08:51critical to what we're building for the future. And thinking about them as the new core that's
08:55going to come up and really define the types of games that we make, the types of ways that
09:00we reach out and connect to them and monetize for them. Um, and certainly shaping the way
09:04we market to them kind of on a, on a regular basis. And so, uh, yeah, we, we think about
09:10it and, uh, they're, they're critical to our business. Yeah. I, one thing I love about
09:15this panel is, um, you all do have such different, um, perspectives on Gen Z. And I'm curious, Julia,
09:21I know you're new to J.Crew, but Skims obviously was very fueled by Gen Z and J.Crew, as I've
09:29learned earlier today, you have a lot of fans in the audience. How many of you wore J.Crew
09:34or wear J.Crew right now in your, okay, you have a lot of history and you talked about some
09:40of your titles being 30 years old. Jen, you know, uh, J.Crew is one of next to Sony, the
09:47oldest brand up here. It is, it's like a Gen X brand. So how, you know, Gen Z, maybe do
09:54they know what J.Crew is? How do you approach that? And what is the role vis-a-vis your other
09:58demographics? Yeah. You know, I think for, for us, we're really interested in learning from
10:04Gen Z. Um, our core customer is really a millennial. So their shopping behaviors are completely
10:13different from obviously the younger, uh, cohorts, but what we're learning from Gen Z and why we're
10:18so interested in them is that they really reflect, um, the mindset, I think, of a lot of America
10:26right now, which is being very conscious about what you're purchasing. Um, you're not, you
10:32know, and it is why I love that New York Times article, because I think that we want to feel
10:36good about what we're buying. We don't want to spend a lot of money, but we want to be confident
10:41that what we do buy will last us for more than, you know, a month or two. And that these pieces
10:46will stay with us forever. You know, I think the amazing thing about J.Crew is that we get you
10:52dressed every single day. And that's something that no matter your age, you relate to, right? Like
10:57you want to feel good about what you wear. You want to feel like you have options. And, um,
11:03for Gen Z specifically, I think that they, they want to feel good, as I said earlier, about
11:09buying from a brand that has a perspective on style, but also has a legacy. Um, you know,
11:15so for us, we're really trying to think about, well, what does that mean to our brand? Is
11:21that really a, you know, product play? How does it, uh, dovetail into marketing? So, um,
11:27really just being more conscious about how we communicate, what we say, obviously Gen Z is
11:33the savviest, uh, generation we've had. So, you know, you can't pull the wall over their eyes. They
11:38can see through. Or you get cringe. Or you get cringe and you get called out, you know, people,
11:43it's, it's a very different landscape to, um, even a year ago. So. And one thing, you know, Gen Z are
11:49super enamored with what my team calls new nostalgia, which is nostalgia for eras they didn't even live
11:56in. Um, and I would think that, or is that something you're looking to mind? Um, absolutely. I mean,
12:02nostalgia has a cap to it, right? Like you, millennials feel a way about a J.Crew because
12:08we lived it, you know, we all have our, you know, J.Crew stories, whether they're going to your first,
12:15um, like buying for school or buying for, uh, graduation or yeah, like anything, a first job,
12:22you normally went there with your, you know, parents. So there's a lot of, that is all baked
12:27into how a millennial views nostalgia at J.Crew. But for Gen Z, they weren't around for any of that.
12:33So again, it comes back to like what we offer and what sits at the core of that is this like
12:39timeless style that has, you know, quality and value. And that is what heritage means.
12:47And that's something they're looking for now when things are super expensive.
12:51Exactly. You want to don't really want to buy five fast fashion, even though that's all they can
12:55afford. Um, thank you for that. Patrick, I want to go to you cause your audience, uh, your Gen Z
13:00audience has really been so, uh, critical to your growth. Well, actually, um, six years ago when I
13:08started at elf, um, I sat down with my boss and she said, we have a big responsibility because we stand
13:13for every eye, lip and face. And that is a huge responsibility. And sometimes we piss people off,
13:19but at the end of the day, we are the number one Gen Z brand by Piper Sandler. It's been seven seasons
13:24with a really high, um, sentiment of 35%. And the next brand below us is, is pretty, there's a big
13:32distance, a big Delta, if you would, if you would look at the number and we do take Gen Z. We don't
13:39take the pedal off the metal, if you will. We lean in hard with the Gen Z consumer. We believe in them.
