We Sat Down With Gen Z Marketers.. Here’s What They Revealed About the Future of Loyalty In our latest episode of Eber …
In our latest episode of Eber Unplugged, we sat down with Sarah, Amani, and their co-host to unpack how Gen Z really thinks about brands, loyalty programs, and what actually influences their purchasing decisions.
And let me tell you—if you’re still using traditional marketing playbooks, this conversation will be a wake-up call.
About 5 minutes into our conversation, Sarah dropped a term that perfectly captures what’s happening in influencer marketing right now: “unselfish content.”
“It’s more like trying to make it relatable to the end user, not just like, oh, I have this kind of lifestyle and only I can produce this,” she explained.
The pandemic accelerated this change dramatically. When influencers couldn’t travel, couldn’t show off, couldn’t perform their usual lifestyle content, a new breed of organic content creators emerged. And Gen Z responded enthusiastically.
What does this mean for your brand? Stop thinking about influencer partnerships as celebrity endorsements. Start thinking about them as collaborative storytelling where the product is a supporting character, not the hero.
Click here to watch how Sarah describes her own journey from pandemic content creator to brand partner—and what made her first video blow up.
When we asked about cool brand activations, the answers were revealing.
“Every season is like the aesthetic for whatever they’re selling is just so strong,” one participant noted. “They launched their pajama set recently… just like young beautiful people in pajamas in a villa and it looks really nice and you want to live that life.”
That’s the key: aspirational but attainable. Not “look what you can’t have,” but “look what you could be doing.”
Amani highlighted Grab’s expansion into financial services through their Maybank credit card partnership. Why does this matter?
“My lifestyle mainly revolves around Grab… when I sign up for the credit card, it’s kind of a bit more beneficial for me cuz they give more points and everything.”
The insight: Gen Z values ecosystem integration over best-in-class individual products. Convenience is king.
“Barbie in itself last year was such a huge thing,” they noted. But here’s what caught my attention: the Gentle Monster x Bratz collaboration that followed.
“Any kind of PR packages that they were sending to influencers came with the Bratz doll with the same set of glasses that the influencers were getting.”
That’s not just nostalgia marketing—that’s experiential, shareable, Instagram-worthy genius.
The lesson for brands: Gen Z is hungry for connections to their childhood, but it needs to be executed with creativity and authenticity. Cookie-cutter nostalgia plays won’t cut it.
The key word: immediacy.
“I can just go on Shopee… but it’s like me and a screen. I don’t get much interactiveness.”
This is why TikTok Shop is crushing traditional e-commerce for impulse purchases. It’s recreating the in-store experience digitally—complete with the ability to ask questions and get instant answers.
Watch this segment to understand why live selling is becoming the new standard for e-commerce.
The frustrations were palpable.
The minimum spend problem? “You have 15 ringgit off but minimum spend of 100 ringgit… why would I want to spend 100 ringgit just to get 15 ringgit off?”
Overloaded with notifications: “In today’s world it’s a lot of information going around… adding that becomes another thing that you have to do and it feels like a lot of work.”
These aren’t edge cases—these are the norm. Sadly, most loyalty programs are designed for the brand’s convenience, not the customer’s benefit.
But they also shared what’s working:
The common thread? Low effort, high value, lifestyle integration.
When asked what makes personalization stick, Sarah’s answer was telling:
“A lot of people who are a bit more messy… don’t like keeping up with notifications, keeping up with opening the apps… it’s a lot of information going around and it’s a lot of stimulants.”
Translation: Your daily push notifications aren’t building loyalty—they’re building resentment.
The alternative? Use customer data intelligently. Know when someone hasn’t purchased in a year. Reach out with something genuinely relevant. Make them feel seen, not spammed.
We closed by asking each participant to describe marketing in the next six months with one word:
The gap between what marketers think works and what actually works has never been wider.
Watch the full 25-minute conversation to hear every insight, example, and moment of brutal honesty about modern marketing.
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