Authority on Consumer Engagement Available to Discuss Ads, Shared Experiences
02/10/2022
Contact for media: Nancy Cicco, 978-934-4944 or Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu
An estimated 117 million sports fans are expected to watch Sunday’s Super Bowl between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Rams, but a UMass Lowell marketing expert wonders how many members of Generation Z will be among them.
“Gen Z,” whose members were born between 1997 and 2012, are now between the ages of 10 and 25. As of this year, the group accounts for about 20% of the U.S. population, representing an estimated 68.2 million tweens, teens and young adults, according to demographers.
No doubt with those stats in mind, Super Bowl advertisers spent up to $7 million for 30 seconds of airtime for commercials during the broadcast, which year-to-year is the most watched event in the United States. Many commercials set to roll out on Sunday will feature celebrities, including Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen selling potato chips and Anna Kendrick repping for a mortgage company.
But the habits and tastes among the youngest Americans – particularly over the past couple of years through the pandemic – are different, as are the platforms Gen Z members use to interact with the marketplace, according to Spencer Ross, an authority on digital marketing, branding and consumer engagement with new technologies.
“I feel like the question we need to ask is where is Gen Z in all of this? I've been speaking with students informally in class about their media consumption habits over the past year and I’ve been seeing a bit of a collapse of interest in TV watching. I don’t know that shared cultural moments like the Super Bowl are as resonant with them and I’m wondering if we’re going to see more engagement through social media,” Ross said. He is available to discuss:
- The challenges created by audience fragmentation and how advertisers can overcome them;
- What the best Super Bowl commercials achieve;
- The new platforms capturing young consumers’ attention.
Ross is an assistant professor of marketing entrepreneurship and innovation in UMass Lowell’s Manning School of Business, where he co-directs the Manning Behavioral Research Hub, which examines human behavior in relation to management, leadership, organizational strategy, economics, entrepreneurship and more.
To arrange an interview with him via phone, email or Zoom (or another platform), contact Nancy Cicco at Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu.