There’s no such thing as a ‘typical Gen Z’. Yet marketers and strategists still treat them like they’re a homogeneous block. So maybe there’s no such thing as ‘Gen Z marketing’? Are generational labels still useful at all?

Maybe… but if you want to engage with your audience in a way that really grows your brand, it might be smart to look beyond their year of birth and understand what actually makes them tick.

 

Talking ’bout my generational myths

For a while, marketers believed they’d found a silver bullet. Categorise your audience by generation (a practice that really took off in the post-war period), assign them a handful of predictable traits, and build your campaigns around the stereotype. Easy.

The (now sadly very uncool) Millennials were avocado-fuelled narcissists. Gen Z live on a diet of TikTok and anxiety. Gen Alpha? Born with smartphones and short attention spans.

But the reality is messier. And the stakes are higher.

Education providers especially are operating in an increasingly complex and competitive environment. Yet too many are still relying on outdated generational labels that oversimplify the audiences they need to reach.

 

Generational myths vs. the attention economy

A few years ago, when “marketing to millennials” was all the rage, it was easy to forget that the generation spanned a vast range of backgrounds, values and behaviours. Fast forward to today, and we’re seeing the same lazy approach applied to Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

The problem is that these cohorts are more fragmented than ever. It’s easy to pit Gen Z and Gen Alpha against each other in a tidy comparison. But the real issue lies in treating either group as a cohesive, predictable block.

Gen Z marketing spans everyone from school-leavers to people in their late 20s. Within that same label are 17-year-olds just discovering higher education options and 28-year-olds navigating career pivots. 

And it’s not just the big age range which is the issue. Imagine two 25-year-olds. One of them grew up on a council estate, went to a state comprehensive school, and eschewed the chance to go into Higher Education due to the pressure to support their young family.

The other one went to Eton, then Oxbridge, and then onto the Civil Service fast-track graduate programme. They simply inhabit different worlds and are only alike in the most superficial of ways. They certainly have a different set of considerations to take in when making big decisions. Good luck getting your Gen Z marketing plan to speak to both of them!

Meanwhile, Gen Alpha is already being dissected as if a Year 3 pupil and a teenager making subject choices are somehow part of a single audience.

They’re not. Not behaviourally, not developmentally, and not in how they respond to marketing.

From broad labels to better questions

This doesn’t mean we should ignore generational context altogether. Social, economic, and technological forces do shape attitudes and behaviours; just not in the overly tidy ways that brand decks suggest.

Instead of saying “This is what Gen Z wants,” we should be asking:

  • What’s the spectrum of needs across different demographics?
  • How do students from different backgrounds and regions engage differently?
  • Which platforms capture attention and drive genuine growth, and which are just noise?


By reframing our perspective in this way, we can shift broad generalisations to more meaningful insight.

The brands and institutions that successfully grow amid a challenging economic outlook will be the ones who recognise nuance, ask better questions, and build campaigns rooted in real behaviour, not mere assumptions.

Because understanding your audience starts with seeing them as people, not personas.