Drugi jezik na kojem je dostupan ovaj članak: Bosnian
For the fifth consecutive year, Color Media Communications is organizing the Digital, regional conference on telecommunications and media trends. This year, the #Digital2018 conference, held on 6 and 7 September in the Hotel Metropol in Belgrade, brought together the most significant names from these areas in the whole region as well as numerous guests from abroad.
In a very interesting panel titled Dreams and reality of the Gen Z: meet your future buyers, or maybe better not… the generation Z and whether or not we should get to know them was discussed by Marija Matić, Matija Protić, Predrag Kurčubić, Andreja Mikulić, Aleksandra Nikolić and Nichim.
We discussed this topic with Marija Matić, the Data & Communications Director of Direct Media.
How well do we know Gen Z and its influence on digital communications?
Marija Matić: Gen Z is becoming increasingly important in research and thinking of the entire communications industry. This is a generation that is expected to significantly change the way media work, and the foundations of many industries. At this point, it seems to me that we don’t know enough about Gen Z, or that we are not doing enough research and thinking about them.
Title of the panel discussion asked whether we should get to know them, or not? Well, should we?
Marija Matić:
Of course we should. This is a generation we expect a lot from. Unlike our Millennials, who have quite modest goals, this is a very ambitious generation that will affect many changes in different areas. The world of communication has already begun to change, and technology is so close to them that, I believe, they will use it to modernize other industries as well.
How to most efficiently communicate with the Gen Z in Serbia? Through influencers or…?
Marija Matić: When we talk about Gen Z, then influence marketing is the most significant communication tool with this generation. For them, social networks are the basis of every kind of communication. Consequently, influencer marketing is becoming increasingly important in our market. Its expansion can be expected.
Direct Media has researched Gen Z. What kind of conclusions did you reach? What parts of the research were presented at the Digital conference?
Marija Matić: Visitors of the Digital conference heard and saw some parts of this research. I believe it was very interesting for them. What is perhaps key is that this is a generation of distinct individuals. Gen Z is defined as the Cloud Native generation, but our research shows that they do not define themselves through use of internet or mobile phones. For them, digital world is the reality in which they live and they describe themselves as all other generations – through their hobbies, their interests, their activities …. This is for me the first global generation that does not see the boundary between local and global. Domestic and foreign athletes, musicians, youtubers, influencers… all are equally important to them. This is the generation that will be the most influential trendsetter of technological changes in our country.
How ill the Gen Z change the way we communicate with consumers, and consequently how we do business?
Marija Matić: Gen Z will trully digitally transform today’s world. All that seems futuristic right now, they will spontaneously bring with their way of life. And it will happen very quickly, and as they say, it will be Inter(NET)esting.
