 Welcome everyone to the generation zeitgeist podcast by Lostra UM India. This is a series of podcasts where we discuss all things Gen Z. This is the episode 6 of the series of the podcast and today we will be discussing different Gen Z personas because not one size fits all. If you are new to the podcast and you've discovered this podcast for the first time and you like listening to this one, you can go back and listen to the previous ones. We've recorded around 5 of them previously. I'm Kulla and you will be hearing my voice through the podcast and as always I have with me Lostra UM CEO, our Strad Guru, our Mark Darshak, Aditi Mishra, hi Aditi. Hi Kulla. Hi everyone who's tuned in today to our podcast. A quick few words of introduction on how we have done this Gen Z podcast and what's the source. So to understand Gen Z, we actually adopted a little different approach. We recruited an army of insiders who would actually go and tell us more about their peers, tell us more about their behaviors, mindsets and habits. And this was conducted over three phases over the last two years. So we've captured things like the impact of COVID, how that has changed the way they take decisions, how they look at life and also looked at this across a huge study which was quantitative as well as qualitative and understanding what's on their devices. So all of this has been now summed up into a series of six podcasts and today is really our final episode where we are going to look at how they are split into different personas or personality types and how this can help us as brand stakeholders or market leaders to connect with them better to understand them better. Over to you Kulla. Yep. So we'll straight over dive into it. Today's podcast, if you have listened to the previous one, this will be slightly different because we'll be discussing personas per se. So we'll start with the overview of the personas that we've found. We have looked at a particular framework to put all of those different personas in different buckets just like a two by two, four quadrant XY axis which we've kind of plotted those personas. And after going through that framework, we'll look at each of the personas a little bit in depth and we'll hear from each of the personas a little bit representative of them. So firstly, when we plot those X in Y axis, we've looked at from an X axis perspective, we've looked at people who are self-focused to people who are more sense of belonging or group affiliation. And in the Y axis, we've plotted people who are more pragmatic to people who are more hope driven or more optimistic. So that's the kind of framework that we've looked at. The largest audience in that two by two framework is the one who is more optimistic as well as have more group affiliation. So they are what we are calling them as the rooted clients. The second largest cohort is the people who are again more in terms of group affiliation but more pragmatic in their mindset. So they are comfort zoners. The third cohort, which is in terms of the largeness of the cohort, they are self-focused but they're more optimistic and positive in their mindset, more hope driven. So they are the balanced trendseeker. And lastly is the one who are the smallest cohort. They are the sensitive reserve to there in the cross section of people who are self-focused and more pragmatic in their mindset. So these are the four cohorts that we've looked at while everybody is typically distributed well across all the regions, all the demography. But we've found some of the skews and like for example, the rooted clients, they seem to be skewed slightly more towards the female versus the comfort zoners who are skewed heavily towards the male. Like the rooted clients again, so they are skewed towards the north of the country and comfort zoners are distributed in east and south region more. The balanced seekers are very much skewed towards the west of the country. The sensitive reserve are distributed in the east, west and south of the country, not so much in north. In terms of the metro audiences, they are more the comfort zoners who have more pragmatic and sense of belonging sort of mindset. And again, the comfort zoners are more younger relative to the other audiences who are skewing more towards the old Gen Zs. This is like an overview of the subgroups. This kind of helps will help us if any brand tomorrow decides to kind of focus on a particular let's say within the Gen Z because Gen Z is still a huge chunk of audience if you want to focus on a particular region. What kind of mindset in that region of the country the Gen Zs might have? Or what kind of a mindset a younger Gen Z versus an older Gen Z can have? So that's the kind of like an overview I just wanted to throw up. Yeah, so you know as we know archetypes or personas can be created across multiple facets of parameters. The reason we sort of chose these two parameters to map the audience in terms of their focus inwards as well as outwards and to look at you know how they grade themselves in terms of you know a very functional aspect of life versus a more future forward, hopeful kind of a view to life is because all through this study what we found is that you know Gen Zs are a lot more aware than generations before. They have access to a lot more information. Sometimes they're actually getting drowned in that information and therefore it's very important for them to sort of tease out what's important and in a way Gen Zs today more than ever are demanding a lot more from themselves in terms of you know how they want to shape their lives, how they want to live their lives and at the same time there is a lot of expectation from the world at large how the world should be, what is the right way for things to be and therefore we felt this whole thing of inward and outward balanced and also what they do versus what can happen in the future. We thought these were two key parameters for us to understand their mindset and as we went along this journey it was very interesting to see that there are people from a certain part of a country who are more in tune with a certain kind of thinking, they are more in tune with a certain way of being which we thought was quite interesting for us to look at from a brand lens in the future. That different kinds of brand promises, different kind of activities that brands may undertake will resonate better with certain kinds of audiences and somewhere it could even give us nuances saying that if you want the same brand to have a translation in the north versus the east perhaps you need to tweak things a bit, perhaps you need to look at what would cut through much better for a agency. Yeah so yeah we'll start with the individual personas and then we'll start with the biggest cohort which is the