Looking Back: Youth
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This year, we experienced a huge transformation in how teenagers use social media. As we moved closer to peak visual culture, our macrotrend Paradox Personas explored how Generation Z drove a new approach to Instagram that rejected self-promotion in favour of self-awareness.

Making it clear that their multifaceted identity is not a product or a brand, Generation Z turned to their peers for entertainment in a celebration of Everyteen Media, focused their real-life friendships with the help of Snapchat, migrated to TikTok to parody their online selves and harnessed Tinder to form alternative curriculums.

Brands cannot rely on a URL to find these teens. To these consumers, the offline and online worlds exist in harmony, and digital platforms are enabling them to form a more multifaceted analogue self. As Julie Weitz, a visual artist who explores the psychological impact of digital media on selfhood, argues: ‘The critical distinction is to recognise the difference between the persona they project in bits of information versus their complex, constantly growing selves.’

The most successful youth campaigns of 2019 tapped into the younger generation’s cynical nature. In China, cold and flu medicine brand 999 Cold Remedy released a digital and print campaign to refresh its old-fashioned image.

Created in partnership with advertising agency Serviceplan, the campaign tapped into the Chinese tradition of wearing leggings in winter to prevent colds, which young people are snubbing in favour of fashion. To encourage this generation to wear leggings and stay warm, the brand re-imagined the garments as high fashion, tongue-in-cheek styles emblazoned with large logos.

999 Cold Remedy is a household brand – it is the top selling cold and flu medicine in China and its classic green and white packaging has made it highly recognisable. The campaign, which represented the brand’s first change in visual identity since its launch in 1991, aimed to rejuvenate the brand for a younger, meme-savvy audience. According to Serviceplan, the campaign garnered more than 430m online impressions within a month of its launch.

Generation Z retail spaces evolved in 2019, as phygital innovators took over from old-fashioned mall veterans. In New York, Studs brought Instagram-optimised interior design to the piercing parlour, re-inventing ear piercing services for a new generation of teenagers.

Opening in the Nolita district in November, Studs was conceptualised after co-founder Anna Harman found piercing services in tattoo parlours didn’t fit in with today’s consumer tastes and expectations. As a result, Studs occupies the gap between mall brands, tattoo parlours and luxury studios. Making the experience more comfortable, its piercings are done in private rooms with a needle rather than a gun. Its selection of jewellery includes Earscapes – personalised combinations of earrings that can be mixed and matched to create unique looks – that are priced accessibly to appeal to Generation Z.

‘We tried to envisage: what does today’s late teen to early 20-year-old want, so we did a lot of playing with light, materials and colours in a way that we wanted to feel fresh, but also a place that felt zen and spa-like, appropriate for what is effectively a small medical procedure,’ Harman told Adweek.

Now that you know what shaped 2019, discover what’s on the horizon. Download our Future Forecast 2020 report comprising 50 new behavioural patterns across 10 key consumer sectors, expert opinion pieces and interviews with global innovators.