The other day, a fellow advertising practitioner/ commentator, after being invited to an awards judging, remarked that they had never seen many of the entry campaigns.
Which raised a question: were they scam ads, or were they so sharply targeted and personalised that only the few thousand, best profile-matched prospects had watched them?
In a class of English majors, students were asked to write an essay on what worried them, other than the violence they see globally, and environmental issues. A common refrain among the students was this:
‘Compared with any other generation, GenZ creators have a much greater ability to create and publish their work, artists are more free to share and bypass hassle-laden middlemen, and small businesses can take birth online with ease. In essence, this means there is more of everything, which is good. However, as a consequence, there are far fewer shared experiences among our generation’.
What that means is that there is unlimited segmentation in every market, and infinitely more consumer options.
What that also results in is that we are no longer watching the same late-night shows on weekends. I could talk about the latest Netflix show I’m watching, and no one on the room would have heard about it. We have hyper-tailored Spotify playlists, we don’t listen to the same DJs on radio. There are popstars topping the charts and their names mean nothing to most people.
Targeted marketing is putting people inside lonely silos.
Of course, one might argue that with the infinite amount of content and experiences out there, personalisation helps filter through the noise and presents only the information and entertainment that is of interest to us, reduces user effort and enriches online experiences.
But even with that, how long do you spend pressing the remote before you finally choose your Netflix fix for the night?
Before hyper-personalised content, the shared experience of consuming the same news, game or even ads helped create a sense of community. Our worldview was shaped by reading and watching and experiencing the same stories, and people were more united as a result.
With much of their world experience being siloed, reaching them through their earbuds as they sit alone on their couch, it is no small wonder that GenZ feels isolated and disconnected. Even as they scroll through their Insta and TikTok, they are starting to notice the lack of new and interesting material in their feed.
Content fatigue due to over-personalisation isn’t limited to social media. Research on recommendation systems tells us that Amazon users are noticing stale and boring product offerings in the ‘Recommended for You’ section of the e-commerce platform. Order Argan Oil once, and the algorithm will suggest you buy it two years later.
For all the brouhaha around NikeiD some time back, the truth is – standard edition adidas Sambas and Stan Smiths and Chuck Taylors remain the biggest sellers. We all, Rishi Sunak included, are wearing the same sneakers as a shared experience. When we wear the same shoes, it brings us closer to walking in each others’ shoes.
On the other hand, when we customise our sneakers, we might achieve ‘self-expression’, but it comes at the cost of sharing something with our congregation.
When we congregate, we share values, behaviours and attitudes. It makes us feel welcomed, connected to others who are like us, and part of something bigger.
The good news …
The young are rediscovering the value of community. They are forming book clubs and film clubs, on social media and IRL. And joining the Swifties.
New sports like padel and pickleball are bringing them out of their dens and on to the court; they are going cycling and running.
Could we see a marketing future where meaning is created through shared experiences, rather than personalisation? After all, isn’t a crowd far more valuable than an individual?
Kunal Sinha is Chief Knowledge Officer at Ampersand Advisory, based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. He is the author of several books including The Future of India’s Rural Markets and Raw – Pervasive Creativity in Asia. He writes for MxMIndia every other Monday. His views here are personal.