The advantage of getting a little older is that you can look back on what works in reaching young people and what doesn't.

In the early years, Trendwolves published a monthly column in PUB, and Maarten Leyts is happy to do so again 15 years later.

“Because if there's one thing that hasn't changed, it's my fascination with youth culture, trends, and communication,”

he says. Youth culture is moving faster than ever. What used to take years to become mainstream can now go viral within months. Subcultures, music genres, and styles change rapidly. For brands, companies, and governments, this is both a challenge and an opportunity. How do you stay relevant in a world where change is the only constant?

Youth culture: more than a market, an ecosystem

Anyone can target a specific audience, but understanding how young people create meaning among themselves and what drives them makes all the difference. Young people are not a homogeneous group, but move within a network of subcultures, niches, and digital communities.

Brands that are successful in this area not only build campaigns around culture, but also contribute to it. Red Bull is not just an energy drink, but a cultural anchor in extreme sports and gaming. Glossier, which started as a beauty blog, became a brand that develops products together with its community. Both prove that youth culture is not something to ‘target’, but something to invest in.

At the same time, trends are changing faster than ever. If you want to stay relevant, you not only have to switch gears faster, but also move with the cultural times.

Generations are a consequence of technology, not the cause.

Behavior does not change simply because of the year you were born, but because of the world in which people grow up. The pandemic has only accelerated this trend. In Generation ZAlpha, I describe how this has led tweens to enter virtual worlds even faster for learning, relaxation, and social interaction. For them, digital is not just a tool, but an environment.

New technologies are constantly shifting how we work, learn, and communicate. Young people are the first to adapt and develop the social and cultural codes surrounding that technology. What they embrace today becomes mainstream tomorrow.

Think of social media, once a playground for young people, now the backbone of brand communication. Or the on-demand economy, which started with streaming and ride-sharing, but is now the standard for all generations. The gig economy, which brought flexibility to work, was first embraced by young people and has since structurally changed the way companies deploy talent.

Technology as a catalyst for behavioral change

Marshall McLuhan said it best:

“The medium is the message.”

Not only the content, but the technology itself changes how we think and act. TikTok has not only spawned a new generation of creators, it has also changed the way we process information. Young people who grow up with it think in short, visual content and pick up signals more intuitively. This is not a “generation gap,” but a cognitive adaptation to a new flow of information. The Flynn effect, the rise in IQ scores over the past few decades, points to the same trend. Young people process information differently than those who grew up with linear television or books. Technology influences not only their thought processes, but ultimately those of everyone else.

Youth culture is not only changing rapidly, it is also determining the direction in which the rest of society is moving. What is niche today will be mainstream tomorrow. The gig economy, on-demand consumption, the creator economy—it all started with young people, but now it affects us all. That doesn't mean generations don't play a role. But if we really want to understand why people behave differently than they did ten or twenty years ago, we need to look beyond birth years. Technology draws the real generational lines, and young people are simply the ones who are the first to step into it. Those who understand this don't look at labels, but at movements.

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