Questioning AI Assumptions
Let’s examine GWI’s Connecting the Dots survey, which focused on marketing trends that might be overlooked.
“Every year, GWI is interviewing representative samples around the world, more than fifty different countries. We’re sending out about five million surveys and interviews per year,” says Mander. “We ask people a wide range of questions about their lives and lifestyles, the trends that matter to them, the devices and platforms that they’re using, and we trend those responses over time to see where things are growing and where the opportunities are. Connecting the Dots is where each year we distill that down into the things that we think marketers and advertisers most need to know.”
A highlight of the report is how AI is transforming insights, and transforming marketing. You called out the risks of AI just making things a little bit more generic. What can organizations do to really leverage AI effectively to make consumer insights more meaningful?
“This started with some research that we did among advertisers and marketers asking them about their workflows and the tools that they’re using. We tested 15 different use cases,” says Mander. “Everything from strategy development to audience targeting and understanding and asked them how they’re making their decisions. And across pretty much all of those, what comes out still as the top source is your own judgment, your intuition. There’s a reason all of us are in our jobs because we’re skilled at what we do. But almost universally, the second source that people are going to are AI tools.”
He observes, “What you can infer is happening is that a lot of professionals out there have their assumptions, their theories, and are going to AI tools to confirm them. Of course, a lot of AI tools, as I think many of us have experienced, are almost programmed to affirm and make you feel good about what you’re thinking. There’s that challenge. Over the top of that, we need to lay the fact that most of those tools, unless you’ve done something to connect other data to them, are pulling from what’s available on the open web, which may not always be the most up to date or ideal type of data that you would choose to use. It’s very difficult often to see how representative or sort of nuanced those sources are. What we’ve seen in scenario after scenario is that the insights that come out can be very predictable, sometimes a bit mundane, and often, dare I say it, leaning into stereotypes.”
Mander adds, “It’s not always giving you the best results. And, really, our take on it is that every organization out there that wants to leverage the amazing capabilities of what AI tools can do needs to be thinking about the source data that’s being used to generate those insights and how you’re integrating this into your team’s workflows. Because one of the other risks is you have lots of people using different tools, kind of creating silos of work that may be a bit contradictory. Some level of governance over the tools and the sources of data that are being used is really helpful.”
Getting to Know the Digital Ninjas
Let’s jump into more pieces of the report. You talked a lot about Gen Alpha trends. You made this statement, it’s not just Gen Z 2.0. What are some differences between these generations, that might make marketers reimagine their approach to their strategies?
Mander says, “I think a lot of people have seen Gen Alpha as mini Gen Z’s just waiting to come of age. This year, in fact, the first of that cohort turned 16, so on the very threshold of adulthood. Of course, there are similarities between Gen Z and Gen Alpha. We’re not trying to claim they are polar ends of the spectrum. There are shared behaviors, shared values, but there are also lots of distinctive traits and behaviors that we think brands and marketers should have on their radar.”
He continues, “They kind of fall into two different camps. There’s values, and it’s a bit too early to think that Gen Alpha have coherent defined values that they’ll take into adulthood. Although, certainly, we are seeing sharpened expectations around things like authenticity, trust, what creativity means to them, and how they are influenced by other sources in their world.”
“But I think we’re on firmer ground if we look at actual behaviors. Two that really stand out would be tech adoption or specifically device adoption. Now when Gen Z was seven years old, which is a long time ago now, only one in ten of them had access to a games console. Alphas, when they hit that milestone, more than half of them already had access. That sort of tracks on device after device. When Alphas were nine years old, over half of them for the first time had access to a cell phone or a mobile phone or a smartphone. Again, Gen Z, by the time they were 12, only a quarter of them had that,” he says.
“So Gen Alpha are growing up in an environment where they have much earlier access to devices. And whereas we’ve often called Gen Z digital natives, I don’t think native even is close enough for Alphas. They’re almost like digital ninjas,” says Mander. “They’re so sophisticated in how they move across devices. Obviously, they’ll grow up having had access to a wide range of devices from a very early age, and the sort of digital fluency they get from that is very pronounced. Almost by association, brands need to be moving across that digital ecosystem that Alphas are so comfortable with in a very seamless way, showing up very authentically.”
“That has implications for the other area that I’d highlight,” says Mander. “Now it can be a little bit uncomfortable talking about Alphas and their purchase power. By no means is anything I’m about to say implying that we should be targeting that cohort. But understanding their influence over their parents or guardians is very important. And in fact, in our research, two in three parents of Alphas who had purchased a car said that their child was either somewhat or very influential over the car that ended up being purchased. If you then connect that to the auto-related behaviors that Alphas have done in the last year, you can see that two thirds of them have driven a car in a video game. About two thirds of them have watched a YouTube or a TikTok or an Insta video about cars.”
“All of those digital behaviors score far higher than traditional things like playing with toy cars. You can see how their sort of digital fluency is influencing the way they interact with products and brands and how that might carry over into their adult purchase journeys and purchase decisions.”
Eyeballing Social Media Trends
Speaking of tech adoption, what about social media? There is always chatter about social media dying or declining? GWI’s study really hit on that observation. But are there specific shifts that are happening with consumers using social platforms?
