What can the FAU learn from the targeted Gen Z marketing of a manufacturer of sports equipment and what is it actually like as a student to take part in a meeting with the university management.
If you are invited as a student to a presentation with the university management, you try to make a good impression. If the topic is also one’s own Generation Z, it could be quite strange when an Adidas manager, who is of course much older than you, presents you with studies on the behaviour of your generation. If you have also ironed your shirt to appear more like what you believe people expect you to be, you seem to fit in so perfectly that at the beginning they ask you where the attending student is – even though you have been sitting in the room for a while.
The presentation itself consisted of various marketing analyses by Adidas on Generation Z with a special focus on the topics important to Gen Z and their interests, as well as a subsequent discussion on how these methods and insights can be transferred to a university. According to the data, Gen Z is very internet-savvy, but also knows about the downsides of social media and its effects. Important issues for them are justice, climate, empowerment and sustainability. Normal advertising and marketing measures are largely seen through, the functions of products and their manufacture are given a much higher priority. Media and above all social media are used to share and collect experiences. It remains to be seen how these facts will affect FAU’s marketing strategy. Further discussions involving FAU students are planned in any case. Social media has the greatest reach and a high affinity among Gen Z, but whether newly developed marketing will have a positive effect on student numbers will become clear soon enough.