Gen Alpha is “very savvy when it comes to brands,” said Dani Mariano, president of Razorfish. But the young generation has different attitudes toward technology and learning than their older counterparts. They’re open to learning from brands, especially when creators are involved. And they’re eager to interact with others, both on and offline. Here are five key stats from Razorfish’s recent report on Gen Alpha.
Key stat: 65% of Gen Alpha parents think tech positively impacts their child.
What it means: Parents of Gen Alphas are about twice as likely to believe tech has a positive impact than parents of Gen Z. Specifically, parents of Gen Alpha think tech is good for independent thinking and for learning.
Brands can use tech’s positive impact to create learning opportunities for Gen Alphas that introduce them to the brand and also provide educational value.
Key stat: More than half of Gen Alphas use the internet to learn about what’s cool and trendy, brands, and tech products.
What it means: Much like the rest of us, Gen Alpha uses the internet to learn what’s cool. But for the youngsters, that information isn’t coming from traditional sources.
“What we're seeing for these kids is that the bigger the platform—so athletes, celebrities, big brands, TV commercials—they have less trust in those spokespeople and those formats,” said Mariano. That means brands should be looking to smaller and more niche online content creators in order to offer Gen Alpha trustworthy information online.
Key stat: 86% of US Gen Alphas would like their favorite brands to help them learn more about their interests.
What it means: “There's an opportunity for brands to be thinking about how [Gen Alphas] learn, how they like to ingest information, and then creating those experiences for them,” said Mariano.
Gen Alpha prefers to learn through how-to videos and games, according to the study. For brands, that means there is a content opportunity on places like TikTok and Instagram as well as in the games Gen Alpha plays, like Minecraft and Roblox.
Key stat: 71% of parents of Gen Alphas say their kids have a more mature understanding and knowledge of brands than they did at the same age.
What it means: It’s not too early for brands to make their impression on Gen Alpha. Gen Alpha’s favorite brands include Nike, Apple, and Adidas—brands that implement interactive experiences and work with creators. Smaller brands that want to make an impact on Gen Alpha may look to inspiration from Nike’s activations in the metaverse or Apple’s AI implementations.
Key stat: US Gen Alphas have more access to laptops, gaming consoles, and tablets than the average adult.
What it means: Marketers can reach members of Gen Alpha in the same places they reach their older Gen Z siblings. But they should keep in mind that Gen Alpha values interpersonal connection, rather than being isolated. Don’t lose sight of in-person experiences.
“The reality is that they still want to go in-store. They still want to touch things. They're not a group of people that are going to live 100% online,” said Mariano.
With reporting by Arielle Feger.
This was originally featured in the EMARKETER Daily newsletter. For more marketing insights, statistics, and trends, subscribe here.