Marketers are wooing Gen Z as assiduously as they did millennials, Gen X and baby boomers before them. But not all the methods of courting previous generations of consumers work with Gen Z.

This was the topic of “Gen Z Broke the Marketing Funnel,” a panel discussion at the April 2025 POSSIBLE conference in Miami. Though as moderator Krystal Hauserman, NOYZ consulting CMO and UrbanStems strategic advisor, put it, “The marketing funnel wasn’t just broken. Gen Z ran it over, reversed and posted it on TikTok. This generation doesn’t move neatly from awareness in a nice little funnel down to purchase. They skipped that and remixed it.”

Which is not to say awareness, consideration, purchase and retention are no longer critical elements of the customer cycle. It’s just that rather than being stops on an orderly linear path, they are principles to be considered when personalizing the consumer journey. Read about Gen Z’s nonlinear approach to the marketing funnel and what brands should consider when courting this group.

According to a recent report from Sprout Social, influencer marketing is on the rise, with 59% of all marketers—and 69% of U.S. marketers—planning to partner with more influencers this year. Altogether, 37% of marketers plan to partner with the same amount of influencers as they did last year, and just 4% of brands are scaling back their influencer marketing investments. Here’s a look at the report’s key findings.

In the past five years, chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely has grown its North America sales from single-digit millions of dollars to more than $70 million per year. And a large part of its recent success comes from adding paid media to the marketing mix. Read how the channel upped the game for the brand.

Until next week,