Trend Report: Continuing to Talk The Talk

The importance of visual communication has only multiplied in the past three years since we last examined how young consumers express themselves, speak to one another, and what it all means for brands. Our updated look into the trend dives further into how these visual shortcuts help Gen Z & Millennials express themselves and stay connected in a uniquely “online” way. For example, nine in 10 Millennials and teens use emojis, eight in 10 use gifs and memes, and while emojis have embedded themselves into the lexicon of young consumers, gifs and memes are more for comedy’s sake. While they’re starting to expect brands to leverage visual language in their communications, certain industries should stay wary of fun, graphic cues, at the risk of sounding too informal.