Your cherry-red Doc Martens are laced tight on your feet. You’re editing photos you took of your best friend smoking a cigarette on your point-and-shoot camera before uploading them to Tumblr with seven filters stacked on top. Your Instagram has maybe 100 followers, and that's perfect. It’s only a place you post your work – you’re a 17-year-old aspiring photographer after all. You are peak indie, and you are free. If this resonates with you, you, just like me, are a Zillennial. [Keep reading]

-Sophie Randell, Writer

At this workshop, join Stanley Henry and the the Attention Seeker team for a 2-hour session to plan out your content strategy for the whole year.

You’ll learn:

✅ What’s actually working on social right now
✅ How to build a viral content strategy for your brand
✅ The exact approach we use to get millions of views for our clients (and build our own audience of 3.3 million)

PLUS we will have plenty of time for Q&A with you.

Wednesday, 28 Jan | 8:30-10:30am NZT | $49

Stop wasting time making content that doesn’t perform. This is your chance to walk into 2026 with a content plan you know will work 👇

The alcohol industry has a serious problem. Five of the biggest producers—Diageo, Pernod Ricard, Campari, Brown Forman, and Rémy Cointreau—have $22B worth of unsold spirits sitting in warehouses. That's the highest inventory in over a decade. In response to dropping demand, these brands are shutting down production facilities and cutting prices to move product.

During the pandemic, drinking spiked, so brands dramatically increased production. And because spirits like cognac and whiskey take years to age, now all that stock has matured but is sitting unsold. Now, younger people are drinking less, weight-loss drugs like Ozempic are reducing alcohol intake, and wellness culture is making an impact. It's clear that cultural attitudes toward drinking are shifting. And if you're in an industry that has to guess what demand will be in 5-10 years, that makes things pretty dicey.

Strap in, because the next couple months are going to be huge. The Winter Olympics start on Feb 6 (same weekend as the Super Bowl), then the FIFA World Cup hits in June. And how brands are approaching sporting events is quickly evolving.

Athletes now operate as their own media companies, building podcasts and YouTube channels year-round. For marketers, this means you can't just slap a logo on an athlete anymore. The real value is partnering with athletes who are deeply connected to their niche communities.

And when it comes to niche communities, the Winter Olympics in particular are a goldmine. Sports like snowboarding attract deeply engaged, lifestyle-oriented micro-communities. So yeah, hardly anyone can afford to run a Super Bowl ad to 125 million viewers. But if you can connect your brand to a niche sport, there's a huge opportunity to create serious brand affinity with a very engaged audience.

Over the weekend, X announced it's giving $1 million to whoever writes the most popular article on the platform this month. On the surface, it sounds pretty good, right? But there's a catch (or two). To qualify, your article needs to be at least 1,000 words, original, and rack up the most "Verified Home Timeline impressions." This means it needs to appeal to paying X users (so… maybe an article about how great Tesla is?).

There's a not-so-hidden ulterior motive here. X desperately needs long-form content to train Grok. Right now, it's trained on X's short-form posts, which are great for real-time news but not so much for accuracy or in-depth insight. So X is throwing money at the problem to get journalists and writers back on the platform. The irony? Elon Musk has spent years mocking and ridiculing journalists, meaning most have fled from the platform that used to be their go-to spot for breaking news. Now he wants their content to make his AI better. Yeah, good luck with that.

- Charlotte Ellis, Editor ♡

You're caught between Millennial optimism and Gen Z's digital nihilism. And that liminal position is finally having its moment.

Why, you ask?

Because Gen Z is currently and has been obsessed with 2016 Tumblr aesthetics for a while. We saw this with the renaissance of the indie sleaze movement, but it didn’t die there like I thought it would. It evolved into soft grunge looks, making 2010s-inspired playlists, and romanticising a time they didn’t ever really experience (not like we did anyway).

My guess, is that 2016 represents something they desperately crave: a world that didn't feel endlessly bleak, where internet culture felt creative rather than commodified, and "influencer" wasn't yet a career path.

But Zillennials, we lived this moment authentically. We’ve never merely "performed" 2016. We were 2016. We MADE 2016.

And as Gen Z commodifies our teenage years, Zillennial culture is finally getting mainstream recognition, which means it's time for marketers to pay attention to the 30-39 million consumers in the U.S. who identify as such.

Let me introduce you.

Zillennials are uniquely positioned as cultural translators. According to PYMNTS Intelligence research, 76% are budget-minded or wealth builders, shaped by early access to apps like Robinhood and Venmo. Yet 82% carry debt, and nearly half live pay cheque to pay cheque (guilty) despite their financial literacy.

Digital natives with analogue souls, the cohort spends 5 hours daily on smartphones while also remembering dial-up internet. They’re also highly social: 39% make purchases based on peer recommendations (vs. 30% general population), yet only 22% buy based on influencer recommendations, so they’re clearly sceptical of obvious marketing.

