They know only a wireless, hyper-linked, user generated world where any piece of knowledge is only a few clicks away. Worldly, brand aware, these “digital natives” are sophisticated in marketing and control what content is delivered to them. Media surrounds them and is neither time nor location-based.

Generation Z ers are those born between 1990 to late 2000’s. On average they are highly connected, having had lifelong use of communications and media technologies like the nintendo’s, internet, text messaging, MP3s, and cell phones. They are going to drive media consumption in the future in unique ways. To understand how to sell to them we need to consider their habits:

1. No Newspapers – This generation will not embrace the reading of the newspaper. They will read some magazines but specialty ones, not news ones.

2. On-Demand Television – They will not watch television on someone else’s schedule but on their own. They will use services like TiVo, internet video, and file sharing.

3. Mobile – Everything they do will be on their handheld. They have no use for a landline.

4. Trust – This group trusts its peers and those they meet socially on Face book ahead of experts.

5. Paying for Content – Free downloads has caused them viruses so they are not averse to paying for content they want. ITunes is an example of this.

6. Community – Communicating with friends online in real-time is the centre of their online activity. They are loyal to sites where their friends are.

7. Brands – A study done at USC showed that Generation Zers pay attention to brands more than any other age group.

8. Content in Motion – They live in a multi-platform world and expect to take their content with them wherever they go.

9. Instant Messaging – Email is for old people, they prefer to text. (This could possibly change when they get older).

10. Sharing – They like to share the minutia of their lives and are interested in other’s minutia.

So how do we make sense of these trends? For one thing the mobile phone provides some unique opportunities to engage these consumers. But success in mobile marketing will be tied to the social graph. This group wants to know that the advertiser is committed to them, to the community, and wants to interact with them. They don’t want to be ‘sold’ to. This fundamental change in rules of engagement is what scares many advertisers as it puts them out of the driver seat and opens the door to someone saying something bad about them. Well, these types of conversations are going to happen anyway so its time advertisers experimented in the space to learn how to play. They need to recognize the old advertising model is broken, it is not coming back, and they need to embrace this change.