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Engaging a new consumer cohort

The purchasing power and market influence of Generation Z is accelerating. How can brands capture the attention of this influential consumer cohort? Join us to gain new understanding about the unique characteristics, values, behaviours and communication preferences of Generation Z.

Discover which research tools and techniques are delivering nuanced insights and helping brands develop authentic and meaningful interactions.

Key contributions from:

Coty * Twitch * Asahi * Amnesty International * Sneak Energy Drinks * Chivas Regal * C4 * AICPA & CIMA  

  • Discover behaviours, values, and preferences that define this unique and influential cohort
  • Compare research methodologies and tools for capturing and analysing Gen Z data and lived experiences
  • Examine real world examples of how market research is underpinning brand innovation and fresh engagement with Gen Z
  • Hear first-hand from Gen Z panelists as they share their opinions and experiences, providing insights into their views, motivations, and aspirations
Venue

Radisson Blu Edwardian
9-13 Bloomsbury Street,London,WC1B 3QD

 

Lisa Balestrieri, Senior Consultant, Kantar
Lisa sits in Kantar Consulting’s Creative Strategy team and has 5 years of experience working in Brand Strategy and Human & Cultural Insights across a variety of industries – from FMCG to beauty, fashion, and travel. She also has extensive research working on Brand Purpose, Positioning and DEI projects.

Lisa gets her energy from drawing the link between wider macro trends, emerging culture, and real human needs, enabling brands to drive meaningful change. Growing up in a bilingual and bicultural household, she is passionate about how different cultures shape people’s attitudes, behaviours and values.

Recent projects include helping a dairy brand in the Middle East redefine their purpose through the lens of female empowerment and unpacking a leading fashion brand’s positioning and DNA through a consumer and cultural lens to inform strategic recommendations.  

 

Marcella Bruno Senior Strategist, Discover.ai

Marcella Bruno is a Brand Strategist and Consumer Insights Specialist with a passion for unravelling the cultural shifts - and mysteries - of consumer behaviours, encompassing inner desires, narratives, and barriers.

Marcella brings her background in social policy and international charity research to her current multi-faceted role in data driven cultural and consumer insights.

Prior to embarking on her career in commercial research, her work focused on young people affected by hate crimes in the AMENA region, young women coping with mental health issues, and victims of sexual violence.

In her experience, these firsthand accounts of the challenges - and hopes - among marginalised young people have provided the key to truly delving into the core of the raw experiences and expectations of the new generation.

Today, Marcella combines this hands-on experience in ethnographic and traditional research with cutting-edge methodologies and advanced digital data insights. Her objective is to piece together the puzzle of Gen Z consumer personal narratives and behaviours, shedding light on how brands can effectively engage - and respond - to this distinctive target audience.

 

Dr Andy Burns, Director of Insight and Innovation, Brand Potential
Innovation & Insight Director at Brand Potential. A consumer psychologist, working at the interface of human behaviour, emotion, design and communication for over 20 years.

 

El Chetcuti, Brand Director, Sneak Energy
Brand director of Sneak energy. Heading up brand comms across community, influencers and campaigns as well as forming the cultural relevance and positioning of the brand in the ever growing energy sector. Formerly of fashion group Boohoo PLC and Missguided.

 

Laura Christian, Strategy Director at The Pineapple Lounge

Over 15 years of strategy and insight experience, with 7 years specialising in the family and youth sector. Laura has had a front row seat to the emerging generations from A-Z, joining the dots between insight and behaviour. An innate passion and flair for decoding kid-speak puts Laura at the centre of TPL’s innovation hub: new methodologies, creative techniques and applying theory to what we do best. At home, Laura is mum to two Jr Alpha’s; living, breathing the latest play trends and hot spots. 

 

Konrad Collao, Founder, Craft
Konrad has 20 years' experience investigating how people engage with media, technology and entertainment. He co-founded Craft in 2011. Based in London but with global reach, Craft is a boutique agency that helps its clients anticipate and react to changes wrought by the ongoing digital revolution. Using a mix of cultural insight, audience understanding and content development, Craft helps some of the world's biggest entertainment, news and sports brands to develop audience strategies and create content. 

 

Tim Donald, Creative Director, Sneak Energy
Creative Director at Sneak Energy, overseeing design, campaign concept development and production, and creative brand strategy. Tim has over a decade of experience, predominantly in advertising agencies, working with global brands such as Johnny Walker, Beats by Dre and Nike.

 

Dean Edwards, Co-Founder and Chief Insight Officer, MetaMinding Lab
Dean Edwards is the founder of Oliver Henry Consulting Ltd, a boutique market research consultancy based in Hong Kong and also Co-Founder and CIO of MetaMinding Lab, a company that uses Metaverse gaming to read Gen Z minds. With more than 30 years' experience Dean brings extensive, world class experience in qualitative and quantitative market research. Well respected in the market research industry in Asia, Dean is an active participant at events across the region and was a previous Chairman of the Market Research Society of Hong Kong. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Medicinal and Pharmaceutical Chemistry from Loughborough University.