rooted clients. The kind of mindset that they have if you see their position in that quadrant mapping is all about like they are more in terms of group affiliation they have they seek a sense of belonging and they are more hope driven, they are more optimistic, future forward as they said so they are in that quadrant so they are very much extrovert they like to share with their friends, family they like to be part of a particular team when they work and very much sharing their own emotion and also give respect and expect respect of others so that's the kind of broad mindset that they have they obviously seek a mix of convenience with good experience they are quite value seeking in terms of their mindset and a good thing about these audiences are these audiences are the most likely to be influenced by marketing activities or advertising that's what they've said they do believe that advertising kind of has a certain impact how digital media is kind of influences them so they many of them have kind of said that these personas are skewed slightly more towards the female audiences and they're found much in the north they're very much skewed towards the north of the country those are the two really stand out skew of the audiences that we can find any thoughts anything yeah so you know the way I was looking at this is you know this is an audience which is impactful and impacted and that's an interesting skew because this is the largest share of people we have and I think it sums up well the way Gen Z's typically are that they they want to have a print on the world and they definitely want to share that or spread that amongst their peers amongst people through social and so on so visible they want to be visible in a way you know visible for themselves and visible for the impact that they bring to the world so that that was an interesting aspect the other thing also is you know and which came out perhaps in the courts we'll share some with you is there are a lot more emotional there there are a lot more happy talking about their emotions so you know as we've been seeing in the last few podcasts certain issues like mental health or you know how other people feel has been something that has been a thread running through much more than what the previous generations whether it's a millennial generation or the ones before but comfortable speaking about things this generation is a lot more comfortable and and this group is a lot more specifically comfortable about these kind of aspects surely surely and we'll listen to Ritika she speaks about how she likes to share her feelings and emotions yeah my secret can begin with that my feelings I'll share with you with them I'll also be speaking it's not just friends which we can talk to or sometimes they are very important like it depends on you know the parenting style like my friends they are not so accommodating they're very friendly with me so I would think that there is no clear cut between the two if I've seen that I can open up to anyone like I don't know for my values or permission I look through my feelings I want some other issues with them so that is not some you know the foundation that I love to share it with my friends only who can be anybody yes I do I strongly do because if you have a strong advertising campaign or something which touches the right kind of code with the audience then definitely changes perception I mean like I really love to watch cricket matches and after each over there is an advertisement which appears on your screen if that advertisement is something which is irritating me then I will never buy that product because I am watching that advertisement again and again and again there's not a lot of time between two over so there are there's a little less possibility of switching to the other channels I would watch those advertisements as well and at the same time is that advertisement is as good as the advertisement of I would say February quick arts then I will surely get indulged into buying that product for me and adhesives which is required to stick things which are not which cannot be brought together with the help of normal glue it had to be a work of February quick I don't even know the names of the competitors so advertising really helps a lot so you can hear that she likes to share with her friends as well as her parents but also the fact that she don't want to be judged while she would open herself and she would only share to those with those people who kind of respect her feelings and emotions so that's kind of a give and take sort of a relationship that they expect and you rightly said they're very emotional they're very true to their emotions and really like to express and share with their near and dear ones so the brands have this and like I just mentioned previously that they are open to influence so brand probably will need to appeal to their emotion side of this audience much more than the other ones yeah and obviously as expected because they want to share and and you know impact social media plays a very critical role in their lives so they're highly social they are on multiple platforms they leverage those platforms both for sharing their emotions as well as for you know spreading the message that they would want I think the other key thing to remember about them is that you know in a way they are the quintessential way we look at Indian audiences very value-focused so while they love to shop and and there is a thread of you know consumerism running through but highly highly focused on the value of things that they are able to get so so there is a tough negotiation in their minds in terms of the need for buying something vis-a-vis the value that it can bring yeah for sure for sure so now we'll move over to the next audience who was the comfort owner there's a second largest audience so in terms of the placement in the quadrant so they are in that sense of belonging or group affiliation versus more pragmatic in their mindset versus the previous one when when we look at them so they are they they have a surrounding of comfort on my like a shell of trust that they surround themselves like they have people who are they like to consult before taking any key decision like the family and the friends so it's more like an advisory role that they have they would very much focus on their basics getting their basics right so they they definitely focus a lot more in terms of education earning enough money and also very much in mental satisfaction plays a very key role in their life they also while they would look for values but also they would seek some bit of style or a quotient that would kind of influence their decision in their lives and and again a mix of indulgence and entertainment kind of influences them a lot more from a