Targeting by age doesn’t cut anymore, particularly for Gen Z.

For the second year, Horizon Media’s WHY unit has released its 2023 Gen Z Subculture Field Guide and outlines 10 new subcultures across five categories – identity, entertainment, sports, retail and music – that define Gen Z culture.

“We think it is so important for marketers to understand that when it comes to Gen Z, you can’t really have one marketing plan for the entire generation,” says Maxine Gurevich, SVP of cultural intelligence at Horizon WHY.

Some of the findings of the “Finger on the Pulse” survey this past August include that 76% of Gen Zs feel validated when they join a group that shares their same passions. A majority of Gen Zs (65%) consider themselves superfans or really big fans of something. Two-thirds don’t believe that it’s important for influencers to have a large following. They are 30% more than likely than older generations to feel that having several small interests is better than having fewer in-depth interests.

Horizon expects the future of social will be more niche and more fragmented. On average, Gen Zs are passionate about, and participate in, 20 different interest-based communities or fandoms. This coming together based on shared interests and passions, says Gurevich, is being led by Gen Z because of the power of social media after the prolonged social isolation of the pandemic. Subcultures drive social media culture and for Gen Z, social media culture is culture.

Last year’s report highlighted how Gen Z fully embraced individuality and doesn’t feel the need to conform to their peers. This year, participants gave the same response but Horizon also found that individuality, rather than conforming to what’s popular, is what yields social acceptance and creates pressure to stand out. The demands of hyper-individuality are balanced by an embrace of fluidity, the freedom to move from one interest to another without feeling rejected.

With so many niche interest and passion segments, Gurevich says connecting with Gen Z really depends on a brand’s unique business. “Challenge your KPIs, really make sure your social strategy is front and centre and not the last page in your deck in your marketing plan. It’s really making sure that you’re using subcultures as a jumping off point for creative briefs and media briefs and homing in on being inspired by these subcultures.

“Reach is not just as important as relevance in this day and age. It doesn’t even necessarily mean that you have to have a wide reach. You just have to reach communities and subcultures that are passionate, because they will then do that reach for you.”

The subcultures highlighted by Horizon include Nu Third-Culture Kids, reflecting the multicultural population, that accounts for nearly half (47%) of Gen Zs. Brands should celebrate their individuality with tailored products, services and bilingual communication features.

Comfort Creators are self-care enthusiasts and as a group give each other permission to relax in a fast-paced world, such as cozy gaming communities. In this segment, 71% have played a video game to improve mental health, focus or stress level. Brands can appeal to this subculture with comforting content for undistracted moments of calm.

Another subculture that offers many ways for brands to connect are Alternate Reality Gamers (ARG). They are passionate about deep immersion in a story and give brands the ability to engage with a collaborative community. They are interested in multi-player, real-time mystery games where the story unfolds across media channels with changes in real time based on in-game experiences.

Gurevich says Horizon tries to find subcultures and isolate unique subcultures that are relevant to the brand’s particular values, as well as their segmentation and audience target. “Then there is a test and learn approach that we always recommend doing, a test of messages across multiple subcultures with small amounts of investment. Then we see which messages rise to the top of which subcultures and then invest harder in the subcultures they’re seeing success on platforms across social. I think it definitely can translate to other media. Social as a testing ground is a great place to start once there is a solid understanding of the subcultures.”

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