 

Riwanon Gestin, MD, The Pineapple Lounge

Riwanon Gestin has been in the kids and youth insights game for over 20 years. Previously, she led research at PlayScience and was a vital part of MTV Networks' international research for a decade. She knows her way around the European, US, Japanese, and Chinese markets and has a keen eye for spotting global trends and local twists. At TPL, she's part of a tight-knit team of 14 from the UK, France, Ireland, and the US, all dedicated to understanding and connecting with young people and their families since 2010.

 

Helenor Gilmour, Director of Insight & Strategy, Beano Brain
Founder and Director of Strategy at Beano Brain, Helenor has 25 years global kids’ and family insight experience and has a broad business perspective having worked both client and agency side. An award-winning innovator in the kids and family insights field, she created Beano Brain’s Trendspotters panels & has been pivotal in growing the Beano brand.   Helenor is responsible for Beano Brain’s Thought Leadership programme and has authored various white papers focussing on Gen Z and Generation Alpha as well as launching the annual report of The Top 100 Coolest Brands according to kids in the UK and US in August 2023.

Jerryanne Hagan-Tetteh, Research Assistant, ClearView Research 
Jerryanne Hagan-Tetteh is a Research Assistant at ClearView Research. With a Bachelor's degree in Sociology and Criminology she has a passion for exploring the intersections of race, gender, identity, and social equity and loves working on projects that have the potential to drive positive societal change.
Gaining valuable experience in co-creation, data collection, and analysis, Jerryanne has worked on several projects where Children and Young people were the centre focus across the UK and the US. In particular, she has worked extensively with young Black girls to have an insight of their experiences across various life stages. She has also worked on initiatives to up-skilled community members, giving them training in research fundamentals.
Jerryanne also manages the clothing brand, UnXpectedClothings and provides events management and creative strategy services to various clients.

 

James Hamilton, Senior Audience Planner, Channel 4

 

Josephine Hansom, VP, Youth, Savanta

 

Kenny Imafidon, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Clearview Research

Kenny Imafidon is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of ClearView Research. is well connected across the social and public sector and has existing relationships with countless CEO’s, senior leaders and practitioners delivering voluntary or commercial services in local communities across the UK.
Kenny has led a number of high profile and world-record hitting campaigns, as well as two change.org petitions which received almost 70,000 signatures and national media attention and a petition calling for political education to be taught in all schools across England that gathered more than 30,000 signatures.
He featured in Forbes’ annual 30 under 30 list for Social Impact and is a trustee of several charities such as BBC Children in Need, Strength Within In Me Foundation, City Gateway and Spark Inside. He is also on the advisory board of HM The Queen’s newest charity, the Queen's Commonwealth Trust. Kenny has over a decades’ worth of experience in recruitment of people from ethnic minority backgrounds and underrepresented backgrounds.
Most recently, he published his memoir "That Peckham Boy" is a real-life manifesto calling for positive change for those on the fringes of society.

 

Alex Maguire, Insights & Measurement Director – EMEA, Twitch
Alex Maguire serves as the Insights & Measurements Director for the EMEA region at Twitch, with his base of operations in London. In this role, he leads Twitch's measurement strategy across the EMEA market, fostering collaborations with key clients and agencies to educate audiences and align advertising initiatives with consumer behavior.

 

 

Eugene Murphy, CEO, Indeemo
Eugene Murphy is the Founder and CEO of Indeemo. Indeemo is an AI powered, in-the-moment video research platform that helps researchers and designers understand people, products and experiences in the context of everyday life. 

 

 

Emese Pintér, Insights Specialist Asahi Europe and International

 

Emily Porter Salmon, Director of Semiotics and Cultural Insight, Sign Salad
Emily Porter-Salmon is a Director at Sign Salad, a cultural consultancy specialising in foresight, semiotics & language analysis. Emily has led projects for a wide range of brands across multiple markets and sectors. She has helped unlock the semiotic meanings of a wide range of cultural territories including wellbeing, metropolitanism, premiumness and helpfulness.
A geriatric Millennial parent of a Coronial toddler, Emily juggles an eclectic and occasionally embarrassing array of hobbies – from taking over the world in strategy computer games to attempting to contain her ever-expanding toy collection. Like most semioticians, she enjoys supermarkets as a recreational space.

