How do brands such as Kiwibank and Datacom appeal to young people?

Generation Z are the chief executives of the future – and today they make up a large part of a brand’s potential audience.

To ensure they take the market by storm, four big names in Wellington have tasked a team of local innovators to find solutions to some of their most pressing problems – for Wellington on a plateit was: “What does a food festival look like for Gen Z?”

One of the four who was asked to solve that particular problem was Rebecca Renwick, 21, founder of her own sustainable swimwear brand. to persevere​.

They were part of Creative HQ‘s first-ever Wellington Innovation Hack – a program that brought together a cohort of 18 young people aged 16 to 24 with Kiwibank, Datacom, Zealandia and Wellington on a Plate to analyze the challenges and opportunities these organizations now face, or expect to be in the future.

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“I don’t think any of us expected to be such well-known companies,” Renwick said.

The teams had 15 weeks part-time assisted by experts, mentors and a liaison from each company to answer the question, their work culminating in a 10-minute pitch to the company and a Creative HQ Certificate in Applied Innovation to feature on their resumes. to make .

One of the suggestions for Wellington on a Plate was to partner with a food box to reach people who don’t have the budget to eat out, or to create a festival event especially for a younger crowd.

Head of Innovation School at Creative HQ, Dr. Colin Kennedy, said the Innovation Hack was “like an internship program upside down”.

“We train the cohort in innovation techniques and the companies can observe them solving real-world problems through validated learning and ideation processes.”

Their findings are now for any company to take or leave – and the festival is sure to take them on board.

Festival director Sarah Meikle said it came from a place that everyone wanted to appeal to. “We wanted to know how we should change our thinking to adapt to a changing community.”

In general, younger people were more spontaneous, drawn to the hamburger offerings or pop-ups rather than events, which often sold out months in advance.

“I think what was really interesting and quite a revelation was the emergence of things like meal packages for Gen Z,” Meikle said.

To curb waste, along with tempting and time-consuming trips to the grocery store, the younger generation were willing to spend the extra to get exactly what they needed, and no more.

They were also looking for personal contacts after the disruption and isolation of the past two years. For the festival, this can be in the form of events, not around a theme, but a common interest or learning a new skill.