Gen Z Is Not a Target Audience
Writing in Fast Company in March 2026, Rob Engelsman argues that “Gen Z” has run its course as a useful target audience descriptor. The generational tropes that brands have built campaigns around, purpose-driven, digitally native, trend-setting, are not insights. They are assumptions that have been recycled and reapplied to young people for decades, just with different labels attached.
The problem is not that generational thinking is lazy, though it often is. The problem is that it substitutes a demographic shortcut for actual audience understanding. A 24-year-old in Austin and a 24-year-old in Auckland share a birth year. They do not share a worldview, a purchase driver, or a media habit. Briefing to the generation rather than the behavior means your strategy is built on a fiction.
What this means for your team
If your current briefs include generational descriptors as the primary audience frame, that is worth revisiting. Behavior, need state, and context are more durable targeting foundations.
This applies equally to how you brief agencies. Generational shorthand in the brief tends to produce generational cliche in the output.
The more useful question is not what generation your audience belongs to. It is what they are trying to do, and why your brand is the right choice to help them do it.
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