If Everyone’s Talking to Gen Z, Who’s Listening?

"Gen Z broke the marketing funnel."

"Gen Z is unlike any generation."

"How Gen Z is changing the game."

You’ve heard it all before. These are the headlines that continue to dominate trend reports and marketing decks. Everyone’s trying to hack the Gen Z mindset. To decode the why behind their purchase behavior. To prove just how different they are from the generations before them.

But maybe the truth is much simpler.

Gen Z is not one singular demographic with shared preferences, habits, or beliefs. Yet for years, “Gen Z” has been the shiny object in every pitch – marketing shorthand for every trend, mood, or cultural shift under the sun. You’ve even probably heard that this generation is killing cable, reshaping beauty, and are allergic to traditional ads.

But Gen Z is not a personality type, it’s an age group. And boiling millions of young people down to a single aesthetic or mindset isn't a strategy. It’s a shortcut that skips real insight.

Yes, they’re digitally native and socially aware. Yes, they tend to reject anything that feels overly polished or performative. But reducing them to chaotic memes and TikTok trends ignores the deeper truth. This is a generation shaped by instability. Many have never known a world without climate anxiety, political division, or economic uncertainty. The internet isn't a playground. It’s become a haven where they find identity, connection, and power.

So, is the question "how do we market to Gen Z?" or is it "how do we stop marketing to them?". I mean, they've seen it all. They know when they're being sold to and they reward brands that speak with them, not about them.

Here’s the real hack: stop treating “Gen Z” like a strategy and instead, start building for people, not personas.

A 23-year-old art student in Atlanta and a 19-year-old retail worker in Phoenix might both be Gen Z, but they are not the same. When we over-index on generation, we under-deliver on human insight.

It might just be time to retire the buzzword and dig a bit deeper.