[One Sip of a Book] How to Satisfy Gen Z Viewers?..."Fun Should Be Without Pressure"

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The main keyword highlighted this year by the 20s research institute, Daehaknaeil 20s Research Lab, is ‘Tribeship’. It refers to the ability to form communities and build relationships centered around one’s personal orientations such as interests and lifestyle. Values and tastes do not have to perfectly align. People who sharply connect on a particular interest gather to form nano communities. At the center of this is the so-called Generation Z. They line up from dawn at pop-up stores of small brands and stay up all night to enter the pop-up store of the paper book 'Slam Dunk' published 30 years ago. Daehaknaeil 20s Research Lab analyzed what kind of inner feelings today’s 20s have.

In this 『Z Generation Trend 2024』, the capabilities of Generation Z are summarized as ‘Tribeship’. Tribeship means forming dozens of small ‘tribes’ based on one’s orientations and building relationships, creating new communities that connect oneself and surroundings beyond blood ties, school ties, or regional ties. Here, orientation is a collection of identities created and nurtured by the individual, encompassing not only tastes and interests but also tendencies, values, and lifestyle. - From “Preface: Capabilities We Need in an Era of Turbulence”

There are two points to note here. First, the identity that one proactively creates is the core of relationships. Generation Z expresses their character and forms relationships centered on personal orientations they discover and create themselves, such as tendencies, tastes, and interests, rather than social affiliations naturally given in life. Simply being peers or attending the same school or workplace does not form bonds. Going a step further, emotional bonds arise only through personal orientations considered core elements of identity. Second, even a very small part that can be empathized with connects people. Nowadays, as everyone has multifaceted and three-dimensional personalities and selves, it is impossible to find someone whose tastes or interests perfectly match in every aspect. Generation Z does not look for taste doppelgangers. They find people or communities that sharply connect with one part of their many tastes and interests and connect as needed. Therefore, communities that Generation Z with hyper-personality belong to are divided microscopically as much as their tastes and interests. - From “CHAPTER 2. The Birth of Tribes Based on Orientation and Empathy”

In the era of borderless tribes, distinctions of consumer groups based on age, generation, or region are becoming meaningless. Solidarity and bonds based on personal orientations easily transcend those boundaries. It is necessary not only to classify consumer groups based on tastes or interests but also to subdivide those units further. Now, finding mega codes loved by the masses is also meaningless. Just as individuals connect through small and sharp intersections, companies and brands need to create small intersections to connect with consumers. Such tribeship also applies to families, companies, and society. First, the meaning of family, the smallest unit of society, is changing. There was a time when family collapse was discussed due to rising divorce rates and declining birth rates along with nuclear family trends. As the family, the smallest unit of society, weakens, social cohesion also weakens. From the perspective of social components, family bonds may seem weakened, but rather, more families are forming stronger tribeship. This is the result of more frequent emotional exchanges sharing tastes and interests. In fact, nowadays, it is easy to see parents and children sharing the same tastes and interests and becoming emotionally closer. - From “Conclusion of MAIN TREND: The Era of Borderless Tribeship”

In an era where sharp and niche tastes are admired, brands are loved more when their identity is clear and distinct like an individual. This is also confirmed by the popularity of small brands. In recent years, among Generation Z, small brands that reflect the unique personality and sensibility of their creators rather than popular tastes that appeal to everyone have been spotlighted. Although called small brands due to their size, their influence is not small. Representative small brands, such as domestic designer fashion brands, drive sales not only on online platforms like 29CM and Musinsa but also in department stores. Among them, designer Kim Da-in’s ‘Matin Kim’ achieved sales of 300 million won within three days of opening at The Hyundai Seoul. - From “CHAPTER 5. Building Tribeship with Small Brands”

As individuality becomes distinct in each region and Generation Z’s tastes, values, and lifestyles become more segmented, consumption behavior of spaces is changing. ‘How many people visit’ or ‘whether there are many popular restaurants or cafes’ is no longer the top priority. The unique atmosphere of a specific neighborhood or space, in other words, regional characteristics, lead Generation Z’s footsteps. Generation Z perceives places full of regional characteristics not as old-fashioned but as hip. Having distinct regional characteristics means that the space has originality and rarity. Generation Z consumes spaces with distinct regional characteristics and freely expresses their tastes and lifestyles. - From “CHAPTER 7. The Clearer Colors of Spaces”