Price sensitivity is critical: 41% prioritise price over brand, the highest among all generations. They're values-driven too, with 68% preferring brands aligned with their values, particularly around sustainability and social responsibility. But they quickly spot performative activism.

1. Lean into nostalgic authenticity (but don’t commodify it).

Zillennials have finely tuned detectors for inauthenticity (I call it my bullshit radar, and it works very well.) The 2016 revival works when it feels organic. Collaborate with micro-influencers who actually lived the moment. Use desaturated photography that evokes film cameras. Feature the artists of the time in soundtracks (Regina Spektor, Arctic Monkeys, Crystal Castles, Two Door Cinema Club.)

But don't recklessly plaster "2016 vibes" across campaigns without understanding. This reads as costume, not culture. Knorr's #EffortisEverything campaign celebrated cooking fails instead of perfection. And this resonates with 87% of Zillennials who admit failures and 86% who believe effort matters as much as outcome. That’s how you do it. Tap into their worldview. It’s not just all eyeliner and moustaches.

2. Bridge the analogue-digital divide.

Offer physical products with digital integration, like limited-edition zines with QR codes to exclusive playlists. Create vintage-aesthetic campaigns (film grain, Polaroid borders) distributed through modern channels. Emphasise craftsmanship while ensuring seamless e-commerce. Trust me, we’ll eat that sh*t up.

3. Prioritise peer influence over celeb endorsements.

Work with relatable micro- and nano-influencers with niche communities. User-generated content outperforms polished ads. Remember: Zillennials trust friends over influencers.

4. Lead with values, not virtue signalling.

For the love of god, don't just slap a pride flag on your logo in June. Integrate diverse voices year-round. Back sustainability claims with supply chain transparency. Demonstrate values through action, not just messaging.

5. Make it affordable but worth it.

Offer transparent pricing, flexible payment options (Buy Now, Pay Later resonates, for obvious reasons), loyalty programs, and clear value propositions. Explain why premium prices are justified.

6. Embrace imperfection.

The shift from Millennial perfection (curated Instagram grids) to Zillennial messiness (BeReal, photo dumps) is significant. Show behind-the-scenes chaos, admit mistakes, engage conversationally. This generation values honesty over aspiration.

7. Build community, not just audience.

Remember Tumblr? It was about creation, curation, and connection. Create platforms for user-generated content. Build Discord servers. Host events fostering genuine connection. Give Zillennials spaces to collaborate, and they'll become loyal advocates.

If you're a Zillennial marketer, you're uniquely equipped to translate between generations. You understand Millennial ambition and Gen Z authenticity. You can speak to analogue nostalgia and digital innovation. You lived through 2016, so you know what made it special, and what was problematic.

You want to recognise Zillennials as distinct, not Millennials 2.0 or Gen Z's older siblings. We experienced a unique cultural moment: pre-algorithm internet, coming of age during multiple crises, and developing coping mechanisms that blend digital fluency with analogue yearning.

This Tumblr-esque Tumblr revival is a rejection of what internet culture has become, not mere nostalgia. It represents longing for creativity over commodification, authenticity over algorithms, and genuine connection over performative engagement.

These are fundamentally Zillennial values.

We're 30 million strong, and we're finally having our moment. It's time for marketing to catch up.

-Sophie Randell, Writer

If you had even a sliver of consciousness in 2016, you'd remember the cherry-red platform Docs, Alexa Chung dominating every girl's Tumblr feed, rose-gold everything, and those glitter tears photos paired with the white VSCO border. The throwback 2016 trend is now haunting the internet again, just like those galaxy donuts. 

So what would be more iconic than pairing those throwback pics with the anthem of 2016 - “Closer” by The Chainsmokers? One second of that synth riff and suddenly you’re 18 again, wearing Adidas Superstars, and pretending you invented the flannel and shorts combo. To celebrate the resurgence of 2016, creators are now pairing this sound with major 2016 trends, pop culture references, and throwback carousels. 

Here are some of my fav examples:

Using "Closer" by The Chainsmokers, or any other 2016 anthem, dig into the bottom your camera roll and put together a carousel of old photos. Throw up relatable OST that will make people stop mid-scroll and take a trip down memory lane.

A few ideas to get you started:

-Raewyn Zhao, Intern

😂Yap’s funniest home videos: Life's been throwing lots of punches lately
❤How wholesome: Nothing beats family
😊Soooo satisfying: Frozen flower
🍝What you should make for dinner tonight: 20 Min Burger Bowls

We get it. Creating content that does numbers is harder than it looks. But doing those big numbers is the fastest way to grow your brand. So if you’re tired of throwing sh*t at the wall and seeing what sticks, you’re in luck. Because making our clients go viral is kinda what we do every single day.