media perspective so that's what they kind of seek in their consumption of media in terms of the skews they are relatively more male focused they are spread in east and south or much higher skewed more towards the top four cities of the country and relatively younger audiences compared to other cohorts so that's the kind of audience the comforts owners are yeah so you know if you really pull back and see the difference from the previous audience this group is is a lot more rooted grounded I would say in terms of the kind of things that they adopt in and and see the the regions that they come from and also the age group since it's a younger age group that seems quite natural that you know they are still a lot more in the family cocoon I would say the other thing and that's reflective of the same is is this need for security or the sense of security of the familiar security of what I know so unlike the previous group which is all about impacting the larger world this is more about being comfortable with themselves and the world around them and therefore their path to success appears to be a lot more traditional in terms of you know education playing a very very big role earning enough money you know making sure that I have enough for for my needs those kind of things are important the fact that they seek more deals they their their translation of you know value is more about deals and and quick quick returns or quick gains is something that that we can see yeah for sure and this audience plays definitely high importance on mental satisfaction a lot where we'll hear Priyanka talking about how mental satisfaction is very important for her I think this for me uh yeah it's the part of a fortune doesn't matter if it's a complex So as you can see, I mean, very, very practical, you know, very, very practical in terms of the overall approach and how she is looking at life, what is her priority in life and what she thinks is important. And in terms of media consumption also, you know, when we see this audience, of course, social remains a longer thread, but they are also investing a lot of time and, you know, their focus is on things for themselves. So music streaming, for example, comes up with a high skew. Similarly, OTT content wherein they are consuming for themselves and not so much in terms of sharing or showing. So there is a little bit of an advance there as well. Yeah. So that's the audience in terms of the comfort zone as we just heard. Now we'll move over to the third audience who are in the cross section of people who are optimistic driven by hope. And on the other side, it's more focused on self, what we call them as the balance trend seekers. They're very much independent compared to the other ones. So they like to take their decision themselves in terms of thinking on their own. And after, let's say, doing their own research quite a bit, while they do that they're independent, they are also very much because they constantly hunt information on their own, they would like to stay on top of trends. And what is the next cool and smart thing to do that also influences in terms of their media decision as well, where they are influenced on the cool side of the media, things which are more cool, they get attracted by that. So that's the brief summary of balance trend seekers. So they are distributed very much strongly in the western part of the country. And also they're not so much in terms of the metros, but in the remaining part of the country and distributed well in the older age group. So that's the kind of audiences that we are talking about when we talk about the balance trend seekers. Yeah, so I think the interesting take that we have here is these are mostly people from smaller towns. And I think it connects well with this whole need for an identity for self, very personal, maybe they are breaking out of what the rest of their peer group or their family has been about. And hence a strong sense of self wanting to establish their decisions independently, looking at things through their own lens. And in that journey, they balance out a bit of what's for everyone versus indulgence for themselves. So there is that interesting choice I think which they make across this path. And that's why also this thing of how they are seen as cool and maybe associating with things which are perceived as better or things to be done. So there is a nuance of that, which is also emerging in this audience. Yeah, true. And you mentioned about that how they are not in the larger cities, but more in the smaller towns, which kind of shows the aspirational value of the audience. So they see which is more cool thing to do and more in thing to do, they would be attracted by that. Similarly, when it comes to media also, when something which is like more appealing, more cool, in any media activities, they'll be easily attracted by that. So that's the audience will listen from Piyush. He talks about how he tries in focusing on individual tasks. What I can think of is I think it's become a very soft, very traditional culture if I can say that because we are very much influenced by the TV series or the music culture. So it's very prevalent there to have the race, the confectionaries all the way throughout, especially in the morning after lunch or during the, during the evening time. Certainly it kind of has a lot of influence over it. And we are very proud that he has been accustomed to drinking tea. So we all know that. So it kind of has, kind of collaborating, everything is collaborating together to force us to do such things. So I think it's, there's an influence that has been going on for ages. So I thought, right, and the idea comes to have it eventually. So I think okay. So there he talks about individual own decision, own way of working, where he's not answerable to too many people. So they can decide on their own and make their own decision, make their own mistakes and then move on, like we've discussed earlier as well. Yeah. So that's the audience in terms of the balance trend seeker. And lastly is the sensitive reserved audience who are in the cross-section between who are more self-focused and have a very pragmatic mindset. These audiences are more, in terms of they are like, like the name suggests, so they are very much cautious in their approach. So they would evaluate things much deeply. They are more focused and driven in their decision. Education is a key thing for them. Their drive is to contribute towards the society. On one side, they're more reserved, but yet they have this sensitive side that they want to focus more on terms of the career. And while doing this, so they can contribute to the society. While they are more reserved, but probably they are not interacting too much with their peer groups or the near and