 

Amanda Rhodes, Senior Director Insights, Coty UK&I

 

Alpa Arya Shah, Senior Manager Value Proposition, CIMA & AICPA

Alpa is a value proposition and market research specialist with extensive experience in developing solutions for B2B and B2C audiences and professional associations. She is responsible for designing new, and re-imagining existing value propositions, using design creation and validation methods that keep audience needs at the heart of design thinking. Alpa has been instrumental in developing understanding of the career development needs of Gen Z students and employees in the accounting and finance profession. Alpa’s background includes over 25 years of experience in the market research industry, working in a range of settings across global agencies, clientside at professional associations, and as a consultant. Her professional interests include understanding younger generations to design future-focused propositions, embedding diversity, equity and inclusion into proposition design, and creating holistic co-created customer solutions to solve strategic challenges.

 

Frances Spree, Senior Consultant, Savanta
Fran is a qualitative researcher at Savanta. As a Gen Z native, she’s passionate about next generation research and how brands can better meet the needs of young people. Fran works principally in the fashion and retail space and has seen first hand the rise of TikTok and its significance in how we shop, work and live.

 

 

Oliver Sweet, Head of Ethnography, Ipsos

Oliver has been running the Ethnography Centre of Excellence for the last 15 years. His experience spans both the public and private sector. He directs global ethnographic work that spans numerous sectors, including FMCG, Healthcare, Automotive, and Financial Services.
Through his experience, Oliver often combines anthropological thinking about how culture affects our lives, with social and cognitive psychology on how to create behavioural interventions. This mix of culture insight and behavioural science allows his work to truly focus on many of the unspoken drivers of consumer behaviour.
His work has spanned over 35 countries around the world and regularly writes in the marketing and research publications, and speaks at conferences about the importance of understanding consumers as real people making in-the-moment decisions. Oliver is a board member of the Association for Qualitative Researchers (AQR), and guest lectures at Goldsmiths College, London.

 

Matteo Petruzzo, Global Fundraising Project Manager, Amnesty International

Matteo Petruzzo is a Fundraising Project Manager working at the International Secretariat of Amnesty International. His role is to support country offices facing campaign and targeting challenges when they raise funds and engage with new and existing audiences. Innovation is at the core of his role and his expertise comes from almost 10 years of digital advertising and fundraising works across both the private and the non-for-profit sectors, across both the UK and international markets.

 

 

09.00 Registration & coffee

 

09.30 Welcome from the Chair

Josephine Hansom, VP, Youth, Savanta

 

09.45 Generation Twitch: leading cultural change

Brands think they know about Millennials, Generation Z and increasingly Generation Alpha, but what if these assumptions need updating? Using semiotic research and in-depth surveys, Twitch found five emerging behaviours taking shape amongst emerging audiences. Authenticity, fluidity, inclusivity, collaboration and purpose - all coming to the fore, phasing out existing dominant codes and conventions.

This session will immerse delegates in Generation Twitch findings, highlighting best practices and guidelines that will empower brands to navigate and connect with Generation Z on their terms.

Emily Porter Salmon, Director of Semiotics and Cultural Insight, Sign Salad

Alex Maguire, Insights & Measurement Director – EMEA, Twitch

 

10.15 Gen Z panel: What should we think about TikTok? Gen Z discuss their relationship with the social media sensation

TikTok has been described by politicians as a national security risk while quickly becoming Gen Z’s favourite social media platform. Join members of Savanta’s youth research panel as they share their opinions on topics including:

  • the role of TikTok compared to other social media and content platforms
  • influencers and brand content
  • the algorithm and ‘For You’ page

Find out what young people think about all the controversy surrounding the platform.

Led by: Frances Spree, Senior Consultant, Savanta

 

10.45 Gaming the Niche: unlocking commercial opportunity in Gen Z’s passionate outsider-ness 

Gamer performance was the inspiration for Sneak Energy drinks; but how could this community of brand fans become the stimulus for new investment-worthy, sustainable growth? 

This case study shows how Sneak Energy & Brand Potential connected with Gen Z gamers and brand fans across the US and UK, using ethnographic communities to look beyond the stereotypes and find the attitudes, values and experiences that really connected them. These became the next creative platforms for the Sneak brand; normal is boring; life beyond the mainstream is relished; fanatical passion connects rather than divides us!

Hear how these Gen Z insights provided Sneak Energy with the confidence to take their brand to the next level. 

Dr Andy Burns, Director of Insight and Innovation, Brand Potential

El Chetcuti, Brand Director, Sneak Energy

Tim Donald, Creative Director, Sneak Energy

 

11.15 Morning refreshments

 

11.45 Beyond Z: the real truth about British youth

Taking a myth-busting approach, C4, together with Craft, set out to understand and illustrate the complexity and multiplicity that characterises Gen Z, unpicking the narratives that often essentialise  or other a group of approximately 7 million people and searching for true cohort effects.

