March 2nd, 2022, Janice Fernandes
YouGov's various platforms and products give unparalleled insight into the CPG industry and what customers think, feel, do, and say about any given brand. A new analysis reveals the brands that are winning the hearts of America’s truly digital generation – Gen Z.
The rankings come from YouGov BrandIndex – a brand measurement tool – and are determined by each product’s Recommend score, which measures the percentage of a brand’s customers who would recommend it to a friend or colleague. Since these scores are collected from customers of a brand, they can be considered a proxy for its net promoter score.
This analysis includes Gen Z’s top recommended brands, distinct Gen Z brands and some of this generation’s media consumption habits.
Top brands
Oreo is the most recommended brand among Gen Z, with a score of 50.8.
Dove, the only skincare brand in the Gen Z top ten, also makes an appearance in the top ten among Gen X and Gen Y. Other brands that feature on all the lists include Doritos, Hershey, M&M’s and Reese’s.
In fact, Gen Y and Gen Z consumers tend to gravitate towards similar brands, with nine out of ten being the same on both lists. The only difference is that while Gen Y recommends Cheerios, Gen Z prefers Pringles.
Distinctly Gen Z brands
Cosmetics and skincare brands dominate the list of brands with the most distinct connection to Gen Z. Handmade cosmetics brand Lush tops the list with the biggest difference in recommendation compared to the general US population (14% vs. 6%). The other beauty brands on the most-distinct list include Ulta Beauty, Shea Moisture, NYX, e.l.f. Cosmetics and CeraVe.
Reese’s also has an eight-point difference between Gen Z (25%) and the US general population (17%). Ben & Jerry’s, Starbucks Doubleshot and Fruit Gushers round up the most distinct brands for Gen Z.
Gen Z media consumption
The advertising channels that grab Gen Z and Gen Y’s attention are similar. Gen Z picks movie theatres and online as the two platforms where they are most likely to notice an ad. While Gen Y also identifies with these two platforms, podcasts are another way to reach this target audience.
Gen Z spends around 41 to 45 hours per week on social media and is consequently more likely to engage with ads on social media compared to other websites. Gen Z is also more than twice as likely to prefer Snapchat (58% vs. 26%) and TikTok (47% vs. 21%) compared to the general US population.
This analysis comes from America’s Next Top Brands: CPGs Winning The Digital Generation, a cross-generational analysis of the most resonant brands with Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z. See which CPG brands have broken through with the digital generations. Get the full report.
Methodology: The rankings in America’s Next Top Brands: CPGs Winning The Digital Generation are based on YouGov BrandIndex’s positive Recommend score which measures the percentage of a brand’s customers who would recommend it to a friend or colleague. The brands ranked at the top are recommended by the highest percentage of its customers. The rankings are based on YouGov BrandIndex data from January 1 to December 31, 2021.