Sean Koffel returns to Beyond the Bottom Line to talk about building brands for tomorrow’s buyer. He predicts the demise of craft culture (“I think it’s sort of lost the plot”), and contrasts the “cool factor” of generations past with Gen Z’s desire for great products that tell the truth.

Sean credits this shift to Gen Z being raised with social media. He describes how the cohort isn’t using their Instagram or TikTok channels to perfectly curated version of themselves — and they expect the same of today’s brands. In tandem, they’re really the first generation to connect their external appearance with what they put in their bodies. They’re curious about what’s in their food, their alcohol, their makeup in a way that past generations weren’t. They’re looking for transparency at every level.

Add in the fact that people of all ages have spent the last year thinking about what it is they really want — from products, from brands, and from their lives in general. Sean warns against trying to force a pre-COVID brand strategy into a post-COVID world.

In the second of a two-part series, Sean and Bert dissect what this means for consumer-facing brands, what unique opportunities the pandemic has presented, and how Watchfire is helping emerging brands from “zero to one.”