How to court Gen Alpha without kiddifying your brand
There's a new type of CEO in town; they're brand-savvy, fashion-literate, tech-facing and around 12-years-old. Monica A Chun, President of Acceleration Community of Companies (ACC), explains why Generation Alpha holds the future in its hands.
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There’s a new C-suite forming in your family, and it’s being run by your 12-year-old.
Generation Alpha is already a $100 billion economic engine, and they can’t even drive. By 2029, their influence will top $5.46 trillion. This is a critical audience for brands to win, and an easy one to lose.
Generation Alpha is already a $100 billion economic engine, and they can’t even drive.
They’re in middle school, telling their moms which shades complement their skin tone, dousing themselves in hefty amounts of Dior cologne, and playing youth sports with future NIL [name, image and likeness] deals in mind. If they had a title, it’d be CMO: Chief Marketing Officer and, sometimes, Chief Mood Officer.
Above: Generation Alpha is taking charge, and its influence is growing.
This is a generation acutely aware of how they are being addressed, and one that will readily switch allegiances. 39% of 11-to 14-year-olds say brands "made for them" feel too young, according to our recent Gen Alpha study. They connect with brands that make them feel like adults, not ones that participate in youth-oriented TikTok trends.
Engaging these mini-adults requires staying composed and building experiences that are age-agnostic, aspirational and naturally relevant. Here are five ways to win.
1. Be aware of a perception drift
In the race to stay young, many brands accidentally age themselves. For example, a Gen Z participant in our study explained: "I used to love Drunk Elephant, but stopped when they leaned into the Sephora kids trend. I don't want to be in a store fighting an eleven-year-old for serum."
In the race to stay young, many brands accidentally age themselves.
Perception drift is the gap between who you think you're talking to and who's actually listening. It happens when quarterly goals, novelty-chasing algorithms and retail incentives drown out long-term brand sense. For marketers, this means pacing your brand's maturity to theirs – not pandering, but not chasing them down either.
Above: Sometimes brands talk to consumers in a way they think penetrates, but those consumers are not actually listening.
2. Stop chasing down and start inviting up
Household buying power now starts much earlier. 76% of Gen Alpha say their families value their opinions on what to buy. In our focus groups, mothers described ordering joggers on Amazon only to have their kids correct them: "If you're going to buy joggers, you should really buy Alo or Aritzia." Many parents now shop the way their kids shop. Culture is flowing upstream, a reversal of how it has trickled down in the past.
Brands that stay composed earn respect. Skims is a great example. It started in shapewear, a category you’d associate with older consumers, but it hooked Gen Alpha by making shopping feel like play. Drops become quests. You earn status by scoring limited colours, collect skins with new sets, and show your wins with try-on posts. The product names (Bubblegum Onesie, Cotton Candy) are enticing, and the product ladder lets you 'level up' from basics to statement pieces without ever aging out. It's aspirational, interactive and endlessly collectible - proof you can invite Gen Alpha up without talking down.
Above: A lo-fi TikTok clip of a thankful grandmother "outperformed flashy, highly produced influencer campaigns".
3. Use collabs and content as a bridge
When done right, collaborations extend a brand's life cycle by evolving with the consumer instead of rebooting for them. Think Hello Kitty x Starbucks, LEGO x F1, Crocs x Bape.
Gen Alpha values message over messenger. A viral clip of grandma tearfully thanking her granddaughter after a simple girls’ night out that included red light therapy and massages outperformed flashy, highly produced influencer campaigns because the moment felt real and Gen Alpha discovered it on their own.
Generation Alpha lives life like a game, chasing what feels rewarding in the moment.
The best collaborations feel like they're emerging naturally from within culture.
4. Build gamified experiences
Generation Alpha lives life like a game, chasing what feels rewarding in the moment. Trends last days, and loyalty resets with every update. They engage through momentum. 76% enjoy when brands build game-style experiences with points, badges or rewards, and 84% keep using an app just to protect a streak or earn a prize.
They learn quickly, and want to be challenged. One 11-year-old in our focus group described teaching a group of 20-somethings how to unlock a new avatar in Fortnite.
Above: Gen Alpha's relationship with AI is growing, which means "your brand must be findable by algorithms and designed to be fed, ranked and recommended".
5. Treat AI as a channel
By age 14, Gen Alpha is more likely to ask the internet than their parents for help. 82% have used AI tools and 35% turn to them for personal conversations. AI is becoming their infrastructure. When an AI recommends a product, they often accept it as credible. That means your brand must be findable by algorithms and designed to be fed, ranked and recommended versus just followable by humans.
Don’t chase childhood; build the bridge to adulthood.
But with that power comes responsibility. Kids' AI use should be monitored, and brands must be transparent about when and how AI is employed. Disclose AI in creative and content, limit data collection and build easy opt-outs. If you’re building a chatbot experience, strike a careful balance between being personable without veering into friendship territory.
The bottom line for all of this is: Don’t chase childhood; build the bridge to adulthood. If you keep your brand grown-up and design relevant pathways in, Alpha will age into you, not out of you.