dear ones, but they're consuming a lot of media. Their consumption of media is very high. In terms of the index, it's almost like 110 compared to other audiences. So their consumption of media is much higher. The reason could be that they are not interacting with so much with the peer ones, but taking more information from media and other surroundings. So that's the kind of audiences in sensitive reserves. They're well distributed, not in the north of the country, but rather in the west, east and south of the country. And again, they're not so much focused in terms of the top cities, but rather in the smaller towns again. So this was something which was interesting. The people who are more sense of belonging, they're more skewed slightly more towards the metros or larger towns, versus people who are more self-focused. They seem to be more from the smaller towns. So that was an interesting thing that how people are focusing in the smaller towns more about self and their own goal towards the future. Yeah. And that sort of fits in, I think, with the larger understanding, because that's where probably the change in lifestyle, the change in people coming in for different jobs or education is the highest. So it makes sense for them to articulate their aspirations or their personalities in that way. And I think if you look at the sensitive reserve, what you really find is they have faith in themselves. They're fairly sure about what they want to achieve, how they want to achieve, and then they don't see too much of merit tom-tomming about it or just talking about it. So in a sense, they are more careful. They are more focused in terms of what they want to achieve. And there is a social or I would say a larger angle to it, wherein they want to do things which are for everyone. They want to contribute back to society. And a lot of their consumption of media is led by that, wherein they're trying to understand what is happening in the world around them, what is going on and how they can decode that into what it would mean for them. And in terms of the kind of things that they choose to do, I would say a lot more led by simplicity, unlike one of the earlier groups that we spoke about where consumerism was sort of a driver's thread. So it's quite distinct in terms of the mindset and how they look at things. And one of the things because the consumption of media is so high, they're also very conscious about this information overload and the fact that there are a lot of things around, you know, whether they are, so they're in that sense, I think a lot more evaluative as well. Yes, yes, certainly. And that's exactly the Jaya will talk about that, how she has, while she has very high in terms of consumption, but also this balance approach of how to evaluate things, evaluate all the information and then take decision maybe. So two factors. First of all, income, the kind of job you're holding, what sort of resources they are providing you. So in terms of better salaries, if you can get, because you are in job is primary, so you want some kind of a money out of an organization. So one thing is money. And the second thing is growth. So in whichever organization you're working, so I will prefer growth. So if they provide me a conducive environment to growth, so I will prefer to go there. So money and growth. Okay, so basically, I will put second, my mind is second. First is growth and third is the money. So there she talks clearly about what you just spoke about, that she would evaluate things, she would listen to a lot of conversation and a lot of things on social media as well and digital media and then she would decide her own on her own. She has this filter, very evaluative as rightly said, of a very filter which are fake news, which one should stay away from versus one information which is good for you and which you can take it forward. So that's the sensitive reserve, very cautious in their approach. So these are the four audiences, client rooted, somebody who is female and more not driven phenomenon. And they are very much driven by hope, group affiliation. So they are very much emotional comfort zoners who are relatively more practical and more deal seeking in their mindset. They are more pragmatic yet having the sense of belonging that they seek. Balance trend seekers, they are the like the names such as they are, they want to stay on top of trends. They are also optimist, but they are more focused on self. They would like to take decision on their own versus the sensitive reserve who are more cautious in terms of their decision making, their focus on self and very much pragmatic and rational thought process that they have. So these are the four audiences that we were looking at. Any final thoughts? So I hope you enjoyed looking at the GenC through this lens, which we felt offers us a much more deeper view of how they are looking at the world and how we can engage with them, what kind of messaging can resonate with them, what kind of brand or product offers would be more meaningful for them. Because while pretty much all of these audiences exist across the country, but there are very clear skews that we see and we feel that brands and marketers can gain a lot if they were to engage with the GenC keeping this lens in mind. Yeah, for sure. And this podcast is the episode 6 of the series and for some time this will be the final episode in this series of podcast that we've done. Any final thoughts for overall looking back? So I think it's been quite interesting. I think looking at GenC, a lot of things that we have learned across the six podcasts, we eat in terms of how they view media, how they are in some ways similar but in some ways quite distinct from generations before and the fact that we need to really deep dive into their mindset and make brands and marketers look at them as distinct groups rather than a one brush for everyone. Because while at large they are defined by a certain age group and a life stage, but actually there are distinct clusters, there are very very clear guidelines in terms of how we should engage with them and I think that's the next stage for us as we get into the next round of research with them. So we will hopefully circle back soon once we have some more information on our hands and we have more GenC insiders talking to us. And so like I said, so this is the episode 6 of the series, so if you want if you like listening to this one, if you've discovered this one for the first time, please go back and listen to the previous one. So we've discussed the GenC from different different lenses, so hopefully you'll enjoy all of them. Thank you so much. Have a nice day. Thanks for listening everyone. Have a great time and we look forward to hearing from you. Yep. Thank you so much. Bye-bye.