Gen Z marketing in the GCC is moving beyond younger-looking branding, polished social content and superficial cultural references. The focus is increasingly on participation, cultural fluency and giving young consumers a meaningful role in shaping how brands show up.
John Vernon, Strategy Director at FP7 McCann MENAT, points to campaigns by Jif, Axe and Oreo as examples of brands finding genuine connections with youth culture — from sneaker communities and fragrance to Saudi street culture. He also argues that the GCC Gen Z audience cannot be reduced to a single global youth playbook, with tradition, family, national identity and modern cultural communities continuing to shape how young consumers express themselves.
Which regional brands are doing a genuine Gen Z makeover well (or poorly), and what separates a substantive rebrand from a surface-level one? Examples would be helpful.
Jif, Axe and Oreo are good examples of brands moving beyond simply “looking” younger and instead finding a meaningful role within cultures that matter to Gen Z. Jif’s “Just Jif Your Kicks” campaign is a particularly strong example: rather than changing the brand, it recognised that sneaker culture is deeply tied to identity among young people in the Gulf and positioned an existing product within a genuine consumer ritual — keeping sneakers clean.
Axe took a different approach. Faced with a perception that the brand smelled cheap, it let young Saudi consumers make the judgement themselves, using a blind fragrance test where creators compared Axe with prestige scents. Rather than telling Gen Z what to like, it gave them the opportunity to decide.
Oreo similarly moved beyond the product with its O Collection, collaborating with Saudi artist Rami Afifi on a limited-edition range inspired by local patterns and street culture. Crucially, the culture shaped the work rather than simply being referenced by the brand.
The distinction between substantive and surface-level change is ultimately utility, credibility and participation. Putting a logo on a hoodie or calling something a “drop” is not enough. The strongest work starts with understanding what young people are already doing and gives them something useful, relevant or meaningful within that world.
How has the creative approach to reaching Gen Z in the GCC shifted over the past year — in terms of tone, storytelling or brand identity? Any examples of brands doing this particularly well?
The approach is shifting from brands trying to manufacture relevance towards brands creating space for audiences to participate in it. Gen Z has always been sceptical of overly polished attempts to “speak youth”, but that is becoming even more pronounced as technology makes highly polished content increasingly easy to produce.
The recent Niu Lai phenomenon in China is an interesting signal of this shift. The film became popular not because of a sophisticated marketing campaign, but because audiences found it, mocked it, shared it and ultimately built the momentum themselves. Brands then followed the audience into the conversation.
There is a useful parallel in the GCC. Jif gave sneaker culture a practical role for its product; Axe handed young consumers the authority to decide whether its fragrance belonged alongside prestige scents; and Oreo allowed a Saudi artist to shape how the brand entered local street culture.
The creative opportunity is therefore less about making a brand look young and more about leaving room for young people to shape the meaning of the work. In a world where AI can produce polished content at scale, polish alone is becoming less differentiating. Participation, cultural fluency and a sense of authenticity are becoming more valuable.
What patterns are you seeing regionally that differ from the global Gen Z narrative or roadmap?
The biggest difference in the GCC is that Gen Z is not necessarily rejecting the culture that came before them — they are building on it. Globally, the Gen Z narrative is often framed around rebellion, disruption and rejecting traditional institutions. In the Gulf, the picture is more nuanced. Young people are comfortable navigating tradition and modernity simultaneously, and brands should not treat the two as opposing forces.
Identity is also being built across multiple cultural spaces rather than through one dominant youth culture. Sneakers, fragrance, streetwear, gaming and other communities each provide different ways for young people to express themselves. That means there is no single GCC Gen Z playbook; brands need to understand the specific communities they want to participate in.
There is also a stronger sense of optimism and connection to place. Young people in the region are more optimistic about their countries than their global peers, while family remains a significant part of identity. In the research referenced here, family was identified by 49% as an important expression of identity, compared with 23% for the brands they buy.
For brands, that means relevance does not necessarily come from challenging culture. It can come from understanding it, adding to it and being useful within it.
