Just as you get to grips with Gen Z, it’s time to forget them – and welcome Generation Alpha. Kids born since 2010 are set to be a massive force in retail and, luckily for you, global content business Beano Studios has published a new in-depth study into the behaviour, goals and attitudes of these new kids on the block.
Gen Alpha kids have been arriving since the year the iPad launched and they are the children of the much-maligned millennials. We will hit peak Gen Alpha in 2025 – by which time there will be 2 billion around the globe – and it’s looking like they will be world changers with a progressive and compassionate outlook, with a touch of conservatism.
The study, carried out by Beano Studios’ in-house kid first consultancy Beano for Brands, comprises UK-wide semiotic and quantitative research and a survey of 2,000 kids and their parents. It reveals a generation already exerting influence on the world around them through positive pester power, tech-enabled creativity and progressive attitudes to gender, sexuality and social identity.
Amongst the many findings of the Beano for Brands report, are Five Trends of Gen Alpha that are set to define the upcoming generation. Firstly, they are ‘Digital Masters’. When it comes to all things online and digital, Gen Alpha are streets ahead of their digital native millennial parents.
They are also ‘The New Old Fashioneds’, says the study. Despite their digital mastery, and almost being born with a mobile device in their hands, Gen Alpha are nonetheless showing signs of being the ‘new old fashioneds’ with a return to ‘playing out’ and valuing family time.
Gen Alpha are also ‘Creative Entrepreneurs’, looking set to be the ‘architechs‘ of a new found tech-enabled creativity. They are also ‘Activists in the Home’, organising school strikes to protesting against single use plastics, the kids are the activists in the home. They question everything from stereotypes on gender to climate change denial.
Finally, they are ‘Post-Stereotypes’ – Gen Alpha is the first generation to judge people by who they are, not what they are.
Emma Scott, CEO at Beano Studios, explains: “Gen Alpha is the generation that will seek to bend the digital world to their needs and ambitions and not be defined or consumed by it; they will set aside our current worldview stereotypes of identity and difference, and their love for cherishing and saving the physical world around them will literally change the face of our planet.”
Scott continues: “Beano for Brands’ Generation Alpha report is just the beginning. We’ve only just started to scratch the surface of this exciting, impassioned generation. With the oldest of Gen Alpha yet to reach secondary school, Beano for Brands will continue to monitor their progress and educate the world on who they are and what we as parents, educators, legislators and businesses need to do to keep up with them.”