13:44They are cool and we do really cool shit. So it's kind of fun to play in the space and,
13:49and also recognizing that across the board, um, shifting into the space, we look at, that's why
13:56we started an entertainment arm is to really make sure that we're talking to every consumer,
14:00um, specifically the Gen Z-er. Well, and entertainment and content is their love language,
14:05right, for Gen Z. Zakiya, you're, uh, at, at SPE, you work, as you mentioned, and, and Barry,
14:12you too, you know, across many different demographics. How do you see the role of Gen Z in growing your
14:20business? Well, it's super important because, you know, Gen Z consumes more media and entertainment
14:26than any other demographic. So, and not to mention that they consume probably seven or more hours a
14:33day of, um, media and entertainment. So figuring out for us, and, and because we have shows that run
14:40the gamut from, um, I think I mentioned Outlander, which is an older audience, or maybe even Sausage
14:46Party, which is very much so a Gen Z brand. And just figuring out how to work with, you know,
14:52the intent and the creators of the show, how they wanted to bring it about working with our partners,
14:57like a Hulu and so forth, of figuring out their strategies and acquisition plans, and then
15:03creating snackable content that feeds into the marketing hooks and delivering them into the right
15:08places at the right time. That's really how we work, but it is a very important generation for us
15:14because their spending power will be massive and it's very soon. Yeah, Barry. Yeah. I mean,
15:21Gen Z's not just a part of our audience. They're, they are, they are helping to accelerate our content
15:29to be a part of culture. When they are really into one of our shows, um, it's a hit with Gen Z. It is,
15:36it's not just something that people are watching. It becomes something that is, you know, reimagined,
15:43a show that's reimagined, it's memed, it's shared, it, it becomes a part of the cultural conversation.
15:50I, you know, I think if I'm allowed to give one example, um, the- Hold that for one second. You
15:55will. We will get to examples. I know everyone's chomping a bit for examples. So I just want to
15:59recap something you said that's super important. So Gen Z, even if your audience isn't primarily Gen Z,
16:04they can be an accelerant and an amplifier. So I think it's really important and critical to look
16:09at some of the brands that directly market to Gen Z, even if you are not one of them, to understand how to
16:15get your message out there, right? And it's more challenging than ever, right? There's more content
16:19than ever before. There's so many streaming platforms and websites and apps and everything,
16:25so many ways and social media platforms to get your content. Zakiya, you shared with me a really
16:31interesting statistic. Um, do you remember, uh, talking about how hard it is to get, to get their
16:38attention? Yeah. I'll ask the, um, audience here. What do you think the attention span is
16:43of Gen Z demographic? Guess what the attention span of Gen Z is. Eight seconds. Yep. I read a nugget.
16:53It's a seven to eight second. Like I wouldn't call it even, it's, it's kind of a filter, not a deficit.
17:00And this generation, they just process smarter or process faster and scroll smarter. And so my
17:10generation, we were, we're more of searching on Google and sending text messages. This generation,
17:19they're searching on Tik Tok where they're also purchasing and they're also messaging on Snapchat.
17:24So for trying to figure out how to meet them where they are, be flexible and nimble. And like I said
17:31earlier, there's the snackable nuggets of content that can be in front of them really quickly because
17:36they're going to make a decision. Is this for me or not very quickly and move on. I want to get a t-shirt
17:43that says process faster, scroll smarter. I think that's really great. As contrast, I looked it up and
17:51allegedly, um, millennials and Gen X need about 12 seconds to process and people my age and older need 20.
18:03So, um, and, and that actually brings me to my next topic, which is, um, you know, these misperceptions
18:11sometimes about Gen Z that we hear, um, how they operate, um, is sometimes from other people with
18:19other generations kind of said with disdain, right? Oh, they do that and they do that.
18:23But, um, I think because they process information so differently, sometimes we have to rethink
18:29some traditions in marketing. So for example, recently I was having a conversation about the
18:33role of billboards in a campaign, right? And it used to be when I was growing up, the billboard was sort
18:39of the be all, the end all and everything. And that was how you got your message out into the world.
