How to Market to Gen Z Consumers in 2021 – Lessons from Ramen Advertising

Whether or not you believe in generational marketing and a drop in attention span, it's clear that younger audiences are crying out for alternative options to old-school branding strategies. The opportunity for cut-through in compelling storytelling is bigger than ever before. Want to learn more? Drop us a line.

My 13-year-old cousin eats at least three cups of ramen per week. After working in marketing, I realized his craving for ramen might simply result from their successful campaigns targeting young people.

How can I create an effective marketing campaign like those ramen brands?

What is Gen Z?

Generational marketing means segmenting your market by age, and it has constantly evolved with new consumer habits, technologies, and values.

The latest target, Gen Z, represents 40% of total American consumers and wields a staggering purchasing power of $143 billion.

Gen Z is likely to be the most diverse generation with higher levels of technological know-how. Gen Z thinks, communicates, and buys differently than any generation before it.  

How do Ramen Brands Target Gen Z?

Some ramen brands have already gotten this concept right.

To survive the saturated food industry, ramen companies have acted and innovated quickly, pivoting their brands to fit Gen Zs’ needs and values.  

Here are four key features of those ramen advertising campaigns (that worked on my cousin) to help you win over the younger, more diverse customers.

Understand Gen Z's Lifestyle

Late night is the norm of Gen Z’s life.

In 2019, overnight dining was one of the fastest-growing modern food trends in the food service industry in the UK (83% of the UK’s out-of-home dining’s (OOH) overall growth.) All sorts of challenges from working long hours present an opportunity for ramen to be rebranded as “comfort food” for late nights.

A Chinese ramen brand launched a “Slurping Instead of Sleeping” campaign (睡不着拉面) in 2021.

The ads highlight the hearty feeling and comfort of eating ramen by using colors with high saturation, warm steam over the food, and nostalgic housing appliances in the background. In addition, the message focuses on making nighttime ramen sound less unhealthy. For instance, ramen could ease your stomach upset late at night, lessen your stress, and bring the nutrients you need.

Meet Gen Z's (social media’s) Needs

Gen Z is a social media native.

Since Gen Z consumers were born, social media has been growing exponentially. Sharing stories about themselves on social media is a great deal. It offers countless possibilities for brands to attract Gen Z by just meeting their social media needs.

In that vein, a ramen brand launched “art noodles” in collaboration with the National Gallery of Art in 2020.

Quality visuals combining instant ramen with art have met the exact needs of Gen Z buyers- the appearance, smell, taste, and attention their social media post posts - are "Instagram-." le."

The collaboration went viral among Gen Z, who pays more attention to what they eat, especially when it comes to high-end packaging and a healthy brand’s image.

The success also shows that Gen Z represents a more diverse and international generation. A study by the CMO Council found that brands targeting consumers in multiple foreign markets need to offer a more culturally relevant connection with their audience. As Gregg L. Witt's book The Gen Z Frequency put it,

It’s also essential for brands to adopt a global mindset, as some of the most significant growth is taking place in countries that are either developing or underdeveloped."

Here is How a Japanese cup noodle survived "globalization":

Match Gen Z's Single Culture

Before I came to the states, sitcoms like "Modern Family" had set my impression about American family dinner.

However, it is certainly not like that. Modern culture is redefining what eating could be like for Gen Z  - alone.

According to U.S. Census Bureau's data, single households have compromised 2of of US households as young adults continue to delay marriage.  And 4of 6% of adults are reported to eat alone in the US entirely. According to The Wall Street Journal, OpenTable reported an 80 percent increase in the table for bookings at NYC restaurants from 2014 to 2018. This trend has transformed the ways of connecting with people and food significantly.

As reflected by Forbes's survey on why people choose to eat alone,  Gen Zs are multi-taskers. Instead of marketing to the family meal, Ramen companies succeeded in branding as the most delicate “healthy, convenient single-person meal.” For instance, some ramen brands create personalized packaging and ingredients, while others focus on getting "nutritionist-approved."

With the rise of the "super solo" culture in Japan, and the "super solo" culture, more and more restaurants and food brands have embraced solo dining.

Follow Gen Z's Communication Habits

Omnichannel marketing is nothing new to Gen Z. They were born into a highly digitalized society where everything is connected – social media, online shopping, rapid delivery, etc.

A recent study shows Gen Z access social media through a much wider variety of apps than previous generations. While older generations may be locked into Facebook with its full range of in-app functions, Gen Z has built multiple networks across "functionally-specific" apps, such as Facebook (yes, they still use it for Marketplace), Instagram, Twitch, Snapchat, TikTok, Pinterest, etc.

Therefore, mobile-friendly content across social media sites is critical to increase the brand's exposure. Having a presence on multiple social media sites is critical, which also needs to be app-specific to reach Gen-at “in the moment.” For instance, as Gen Z search for more intimacy and authenticity from brands, live content is the way forward. So you need to repurpose your content suitable for live stream - entertaining, interactive, and short. In China, Taobao (from Alibaba) and its rival JD.com, two of the biggest online shopping platforms, have turned live streaming shows into a new generation of ads: infomercials. Brands can hire popular influencers like pop singers, artists, or movie stars to interact with the audience, persuading them to buy more. According to Alibaba, the conversion rate of the content on Taobao Live is 32%. (In comparison, the average conversion rate for Facebook ads is 9.21%.)

One bottom line, for brands to succeed with Gen Z, the most important thing is to know your brand's core audience. They were then aligning with the Gen Z culture segments that matter most. Depending on different markets, there could be a million ways of portraying the global Gen Z demographic. So whenever Googling recipes for "generational market" or "how to attract younger consumers," keep your core audience in mind!!