When KFC Arabia’s Chedrawi cheddar sauce briefly vanished from menus this year, the brand didn’t apologize and instead it turned the shortage into a three-episode, AI-generated drama series that fans dissected, memed and remixed into more than 4 million views without a single dollar of paid media. That instinct, treat the audience as co-authors, not a target, is exactly what separates the brands winning Gen Z across the GCC from the ones still shouting at it.
Every brand from Riyadh to Dubai wants a piece of Gen Z’s spending power. But talk to the strategists actually running these campaigns, and a clear pattern emerges: the brands winning aren’t the ones that look youngest. They’re the ones that understand a generation that is simultaneously hyper-connected and fiercely proud of what’s local.
Closeness, Not Youthfulness
“Across the GCC, Gen Z is changing more than how brands communicate. They are changing what makes a brand desirable in the first place,” says Mona Hassanie, Head of Strategy at VML UAE. With internet penetration near 99–100% in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, this is a generation raised online, yet increasingly invested in local identity, a tension global marketers routinely misread.
Hassanie points to three shifts. First, self-investment is rivalling possessions as the new status symbol: the UAE and KSA are the world’s first- and second-fastest-growing wellness economies, up 95% and 78% respectively since 2019, and wellness now ranks among Gen Z’s top three spending categories alongside fashion (49%) and beauty (40%), per Chalhoub Group research she cites. Second, Gen Z wants participation, not just aspiration, Sephora Middle East’s SEPHORiA events, The Giving Movement’s purpose-built-into-product model, and Asteri Beauty’s “desert-proof” makeup line give young consumers a stake in the story. Third, cultural proximity beats global fame: “the brands getting it right aren’t necessarily behaving youngest. They are behaving closest,” she says.
That distinction, closeness over youthfulness, comes up repeatedly. John Vernon, Strategy Director at FP7 McCann MENAT, points to Jif, Axe and Oreo as brands that found “a meaningful role within cultures that matter to Gen Z” rather than a cosmetic makeover. Jif’s “Just Jif Your Kicks” tapped sneaker culture as identity; Axe let young Saudis judge its fragrance in blind tests against prestige scents rather than telling them what to think; Oreo’s O Collection, made with Saudi artist Rami Afifi, let local street culture shape the product rather than decorate it. “Putting a logo on a hoodie or calling something a ‘drop’ is not enough,” Vernon says.
Media Strategy
Regionally, that logic scales into the media plan. Scarlett Fielding, Associate Strategy Director at UM KSA, says Mastercard built real credibility at the 2025 Esports World Cup in Riyadh with a Gamer Academy mentoring ten aspiring players via G2 Esports, rather than running generic gaming banners. Adidas partnered with Saudi designer Kawthar Alhoraish (Kaf by Kaf) on modest athletic wear; Lay’s turned its packs into World Cup ticket giveaways fronted by Salem Al-Dawsari and teammates; and Samsung MENA’s “Galaxy Circle” treated local creators as co-collaborators rather than paid faces. The attention numbers back it up: 73% of Saudi youth game weekly, Snapchat reaches 25 million-plus users in the kingdom, and 58% of Saudi consumers now use generative AI instead of search to find products, Fielding notes.
The value tier is getting the same treatment. Hardee’s this month rolled out its Gold Star Wraptor across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman and Bahrain, and rather than lead on price, the brand built the launch around a new sauce recipe and a “Drip Different” tagline aimed squarely at a Gen Z audience. The pitch, in the words of regional marketing director Fahim Hemchaoui, is that “being average was never the plan”, a bet that even a value-priced item can carry a distinct creative voice instead of a discount-focused pitch. It’s a smaller-scale version of the same logic strategists describe above: making an accessible product feel like a deliberate choice rather than a compromise.
In Their Own Words: Gen Z Weighs In
Locally rooted brands are outperforming global ones on trust, too. YouGov’s 2025 Most Recommended Brands ranking put Saudia, Neom and Albaik ahead of most international names in Saudi Arabia, while separate YouGov research found 83% of young Saudis favour “Made in Saudi” products. Talabat has built similar equity through real-time, meme-literate social content, per Publicis Groupe’s Youth Studio panel; Youth Champion Tina Mushahwar says its captions feel like they’re written by an actual 24-year-old on the team, not a brand manager.