18:44But now you've got a situation where not only Gen Z, but as so many of us, we wake up and first thing
18:49in the morning, we look at our phones, right? And the difference, I just did a whole study on this,
18:54the difference in key art, when you're looking at your phone, where the tiles are like this big
19:00on a streamer, for example, um, you need closeups of faces. You need, like, you can't have subtlety in
19:07those things because it's not a billboard anymore. And just kind of rethinking. I'm curious from your
19:12perspective and I'll anyone who wants to jump in. What are some of the things that, um, sometimes you,
19:19you need to disabuse other people about in terms of like, I've heard people say, Oh, when I was 20,
19:25this is the way I looked at the world. It's like, you can't do that. Very. Yeah. I mean,
19:30they can sniff out the gloss, the script, like anything that is too tailored. It's, you know,
19:36kind of what Zakiya was talking about too. It's not about just being on their feet. It's about
19:41being a part of their feed so that it feels like it belongs there. And, you know, for us and how
19:47we've changed, you know, our approach, um, in our campaigns is really leaning into creators and,
19:55you know, influencers and not just working with them, but giving them the space to
20:03really share their POV, not being prescriptive, you know,
20:06You can share the campaign now if you, the specific one you want.
20:09Yeah. Oh, well, um, well, yeah, I was going to talk about secret lives of Mormon wives.
20:14I don't know if anybody here is a fan. It, this season is crazy on May 15th. Um, we saw them all
20:21this week at the get real house, which was, you got to see it all unfold, but secret lives of Mormon
20:26wives. That was, I mean, that's an unscripted series on Hulu that what came out of a swinging
20:34scandal in the Mormon community that really went viral on tick tock. So we knew for that campaign,
20:41it had to be built around the Gen Z audience. So it was, you know, really low fi
20:47tick tock, you know, trends that we were tapping into for, you know, to reveal like the cast and,
20:54or like this, the tick tock sound from the, from the, um, Mormon wives theme song, you know,
21:00it was used more than 35,000 times, but, but that, but that those creators and letting them have
21:05their space to use their voice and their POV, we've increased our budget there in a time when
21:11I don't think a lot of marketing budgets are getting increased, but our, our investment in
21:15influencers is we've increased it, you know, almost 600% in the last few years.
21:21Monica. I love this topic. I think that it's so important, especially as marketers in the room.
21:26And to go back to what, what you said about, um, you know, long form content on tick tock is 90
21:33seconds. It's 90 seconds. Like that is the new, like when we used to make three minute trailers,
21:38when we used to make, you know, long form stuff that's on YouTube, like they just don't give a
21:42shit. So you have to really rethink your mix. And I think to your, to your point, like there are
21:48not enough spots and dots to convince this group that through your ads, that they're going to like
21:53convert and like try your thing or watch your thing or download it or whatever. Like this group
21:59more than any group ever is like word of mouth. Who's talking about it? Why do they care? What is
22:05my friend group doing? Are they playing or not? Like that is all that they care about. And so if my team
22:11never made an ad again, I'd be stoked, be like, great. You know, if they were like, we're going to
22:16put all of our media budget into creators, influencers, and content, like let's go, you
22:22know? And I think the hard part of that as a marketing organization is we don't, we, we are
22:28not at the point where we are measuring that. So you go to finance and they're like, well, I don't
22:32know. I understand your LTV CAC model from all these ads that you run, right? Like who's dealing
22:37with that right now in the room? And so we have to do a lot better to sort of prove out over and over
22:43again, the value of this work and the impact to the business, because just conversation alone,
22:47obviously is not also like a win, you know, you've got to, it has to convert to the bottom.
22:52And so I just think that is like such an important thing for like everyone in the room to really
22:57grok. Yeah. And Julia, I'm curious, what learnings did you take from SKIMS to, I'm sure you had to
23:04educate a lot of people at J.Crew they hadn't really embraced and you're, and you're three months in and
23:10you're starting to create programs for Gen Z, but what, what was sort of like the myth busting
23:15you had to do? I mean, I think that a misconception to go back to your, um, earlier question is that
23:21Gen Z is only on their phones because they actually aren't all the time and they do crave
23:28physical experiences. Um, you know, SKIMS did it in a very different way to J.Crew, but for J.Crew,
23:35it's really about, uh, being hyper localized and, you know, those perform incredibly well.