“Almost every month and certainly every year, I see the stories doing the rounds that social is declining, social is in trouble, and it is just not backed up in any way by data,” asserts Mander. “Social is still taking a colossal amount of people’s time each day and each week, and there’s been no change to those figures. Probably our own definitions have complicated things a little bit. According to GWI’s research, your average consumer across the world is still spending seven hours a week on social media. They’re also spending six and a half hours on short form video. On top of that, another five hours on longer form video. Roll all of that together, which could all come under the social banner or definition, and we’re looking at about 20 hours a week. The time is still major and needs to be prominent on every brand and marketer’s radar.”
“What is shifting is how people show up on social, what they want from brands, how they want to interact,” says Mander. “We’ve seen a consistent decline over the years in what you might call more active behaviors. People are less likely than they used to be to share photos, to share posts, to air their views on social. They’re contributing less, but they are consuming more. They’re going there for content, for videos, for entertainment, and that is particularly pronounced among Gen Z who really over-index for social media usage motivations, like filling up spare time, watching the latest outputs from influencers, or just finding entertaining and fun content generally.”
“The eyeballs are still there,” says Mander. “It’s just the eyeballs are doing something slightly different than perhaps a few years ago. And there’s also arguably more specialization. People continue to network across multiple platforms. The typical user is on at least six or seven, and in some countries or demographics, far more than that. They’ve become accustomed to going to certain platforms for certain types of reasons.”
“Similarly to what we were talking about with Alpha, I think that the challenge that this creates for brands is to show up across those platforms authentically and in a way that feels relevant to each setting. How you show up on Instagram is not necessarily the same as on TikTok, as on Snap, as on any of the other platforms.”
Additional Blog: Discovering Overlooked Marketing Trends
We are well into 2026, and most insights and marketing teams have explored a range of diverse consumer trends, planned their marketing and branding campaigns, and set their go-to-market strategies. AI, personalization, and community themes abound. Creators and influencers will hold sway. But what if the biggest opportunities for 2026 are the ones no one’s talking about? GWI conducted a comprehensive study to uncover five overlooked shifts shaping the year and beyond.
Understanding a Global Tournament
Let’s pivot a bit to GWI’s World Cup report, which detailed six distinct World Cup fan types, rather than treating all supporters as just kind of one audience. What surprised you when you did this research?
“There’s no doubt the World Cup is a huge event,” says Mander. “Our research across all those markets shows that about 85% of people intend to watch and pay attention in some form. When you have an audience as large as 85%, you need to start distinguishing within it. Not all of those people are going to show up in the same ways for the same reasons and want the same things. So we ran a segmentation study that looked at how the World Cup made people feel, the emotions that would be generated, and used that as the basis for segmentation, and we put people into six distinct groups. Now some of those segments are kind of what you would expect, but some are a little bit more unusual or fun.”
“My personal favorite is what we’ve coined the soccer skeptics. One in ten globally, but one in four in the U.S. Those are people who love sports. They are big sports fans that couldn’t care less about soccer. They are being dragged in because it’s a big marquee sporting event. So they’ll be there. They’ll be available. But, actually, you might argue they’re going to be easily distracted by things other than soccer,” he says.
Mander continues, “But perhaps the most important segment, which is also the largest, is what we’ve called the virtual crowd. About one in five globally, about 15% in the U.S., fall into that segment. It skews younger, and they are very engaged with the tournament, but not planning to watch it in the ways that you might traditionally have assumed. Live viewing is important but not crucial for them. They’re very comfortable catching up with clips and highlights perhaps via social. They’re also the most likely segment to support multiple teams. They’ll perhaps have their preferred one, but because they’re following players and talent, they’re open to supporting more than one country through the journey. These are big fans who are going to be very active, but not the sort of traditional stereotype of a soccer watching audience.”
Segmenting the Soccer Fan
As you mention in the report, all of these groups have different passions, platforms, and purchase habits. How can the marketer focus on one strategy for each audience, or should they create a cohesive World Cup campaign?
“I think the notion that one strategy could be effective when you’ve got such a big audience is challenging,” says Mander. “It’s 85% globally, but in some markets, particularly the really enthusiastic ones like in LatAm, it’s closer to 100%. You have to start segmenting. And what our research shows is there just are so many differences that you need to recognize. Some people are there for the sport. Others are there because it’s a cultural spectacle. Some want to watch in groups. For others, it’s about solo viewing. Some want to tune in live. Some are comfortable with catch up. Some are actively excited. Others are sort of being dragged into it because everyone else is. Understanding all of those different motivations and behaviors is important and segmenting your strategy accordingly will be, in my view, more effective.”
“I suppose what is consistent across all of those segments is the multiplatform nature of engagement. People will be connecting across different devices and touch points. Although it’s to varying degrees, everyone in one of those segments is in some way interested in the tournament and therefore available for their attention to be commanded by what brands and marketers want to put out there,” advises Mander.
Additional Blog: Scoring With the New Sports Consumer
Calling all kickers! The FIFA World Cup 2026 event kicked off June 11 to July 19, 2026, across venues in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico. This specially designed “North American” soccer event—did we mention 48 teams and billions of fans worldwide—is sure to create a multicultural fusion of consumers, their fandoms and passions, and exciting sports broadcasting moments—not to mention making it ripe with revenue and placement opportunities for global brands, marketing masters, and media giants. Here, we explore with GWI some of the traits of the World Cup consumer to gain new insights into this key sports business category.
Video: Watch the video for the complete All Things Insights interview with GWI’s Jason Mander.
