Brands can connect with Gen Z by making room for people to express themselves, not by telling them what their identities should mean. That takes more than changing a slogan: it means building credible relationships, offering genuine ways to participate, and testing identity-related language with the people and product category it is meant to reach. “Fluid generation” is a useful framing for this challenge, not a proven description of every Gen Z consumer.
Why identity-led branding needs a different balance
Identity can make a brand feel relevant, but a brand can overstep when it claims to define how someone should express that identity. The distinction matters: a message can acknowledge that identity is meaningful without prescribing what it means or how it should look.
A 2014 Journal of Consumer Research article reported five studies in which messages that explicitly defined identity expression could reduce consumers’ perceived agency and purchase likelihood compared with messages that referenced identity without explicitly defining it. The practical lesson is not to avoid identity altogether. It is to avoid speaking as though the brand has authority over a person’s self-definition.
Trust and participation are different outcomes
A 2017 global study by the National Retail Federation and IBM Institute of Business Value surveyed 15,600 people aged 13–21 and interviewed 20 senior executives. In that study, 59 percent of surveyed Gen Z respondents said they trusted brands they grew up with, while 44 percent said they would like the opportunity to submit product-design ideas. Those figures describe that study’s respondents in 2017; they are not current estimates for all Gen Z consumers.
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The findings point to two distinct opportunities, not one simple measure of “brand loyalty.” Familiarity and trust concern how consumers regard a brand; an invitation to contribute concerns whether they want a role in shaping products. A brand should decide which outcome it is trying to improve, then measure that outcome directly rather than treating participation as proof of trust or loyalty.
Choose an approach that gives consumers room
| Approach | What it offers | Evidence and practical limit |
|---|---|---|
| Identity-referencing message | Recognizes that identity may matter to the consumer without defining the “right” way to express it. | The 2014 Journal of Consumer Research article found that explicit identity definitions could lower perceived agency and purchase likelihood relative to identity references that did not define expression. |
| Identity-prescribing message | Connects the product to a specific account of what an identity means or how its members should act or look. | The same 2014 article cautions against assuming that a strongly defined identity message will feel empowering; in the reported studies, it could reduce agency and purchase likelihood. |
| Product-design expression | Lets people communicate taste or social identity through design choices rather than relying primarily on a brand’s identity claims. | A 2018 study in the Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services associated strong design dominance with less reliance on brands as social-identity signals and weaker brand loyalty. This is a reported association, not a prediction for every consumer. |
| Consumer participation | Gives consumers a meaningful opportunity to influence or contribute to products. | The 2017 NRF/IBM study found interest in submitting product-design ideas among some respondents; it does not establish that participation alone creates trust or loyalty. |
These approaches need not be mutually exclusive. A brand might invite consumers to shape a product while keeping its messaging open-ended. The choice should follow the desired outcome and the audience evidence, not a blanket assumption that Gen Z prefers either total self-expression or a single shared identity.
Test identity language in its real context
Labels can land differently across people and categories. A 2026 study page in the Journal of Product & Brand Management describes three experiments with US Gen Z participants examining “men’s,” “women’s,” “unisex,” and unlabeled clothing categories. Responses varied and were moderated by identity and self-esteem measures. The findings support testing the language used for a specific audience and product category; they do not establish a universal labeling rule for fashion, other products, or markets outside the study’s US context.
Before making identity a central part of a campaign or product experience, test the actual words and choices people will encounter. Useful questions include:
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- Can someone engage with the product without accepting the brand’s definition of an identity?
- Do reactions differ across relevant audience segments or product categories?
- Are you measuring the outcome you care about—such as trust, purchase intention, participation, or loyalty—rather than using one as a proxy for another?
Let design and self-presentation work without overclaiming
People do not need a brand to supply every signal they use to express themselves. The 2018 design study found that consumers strongly oriented toward product design could use design to express uniqueness and social identity, while relying less on brands as social-identity signals. For those consumers, a product’s visual or material choices may do more work than a brand’s identity language.
Self-presentation can also be shaped by social context. A 2025 study in the Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics surveyed 583 people sharing Labubu collectible images on Chinese platforms. It reported relationships between self-expression, social-approval, and identity-building motives and perceived conspicuous value; that value mediated loyalty, with similar paths reported for Gen Z and Gen Y. This is evidence about collectible-image sharing in China, not a general finding about every Gen Z consumer or brand relationship.
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- Define the objective. Decide whether the work is meant to strengthen trust, encourage participation, support self-expression, increase purchase likelihood, or build loyalty. Keep these as separate outcomes.
- Identify the setting. Specify the country, age range, product category, and audience segments the branding will address. Evidence from US clothing experiments or Chinese collectible sharing should not be treated as a universal rule.
- Review the brand’s language. Look for lines that assign meanings or behaviors to an identity. Rewrite them to acknowledge the identity’s relevance while leaving room for individual interpretation.
- Offer participation with a real role. If inviting product ideas or other input, make clear what consumers can influence and how contributions will be considered. A request for participation is not itself evidence of greater trust.
- Test before generalizing. Compare reactions to identity-referencing and identity-defining language, and, where relevant, to different product labels or designs. Check the specific outcome the campaign is intended to affect.
Use evidence that fits the decision
The studies available here span different years, countries, methods, and product contexts: a global survey from 2017, experiments reported in 2014, a design study from 2018, Chinese collectible-sharing research from 2025, and US clothing-label experiments described in 2026. Together they offer useful questions about agency, participation, design, and audience differences. They do not establish one winning formula or a single current global measure of how fluid Gen Z identities are.
For marketers who need more audience-specific evidence, Dazed Studio describes its 2026 Gen Z and Gen Alpha report as drawing on original survey research, cultural analysis, expert interviews, social listening, and editorial insight, and advertises bespoke workshops. That page establishes the existence and described scope of a commercial offering; it does not establish that it is suitable for every brand.
What a brand should take from this
Recognizability does not require a brand to own or dictate the identities consumers bring to it. A brand can remain distinctive through its products, design, conduct, and the experience it offers, while allowing individuals to decide what those things mean for them. Treat identity as an invitation to understand people—not a shortcut for assuming what they want.
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