23:44And of course the content finds its way onto people's phones and that's how you build the
23:48hype and et cetera. And it was the same model. When you say incredibly localized, you mean physically,
23:53physically bricks and mortar. Yes. Like in the real world, you are in, you know, person with people.
23:59I think especially for retail brands, it is, you know, that is where you get a, um, uh, direct,
24:07uh, click to conversion. You have them there, you know, obviously very, uh, captive, but
24:14what you have an opportunity to do is build loyalty that way. And so I think for brands that are,
24:19I mean, obviously it's just such a competitive space and at SKIMS, we were very, um, our model was
24:25like go bigger, go louder, take up more mindshare, take up more feed. And that still has a place for
24:31sure. Um, I mean, I obviously love that model, but for J.Crew, it's slightly different. Our role
24:36within American retail is, is more, um, it's more localized, but I think that's how we can have
24:44loyalty with, uh, Gen Z. That makes sense. Patrick, um, we were talking earlier about sort of this,
24:50uh, two truths. You can hold two opposing truths in your, in your head at the same time about, um,
24:59Gen Z right now, as we talked about are set to inherit all this wealth, but right now they can't
25:04even afford eggs or nor that any of us can really. But, um, but yeah, you know, just the, the crisis
25:11that we're in now, how do you get your head around that in this audience? Yeah, there, there's a word I'm
25:17going to use is called contradiction. And I think the word contradiction means so many different
25:21things to so many different people. This world is full of contradiction, but I, at, at ELF, um, we,
25:27we try not to be that word. Um, we are what we call bold disruptors with a kind heart. We, we disrupt
25:34norms, we shape culture and we connect communities, which is the framework in which we work and live
25:39every day. Why do I love that? I love that because we always lean into purpose and I, Gen Z loves purpose.
25:45They love to understand what the building a community and I can give you one or two examples
25:51in, in our world in the immersive space with Roblox and Twitch. Um, we just launched a financial
25:55literacy program today, which I'm super excited about. It's earn, learn and flex. Did you get
26:02elf in there? Yeah. All right. Super fun. And you know, just a lot of the work that we're also doing
26:08with women in sports with Billie Jean King and Catherine Legg, Indie 500, our partnership with
26:12iHeart, which they're rock stars. We love them all. They're, they're brilliant partners in the sense
26:17of really supporting women in sports. So when you find purpose as a company and you know what your
26:22brand stands for, um, we talk about the bullshit. We, we don't want to do bullshit. We want to make
26:28sure that we're standing up for what we believe. Um, and sometimes it doesn't land. For example,
26:33when we stood up for women reproductive rights, um, there's a world out there that does not believe in
26:38that. And, but we were, we, we stood firm. Um, Catherine Legg, um, is part of, um, yeah, she's,
26:47uh, she's the fastest female driver, um, last year in the Indie 500. This year, she's going to be part
26:52of NASCAR. Um, I would look her up right now because she's going through a tough time. And if, um, we need
26:57to be supporting her, um, as a woman is the only woman in this space. So again, those are the moments
27:03that we support and, you know, 77% of young girls are being bullied on Twitch. Um, we created a channel
27:10called LFU. Basically it's a FU to anyone that wants to bully someone. And we want to show up loud and
27:17proud, create a safe space for women to do makeup and also game. Cause there's a lot of badass gamers
27:22out there that are women. So again, it's purpose, it's community. Those are the things that we lean into
27:28every day. And I'm super proud of the work we're doing. That's great. So it sounds like you're
27:32trying to also employ some empathy and understanding what the world looks like from their point of view.
