Generational labels are useful for broad market trends, but they oversimplify diverse individual lives, proving that age is just a number and personal belief systems matter more.
Uniting Audiences Through Communities
While groups of consumers like Generation X and Millennials, or younger generations like Alpha, can be defined in part by the label, marketers have started to dig deeper when it comes to their targeted marketing strategies. In fact, Amazon Ads conducted a study with Strat7 Crowd DNA to explore the question more fully.
In Amazon Ads’ “Beyond the Generational Divide: The New Rules for Consumer Connection,” the e-commerce company looked to rethink how brands can go beyond just demographics to connect with relevant audiences through shared values, behaviors and communities.
“Through analysis of over 600,000 news articles and surveys of 26,400 consumers across 11 countries, our research reveals a more nuanced picture of today’s consumers than traditional generational marketing suggests,” observed Amazon Ads. “We discovered three forces that create stronger audience connections than generational labels: shared values, communities, and behaviors. These insights point to a new way forward for brands looking to create more meaningful and effective consumer connections.”
Highlights of the study from Amazon include:
- Values create connections: Rather than dividing audiences by generation, understand how timeless human values—like health, relationships, and personal growth—can inform how your brand connects with people of all ages. Eighty percent of those surveyed consumers say their mindset and values define them more than their age.
- Communities drive engagement: Entertainment and media experiences unite audiences across generations, creating shared cultural moments that influence how people discover and engage with brands. Eighty-three percent of those surveyed consumers say their entertainment and media activities are influenced by their in-person and online communities.
- Behaviors help paint the picture: Shopping choices, streaming preferences, and creator connections can help reveal how customers naturally move through their day—insights far more valuable than generational labels alone. Seventy-two percent of consumers surveyed say their interests, hobbies, and passions define them more than their age.
Download Amazon’s full report here.
Challenging Traditional Generational Assumptions
During the Media Insights & Engagement Conference, Lauren Ingerman, Global Consumer Research & Thought Leadership, Ads Marketing at Amazon, will present the session, “Beyond the Generational Divide: Does the Year We Were Born Define Us?”
For decades, generational labels have been a go-to framework for understanding audiences — but is age really destiny? In this session, Amazon unveils findings from a global research study spanning 11 countries, challenging traditional assumptions about generational thinking. Discover how cultural context, life stage, and personal values are reshaping identity and media engagement — and what it means for building smarter, more human-centered audience strategies.
Helping Brands Show Up to the Right Audiences
As Amazon noted, looking at consumers beyond generational demographics can matter deeply to brands aiming to engage their audiences, most especially in the media and entertainment sector. Certainly, generational labels are important for such activities as lifecycle marketing and life stage advertising. But the study from Amazon urges marketers to think in fresh ways how to capture consumer interest.
“Behavioral insights—rather than demographic assumptions—help brands show up to the right audiences in the right moments, while understanding shared values and communities can inspire more authentic creative storytelling,” Amazon suggested. “Through premium video content, audio experiences, and creator-led connections, brands can forge stronger relationships with audiences who genuinely connect with their message.”
Amazon provided some key takeaways for its report as well, for marketers aiming to cross the generational divide and unite audiences around communities:
- Center your strategy around key unifiers: Audiences are 1.4X more unified by their shared values, 2.2X more unified by their communities, and 2.1X more unified by their behaviors than by their generation. Use these insights to inform authentic campaign strategies that connect with customers through their passions and shared moments rather than demographic assumptions.
- Create more universal messaging: More than half of surveyed consumers prefer advertising that references shared human experiences. Develop messaging that resonates with diverse audience values and leverage AI-powered creative solutions, like video and audio generation capabilities, to help your brand test and tailor messaging to sub-sets of customers.
- Harness the power of entertainment: With 4 in 5 consumers saying communities influence their entertainment choices, connect with audiences across your entertainment canvas. Activate your brand across platforms to more authentically engage with audiences where they naturally gather around shared interests.
- Activate across the full funnel: Today’s consumer journey is not linear. Utilize customizable full-funnel solutions to connect your brand across every stage of the journey to help drive growth, from discovery to purchase.
- Build comprehensive audience strategies: Campaigns that combine age-based and interest-based strategies see up to 2.2X higher conversion rates than those using age-based strategies alone. Leverage first-party browsing, streaming, and buying signals to reach more relevant audiences based on their interests and behaviors.
Video: “How labels like Boomer, Millennial, or Gen Z mislead us,” featuring Bobby Duffy, courtesy of TEDx Talks.
