The Brands That Captured Gen Z and Millennials’ Attention This Holiday Season

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Welcome to the first A to Gen Z of 2025! In this newsletter, we 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 and why they’re spending their time — and their dollars. 

To kick off the new year, we’re spotlighting the brands that generated the most conversation among Gen Zers and millennials during the holiday season across three categories of perennial interest to the young consumer set: retail, beauty and technology. 

We did this by leveraging Morning Consult Intelligence data collected between November 1 and December 31, 2024. The metric we explored was Total Buzz, or the share of respondents who said they had recently seen, read or heard something — whether positive or negative — about a particular brand.

🛍️👚👟 The buzziest retail brands 🛍️👚👟

Walmart, Target and SHEIN dominated discourse among both Gen Zers and millennials this holiday season, reflecting consumers’ ongoing desire for a good deal. (Walmart also caused plenty of conversation last week with its release of an $80 handbag that looks very similar to the extremely expensive Hermés Birkin.) 

Footwear played an outsized role in 2024 holiday shopping, too: Nike, Adidas, Converse and Croc’s were among the brands that appeared on the top 20 lists of both demographic groups. And there were some solo shoe brand appearances as well — Vans nabbed the no. 10 spot for Gen Zers, and Reebok came in at no. 12 for millennials.

Elsewhere in the retail universe, Lululemon’s exclusive presence on Gen Z’s buzziest brands list makes clear that athleisure still has a firm hold on the young cohort. 

In contrast, Ralph Lauren’s appearance on millennials’ ranking suggests the older group is seeking out more elevated apparel. 

▶️ Check out our latest retail and e-commerce research here.

💄💅🧼 The buzziest beauty and personal care brands💄💅🧼

2024 was another huge year for the beauty industry, propelled by a seemingly never-ending carousel of viral internet trends, from “boyfriend blush” and Scandinavian hairlines to cherry cola lips and “espresso” makeup. 

The breadth and depth of these trends made all-in-one retail destinations like ULTA and Sephora among the most buzzed-about beauty brands for both Gen Zers and millennials this holiday season.

That said, with frequent appearances by the likes of e.l.f., Maybelline and Covergirl, drugstore and dupe brands are still clearly top of mind for young consumers. And while not on either generation’s buzziest list, Pantene did have a notable viral moment last week when young women, back at their parents homes for the holidays, began (positively) documenting their experience rediscovering the low-cost brand.

▶️ Morning Consult retail analyst Claire Tassin is publishing a report on the state of the beauty and personal care industries tomorrow. In the meantime, if you are interested in learning more about the data that powers these rankings, reach out to your Morning Consult contact or email [email protected]. 

💻📱🎧 The buzziest consumer technology brands 💻📱🎧

Phones, tablets and wearables were among this holiday season’s buzziest tech gifts, but with an interesting wrinkle: Millennials were hearing a lot about Samsung products, while Gen Zers were more inundated by Apple.

This dynamic may be fueled, in part, by the emergence of Apple’s Pencil product — an iPad accessory — as a popular wishlist item for young Gen Zers this year. Plus, while not known for their brand loyalty, Gen Zers have always demonstrated a uniquely strong affinity for the Apple brand, which became a mainstay in American culture just as much of the cohort was entering adolescence. 

▶️ Our archive of research on technology trends lives here. 

What Else We’re Reading

• What Happens When a Whole Generation Never Grows Up? (The Wall Street Journal)
• Meet Gen Beta, starting to be born in 2025 (Axios)  
• Kids Are Getting Hooked on Makeup With Ulta Beauty’s New Line of Toys (Bloomberg)
• Bracing for a TikTok Ban: 5 Key Implications for Ads, Creators, and Businesses (Adweek)

Upcoming

Jan. 8 — The State of Beauty and Personal Care. This report provides insight into how beauty and personal care shopper behaviors are changing over time.

Jan. 14 — 2025 Trends Webinar. Our analysts will unpack what to expect in the new year across several key categories, including retail, travel and social media marketing. Sign up here.