27:38Zakia, what examples, um, when you think of like really hitting the nail on Gen Z, what are some
27:44examples of some work you've done? I would say we've done a little bit of, of, and even in my world
27:52like Coca-Cola is a lot of surprise, um, owning the digital space, but also figuring out ways to
28:01show up in real life. That's immersive, disruptive, it resonates. And a lot of ways of doing that
28:09recently, um, for the IP of our series, the boys, we bought to life, bought a burger, which was a
28:16restaurant that had only existed, um, in the show and we bought it to life, uh, actually here, um,
28:24on Melrose and we created this experience. We leveraged the talent of the show. We brought in
28:30influencers for the very first part of it to kind of create that FOMO or, or, uh, word of mouth. And
28:37we had lines wrapped around the building for, um, the whole time of the experience. And with it,
28:43we got, we garnered a ton of media, a ton of amazing sentiment. Um, so that's just,
28:49I would say a little bit of stunty things within real life, bringing the IP that people know and
28:55love, um, to them. And then also leveraging, as you said earlier, this notion of putting our content
29:01in the hands of influencers and letting them create and disseminate to their audience and then their fans
29:07as well. That's amazing. Um, I wanted to ask you ladies, you can, um, you can volunteer. Um,
29:14are there brands that are, excuse me, are there brands that are out there that you have your eyes
29:19on that you feel, um, are really crushing it with Gen Z? I have two, I mean, who's following Nutter
29:28Butter's TikTok? Anybody? Cause I was like, yes, like totally unhinged how they got that through
29:37the like strategic planning. I like kudos. I want to know who that is. And that's exactly the type of
29:44uncomfortable, like expressions that brands need to figure out is like stuff that your boss who is
29:52Gen X and higher elder millennial is going to be like, I totally don't get that's probably when
29:57you're on the right track. And I think that's why they're crushing it. So I, I'm like, I love it.
30:02And they're just going fully, you know, social and tick tock first. I love that. Barry, how do you
30:07get comfortable with that sort of risk? Right? Cause that sounds like I'm what I'm kind of hearing from
30:13everybody is like, you sort of have to take a bit of a risk to get their attention because if you're
30:18not going to put the effort out, they're not going to. Yeah. But sometimes it doesn't have to be the
30:22brand that's taking the risk, especially for, you know, a brand like Hulu, where we work with
30:28so many different creatives talent and, and supporting them in that moment too, and letting them
30:37run with it. So letting the talent or the, the creators take the risk. Yeah, for sure.
30:43But yeah, I totally agree. The, the, the, the brands that are doing really weird
30:47shit, that's what's unmissable. That's what you really, and that's what Gen Z cares about.
30:53I'm going to throw Liquid Death. Liquid Death definitely is a brand that does really
30:56Liquid Death. Okay. It's a water company. Yeah. Does everyone know Liquid Death? Okay.
31:03Anybody else want to throw any, we're almost at time, but we're not going to do questions.
31:07Gen Z is doing such a great job. And Hermes, like those luxury brands that are having fun,
31:13I think, and like brands, I think have a lot of opportunity, especially in the luxury space to be
31:18fun. Um, yeah, I, I am a huge fan of what, uh, a tomato bag does. Yeah. And they just like
31:25irreverent and tomato. Yeah. They do a really good job. With this love, Gen Z has this crazy
31:32love for surreal and fantasy and blurring lines. And, you know, sometimes people say,
31:38well, they just grow up and be normal. Like, do you think, how will they grow up? How will they
31:45be elder Gen Z at some point? What's the future of Gen Z? I hope they don't. I hope they stay,
31:51you know, Oh wait, I almost said the word that we promised on this stage. We would not say which
31:54was there's a drinking game for authentic and community authenticity and community.
32:03But I think that we have to bring them in the room. They are going to shape our brands. They're
32:09going to shape our strategies. We don't need to, I don't think hypothesize about what they're going
32:13to be. They need to help us in this room, you know, identify how to reach their generation and
32:19beyond. And so it's really on us to, to bring them in and not to try to overanalyze, I think.
32:23Can you make them the, are they the experts in your organizations about, uh, about reaching Gen Z?
32:29Do you have formal? For sure. How do you do that? How do you formalize that?
32:33We do gut checks with them all the time. Yeah. I have a ton of Gen Z-ers on my team. So,
32:38yeah, definitely. So you, and they tell you they're very. Oh, hell yeah. Like, that's not cool.
32:43And you're like, okay, they're very blunt. On that note, if you're marketing a Gen Z,
32:48make sure you ask a Gen Z, right? And, um, hopefully you have your homework for tonight
32:53and you'll learn some interesting new phrases and people. And we thank you. Thank you to the
32:58panelists. Thank you to Variety. Thank you to the audience. Have a great lunch.
33:01Thank you to the panelists. Have a great lunch.