What does it take to be the coolest Gen Z brand?
Ask Nike.
The footwear and apparel giant took the crown as Gen Z’s coolest brand on two continents — North America and Western Europe — and edged out TikTok, Apple, and YouTube.
Keep scrolling to see the definitive list of the coolest Gen Z brands in 2022.
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COOL: 69%
COOL: 66%
COOL: 64%
COOL: 64%
COOL: 64%
COOL: 63%
COOL: 63%
COOL: 63%
COOL: 62%
COOL: 60%
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COOL: 75%
COOL: 73%
COOL: 70%
COOL: 70%
COOL: 70%
COOL: 66%
COOL: 64%
COOL: 63%
COOL: 63%
COOL: 62%
Well, we asked young people what cool means to them (which we know is uncool), and this is what they told us: a brand is cool when it’s unique.
For Millennials especially, cool brands are brands that stand out from competitors by being different. Gen Z associates cool brands with uniqueness too, but they are just likely to say that cool brands are those that are popular with their peers.
A brand can show they are cool by keeping up with trends and trying new things, so being in a state of constant experimentation, with a willingness to take risks and move fast to keep up with youth culture, is key.
Rankings are determined by the average cool score — one of 20 youth-centric metrics tracked with the YPulse youth intelligence platform. YPulse conducts thousands of weekly interviews with 13-39-year-olds across North America (n=2,500) and Western Europe (n=2,500). This dataset was generated from interviews with 13-21-year-olds conducted between 1/3/2022-11/13/2022.