Chat-type communities refer to communities communicating in real-time chat within a single chat room without a specific website or app area. Platforms like KakaoTalk Open Chat and Discord are representative. Chat-type communities have already permeated our daily lives, and especially Generation Z actively uses such communities. A survey conducted in July 2023 on community usage within the last month showed that bulletin board-type communities such as portal-based cafes or self-hosted website communities still had high usage rates. However, by generation, portal-based cafe community usage was 71.7% for early millennials, 62.7% for late millennials, but relatively low at 53.4% for Generation Z. Self-hosted website community usage was 45.8% for early millennials, 43.6% for late millennials, but about 10 percentage points lower at 33.1% for Generation Z. On the other hand, chat-type community usage was highest among Generation Z at 47.6%. KakaoTalk Open Chat usage (38.6%) was also higher than other generations, and especially Discord usage among Generation Z was 21.9%, showing a marked difference from other generations. - From “CHAPTER 10. From Bulletin Board Communities to Chat Communities”

In 2023, there was a new issue in the YouTube content industry. Producer Na Young-seok, who directed popular variety shows like [1 Night 2 Days], [Three Meals a Day], and [Ppyong Ppyong Earth Arcade], appeared on live broadcasts of Chimchakman to seek advice on YouTube operation. Na Young-seok PD said that after transitioning from TV variety shows to web variety shows and experiencing various changes, he struggled with breaking the existing broadcast framework and wanted to try live broadcasts like Chimchakman’s channel. Chimchakman advised Na Young-seok PD not to edit or direct too ‘intensely’. If every moment is fun, it requires concentration, and viewers easily get tired, so content should be made that can be watched comfortably for a long time. Content that viewers can watch even if they briefly get distracted or miss parts without regret. - From “CHAPTER 16. Reducing Editing and Directing”

In March 2023, SM Entertainment established SM Universe, an artist training academy in Daechi-dong. The admission requirement is ‘withdrawal from school’, and it is rumored that the first recruitment had a competition rate of 2.5 to 1. Although a private academy, it has a three-year step-by-step curriculum like a school and classes run from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., five days a week. In addition to majors helpful for becoming an artist such as producer, vocal, dancer, model, and acting, Korean, English, and math are taught for taking the qualification exam, and tests are conducted. However, attending this academy does not guarantee debut. It only provides opportunities and environments to be educated by experts, but students make the bold choice of withdrawal. Unlike the past when even active celebrities thought they had to graduate school, the perception has changed to challenge first by giving up formal education if they have talent and interest in a field, even if debut is not guaranteed. - From “CHAPTER 11. Changes in Schools”

AI has also started to be used in the job preparation stage. According to a survey by Daehaknaeil 20s Research Lab on whether university students have experience preparing for jobs using AI programs, more than half (56.5%) answered yes. They mainly use AI for reviewing and writing self-introductions, summarizing the latest trends or current affairs, and positively evaluate the shortened document writing time. They also use AI services specialized in information search such as New Bing, Bard, and ChatGPT to greatly reduce the time spent collecting and analyzing company information. The same applies to interview preparation. By inputting the characteristics of the applying company and self-introduction into AI, they can check expected interview questions and appropriate mock answers. In response to this trend, platforms for job preparation and career management have also emerged. Career Wallet is one example, a platform that matches corporate recruitment information based on individual job tendencies and career data. By responding to 60 questions of AI self-introduction service on this platform, users receive customized information necessary for writing self-introductions such as personality type, job tendency, strengths, and compatible colleague types. Generation Z checks their job tendencies before applying for jobs based on this. - From “CHAPTER 21. Campus Where Online Has Become Daily Life”

Z Generation Trend 2024 | Daehaknaeil 20s Research Lab | Wisdom House | 264 pages | 18,000 KRW