Young people, armed with the tools to speak for themselves, set the research agenda and reported on their own terms how they feel, what they believe and how they act. Alongside this auto-ethnographic approach, qualitative, quantitative and expert input added context.

Hear how this this project has influenced content development, marketing strategy and informed conversations between C4 and policymakers.

Konrad Collao, Founder, Craft

James Hamilton, Senior Audience Planner, Channel 4

12.15 A deep dive into Gen Z and their concept of beauty

Multinational beauty company, Coty, wanted to get to know Gen Z in-depth, specifically, within the lens of beauty. The goal was to produce a common set of insights based on project outputs that the entire organisation could embrace to drive business strategy. Working with IPSOS, they developed a 3-phased ethnographic approach which delivered a deep-rooted understanding about Gen Z’s motivations, their connection with beauty, but also the tensions around identity. 

Examine the key insights from the research and hear how internal engagement and strong agency collaboration maximised impact of the research across Coty.

Oliver Sweet, Head of Ethnography, Ipsos

Amanda Rhodes, Senior Director Insights, Coty UK&I

 

12.45 Lunch

 

13.45 Teenage rebellion Gen Z style

From teen TikTok toilet revolts to climate protests, this session will explore what teenage angst and activism looks and feels like for 13–17 year olds. Join Beano Brain and Indeemo as they share insights from their always on, longitudinal panel.

Eugene Murphy, CEO, Indeemo

Helenor Gilmour, Director of Insight & Strategy, Beano Brain

 

14.15 Uncovering how the Hustle Generation like to Impress

Chivas Regal’s key audience is a diverse and entrepreneurial Gen Z tribe known as the Hustle Generation. They are passionate about luxury, fashion, and street culture and keen to showcase (or ‘flex’) their self-made success and status.

Examine how Kantar used a mix of cultural analysis, expert interviews, brand analysis and social imaging to bring the Hustle Generation’s new Impress occasions and mindsets to life. This resulted in a set of visually inspiring global and local codes of Impress which informed portfolio and communication strategies.

Lisa Balestrieri, Senior Consultant, Kantar

 

14.45 How Amnesty International is reading Metazen’s minds

The Metaverse has 73 million daily gamers, with the majority of players being GenZ. These ‘Metazens' are historically a difficult audience to research but next generation gamification is achieving this.

Having secured a Reimagining Fundraising Global Innovation award, MetaMinding Lab is working with Amnesty International to develop a new Metaverse game to help understand and raise GenZ awareness of the plight of refugees.  Follow the story of how this novel project is helping Amnesty International develop GenZ campaigns to target fundraisers of the future and to engage potential brand ambassadors.

Dean Edwards, Co-Founder and Chief Insight Officer, MetaMinding Lab

Matteo Petruzzo, Global Fundraising Project Manager, Amnesty International

 

15.15 Afternoon refreshments

 

15.35 Gen Z panel: Shifting parenting paradigms - Gen Z's approach to nurturing the next generation

Now, a generation best known for its digital native status and protest habits, is bracing itself for the next phase: parenthood. Hear how this generation are raising their own children and the implications this ethos will have for the brands and products they invite on the journey with them.

Led by: Riwanon Gestin, MD, The Pineapple Lounge
Laura Christian, Strategy Director, The Pineapple Lounge
Akino Suzuki, Senior Strategist, The Pineapple Lounge

 

16.05 Gen Z and loneliness: understanding the most human of needs with the help of machine learning

As part of their purpose strategy, Asahi Europe and International wanted to understand the impacts and nuances of loneliness, as experienced by 18 – 23 year olds. Turning to the world of online conversations, forums, discussions presented a fascinating way to unpick the spontaneous and raw emotional stories around experiences, moments and coping solutions that Gen Z consumers were sharing.

This case study will explore how machine learning and online content can help uncover the realities of human experiences and how to share findings in an impactful way to capture the attention of stakeholders.

Marcella Bruno Senior Strategist, Discover.ai

Emese Pintér, Insights Specialist Asahi Europe and International

 

16.35 Using research to meet Gen Zs career goals and needs

Professional organisation AICPA & CIMA, wanted to address a declining interest in accounting careers, and a shortage of diversity in the profession. Together with ClearView Research the organisation embarked on an international project that employed an inclusive and collaborative research approach to engage Gen Z.

The research revealed Gen Z's career aspirations, the obstacles they face and unmet information needs which were hindering decision-making about education and careers. Hear how ClearView went beyond diagnosis and translated these insights into an actionable strategy for AICPA & CIMA to evolve into a Gen-Z friendly organisation.

Jerryanne Hagan-Tetteh, Research Assistant, ClearView Research 

Alpa Arya Shah, Senior Manager Value Proposition, AICPA & CIMA

Kenny Imafidon, Co-Founder and Managing Director, ClearView Research

 

17.05 Sponsored drinks reception 


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