Gen Z and Millennials’ Fastest Growing Brands

Sign up for our brand new newsletter: “From A to Gen Z.” This biweekly email will put the biggest headlines about Gen Alpha, Gen Z and millennials into context to help readers better understand these key generations. 

Welcome to Morning Consult’s new newsletter on young consumers: We’ll put the headlines you’re reading about Gen Alpha, Gen Z and millennials into context with our high frequency survey data to help you better understand exactly how they’re spending their time — and their dollars. 

Last week, we released the 2024 edition of our Fastest Growing Brands Report, which identifies the top 20 brands that experienced the largest growth in purchase consideration among all U.S. adults and several other key demographic groups over the past year. We’ll dive into the Gen Z and millennial rankings here today. Plus, a look how different generations feel about brands hopping on internet trends. 

📈 Gen Z’s fastest growing brands 📈 

While Gen Z’s 2024 fastest growing brands list features some usual suspects like TikTok, Meta, and Epic Games, there were some more surprising appearances, too. 

Over half of Gen Z’s top 20 brands operate in the food and beverage space, with most falling into the sugary indulgences subcategory. Between soda, ice cream and candy, it’s clear that the young cohort embraced their penchant for treating themselves more than ever this year.

That said, Advil earning the No. 1 spot was perhaps the biggest surprise of all. Gen Zers are still young, but maybe all of those pickleball leagues and run clubs are starting to catch up with them. 

▶️ The full Fastest Growing Brands 2024 report can be downloaded here. If you are interested in learning more about the data that powers this research, reach out to your Morning Consult contact or email [email protected]. 

📈 Millennials’ fastest growing brands 📈

Consumer packaged goods also played an outsized role on millennials’ list, albeit with a bent toward their newfound status as both parents and, increasingly, as middle-aged. (😱)

In addition to being snack-heavy, millennials' top 20 fastest growing brands include several household items (and services) like Cottonelle, Dove Soap Gain Detergent and ADT.

Still, the cohort hasn’t traded in all of its youthful favorites for domestic comforts. For example, Coach had a resurgence among the millennials this year, largely thanks to the retailer’s hefty investments in digital and social media marketing, which caused its handbags to go viral on a near-regular basis. 

▶️ To learn more about millennials' evolving consumer position, head here.

📲📵To trend or not to trend?📲📵

Speaking of brands going viral, my colleague Claire Tassin’s latest analysis explores something similar: brands *trying* to go viral on social media by using trending internet slang, meme formats or audios. As it turns out, different generations have different feelings on the matter.

Gen Zers’ are notably more likely than millennials to oppose the practice, a result that reflects conventional wisdom about both groups’ online behavior. (Gen Z is known for an acerbic, satirical posting style, while millennials are more earnest in their online presentations.)

Accordingly, millennials are much more likely than their younger counterparts to say that brands hopping on social trends is “cool,” while Gen Zers are more likely to say it’s “cringey.” Gen Zers are also more likely to say that brands seem like they didn’t understand the trend or that the effort seems inauthentic, which is the opposite of what any social media manager hopes to achieve. 

As online spaces become more fragmented and algorithm-driven, it’s more important than ever for brand marketing teams to be obsessive social listeners and operate with an expert-level understanding of audience-specific tone preferences. 

▶️ Check out our archive of research on social media marketing here. 

What Else We’re Reading

• Gen Zers and millennials are clamoring for their grandmas' bathrooms (Business Insider)
• ‘Brain Rot’ Is Why Your Kids All Sound Like That (The Wall Street Journal)
• 2025 Lookahead: What to Expect in Consumer Trends (Morning Consult)  

Coming Up

12/11. What Travelers Actually Want from Loyalty Programs: Our new report examines the attitudes, behaviors and expectations of travelers when it comes to loyalty and reward programs. Sign up to be notified of our latest travel analysis here.