That panel which features four Gen Z voices from Publicis Groupe’s Youth Studio across the UAE and KSA, offers a useful check on how the generation actually sees itself. Tala Asiri, Youth Champion in the UAE, points to influencer marketing as the real shift in the channel mix: “The ability to focus on specific niches to reach a desired target segment, as well as the increased focus on authenticity by leveraging the audience’s trust and the influencer’s community base, allow brands to connect with Gen Z on a deeper level.” Sarah Alayadhi, Youth Champion in KSA, pushes back on the idea that brands need to perform youth at all: “The brands winning with Gen Z are the ones that actually get how this audience lives, rather than trying to ‘market to Gen Z.’ They don’t need to sound young or jump on every trend.” She adds that even within the GCC, one message rarely travels: “What works in Saudi won’t necessarily work in the UAE, Kuwait or Qatar in exactly the same way.” Abdulaziz Alghamdi, also a KSA Youth Champion, warns against mistaking aesthetics for relevance, fast edits, hooks, memes and trending sounds might make content look Gen Z, but that doesn’t automatically make it culturally relevant,” and argues real cultural narrative can’t be borrowed: “it’s a story that can’t be written in a truly different and authentic way unless it comes from someone who has actually lived it.”
Rafael Lavor, Regional Head of Strategy at Webedia, speaking for the agency’s Arabia strategy team, alongside Nadine, Manal, Yasmine and Aya, flags two more global names getting it right: Spotify Arabia, which builds Arabic playlists and backs emerging regional artists rather than translating global campaigns, and KFC Arabia, which rebuilt its personality around being “funnily unhinged.” That shift showed up clearly this year when the brand’s Chedrawi cheddar sauce briefly vanished from menus, the same moment that opened this piece.
Lavor also flags homegrown brands that win Gen Z’s love without courting it directly, Saudi specialty roastery Brew92, Dubai-born burger brand SALT (@findsalt), and independent names like Adani Bar and Shawarmersa. “Not because they’re trying to connect with them, but because they’re doing their thing for the love of it,” he says. Karen Wazen Eyewear, launched by influencer-turned-entrepreneur Karen Wazen, fits the same pattern, a founder speaking as a peer. Lavor puts Gen Z-founded global brands like Rhode and Beis in the same bucket: “It’s an eye-to-eye conversation.” His biggest warning: don’t treat Gen Z as a monolith. He says, “If you want to better connect with them, you need to find your niche. And shamelessly dive deeper in it.”
Where Brands Get It Wrong
Not every brand lands the tone. Strategists repeatedly flag the same failure pattern: importing Western internet slang, treating “GCC youth” as one market, or mistaking fast edits for cultural relevance. Fielding adds that creative built for one Gulf market often falls flat copy-pasted into another, and Gen Z scrolls past anything reading as a hard sell. Cultural missteps have carried real cost regionally, too, one reason YouGov finds 66% of UAE and Saudi consumers have boycotted a brand, most often over its stance on political or social issues (49%) or insensitive advertising (39%).
The takeaway from agency leaders is consistent: there is no single “GCC Gen Z.” Saudi Gen Z isn’t UAE Gen Z, gaming communities aren’t streetwear communities, and, as UM’s Fielding and FP7’s Vernon both highlight, this generation is building on regional identity, not rejecting it the way global narratives assume. Brands that understand the specific culture they’re entering outperform those simply speaking louder in its direction. So, is your brand ready to market to Gen Z?
Brands That Got It Right
- Talabat
- Jif
- Axe
- Oreo
- Sephora Middle East
- The Giving Movement
- Asteri Beauty
- Mastercard
- Adidas
- Lay’s
- Samsung MENA
- Spotify Arabia
- KFC Arabia
- Brew92
- SALT
- Karen Wazen Eyewear
- Adani Bar/Shawarmersa
Brands Approaches Falling Short
- Generic “youth” gaming activations
- Copy-paste Gulf campaigns
- Western slang imports
- Aesthetic-only “Gen Z” content
- Hard-sell, TV-style ads on social
