nternet virality was once guaranteed to a celebrity online if their social media accounts had high enough follower counts. A provocative photo or an unexpected reveal was enough to light the internet on fire. Remember Kim K’s Paper Magazine cover that broke the internet? The magazine’s Instagram post of the cover compiled 15 million page views on their website. Or Beyoncé’s floral pregnancy announcement that became the most-liked Instagram photo of all time in 8 hours?

Social media continues to be the place where Gen Z and young Millennials choose to spend most of their waking hours scrolling, liking, and sharing content from their friends, favorite influencers, and brands. The share of time on these platforms will only continue to increase in 2024. TikTok has vaulted to the top of social platforms that continuously go viral and provide entertaining content consumers love to discuss.

For Valentine’s Day 2024, Qulture concepted and produced the Marc Jacobs Fragrances Perfect Valentines digital letter writing experience. Guests can get the opportunity to create and design their own Valentine’s letter to their loved ones using the special Marc Jacobs Fragrances charms.

Visit https://www.marcjacobsfragrances.com/en-us/perfect-valentine to create your own Perfect Valentines. Web design provided by Cotton Design.

Social media continues to be the place where Gen Z and young Millennials choose to spend most of their waking hours scrolling, liking, and sharing content from their friends, favorite influencers, and brands. The share of time on these platforms will only continue to increase in 2024. TikTok has vaulted to the top of social platforms that continuously go viral and provide entertaining content consumers love to discuss.

Gen Z doesn’t just want to buy products, they want to help create them. First movers that collaborate with consumers on product development instead of unilaterally pushing out what they think may work stand to benefit from less risk, supercharged advocacy, and a treasure trove of first-party data.

One of the most compelling reasons why brands need to prioritize developing an AI strategy is rarely discussed, and it has just as much to do with who is using AI as the technology itself. With more than 60% of generative AI users under the age of 34 and close to 30% being Gen Z, young consumers are blazing a trail beyond search and entering the era of conversations. The insights that brands generate from these interactions with AI agents that can autonomously learn, reason, and respond in real time can deliver an exponential advantage.

Gen Z is bored with scrolling through the endless product grids found on most e-commerce sites. Virtual shopping in immersive environments on the other hand, is an opportunity to capture their attention and drive discovery. It’s why brands like Fendi, NARS, and Ralph Lauren have launched “digital flagships” that consumers can access in their browsers and buy in new ways.

Demographically, Gen Z have topped millennials as the largest generation on earth with an outsized influence on culture, impacting everything from fashion to family vacations. From a technology perspective, this digital-first generation is transforming how they spend their 9 hours of daily screen time. Scrolling through social feeds is no longer enough to keep them captivated.

Live commerce can be quite a conundrum for the modern brand. While it's projected to reach $55 billion in three years as Gen Z increasingly shops where they socialize, going live puts a lot of pressure on billion-dollar brands to get it right in real-time.

As brands build their live strategy, the question of where to host these shopping sessions is one of the first to address. Depending on goals, budgets and timelines, a range of options could work – from social platforms, to marketplaces, or self-hosted sessions on brand websites. The decision will be driven largely in part by where a brand's younger customers are.

As live content continues its rapid rise, brands are rushing to get their strategy ready for prime time. Live commerce is formidable, having reached $17 billion in the US in 2022 and is projected to hit $55 billion by 2026. While the US is still far behind China (which generated $514 billion in live commerce sales in 2022) brands taking a proactive, test-and-learn approach now will be ahead of the game as adoption accelerates.

The shift from the social graph (who you follow) to the interest graph (what gets your attention) has been driven in large part by TikTok. This means brands need to know what their customers love. The problem? Most have no idea what that is.