I’m a marketer and the mother of a beautiful Alpha child, which makes me not the perfect ‘dash’ fairy mum, but an educator-researcher. It’s some of that research (which has led me to watch videos of toilets with singing heads) that I’m sharing in this article. This is the world’s first 100% digital native generation! Highly connected, they promise to be unprecedented in terms of cultural and social diversity. They are already one of the most influential generations!

Who are the children of Generation Alpha?

I guess I’m a bit of an exception to the rule because I should have a Generation Z daughter and not an Alpha, but that’s a story for another day!

Generally speaking, the Alpha Generation are the children of Millennials (currently aged between 28 and 44) and the future parents of what will be known as the Gamma Generation, who are yet to be born.

Generation Alpha (or Gen Alpha as it is commonly known) is made up of children born between 2011 and 2025, with the oldest Alphas turning 14 next year. It is mainly characterized by being the first 100% digital native generation. For the Alphas, ‘pacifier’ also means a smartphone, tablet or any other mobile device connected to the internet. From birth, they live with multisensory digital media: videos, smart speakers, socializing through video games, FaceTime, voice to text, podcasts and much more. This technological immersion from an early age has molded this generation in such a way that it is predicted to be the most diverse and fluid in geographical, social and cultural terms.

Tell me what content you watch, I’ll tell you who you are!

My little girl loves watching videos on her tablet, and she always asks me if she can do it. It’s usually either YouTube Kids or Netflix!

Most of the content consumed by Alfa children comes from streaming platforms, social networks and online games. They favor digital influencers, short videos and interactive content.  At home, for example, we have painting challenges where there’s no shortage of YouTube influenced footage. Before we start to paint, we have to set the tone for the camera: ‘Hi! I’m here with my mum, and we’re going to do a painting challenge with two colors…’, says Simone as she shows her crayons to the tablet camera.

These children value an immediate, tailor-made experience. They are not consumers: they are co-creators. They have watched the previous generation of older siblings and cousins (Generation Z) evolve in this matter of putting technology at the service of personalizing experiences and now they are raising the bar to an unprecedented level.

They put their personal stamp on everything: from creating friendship bracelets with unique meaning, to exploring worlds on Roblox, or taking part in Fandoms (micro-communities that share a common interest in a particular topic, be it a series, film, book, game or celebrity).  Technology gives them the power to build bonds in these digital communities, customize products, create scenarios and reinvent games, as well as edit videos to make them unique. This co-creation of products and experiences makes them market trendsetters. The preferences of Alpha children influence the popularity of new games, series, entertainment platforms and even the way brands interact on social networks. An example of this is the ‘Skibidi Toilet’ phenomenon: the first narrative series to be told entirely through short videos (60 seconds or less), which went viral thanks to the Alpha generation and which The Washington Post described in July this year as one of the most profitable franchises currently in Hollywood.

‘The new moneymaker’

The other day, I asked my daughter:: ‘Darling, from 1 to 10 (1 being nothing and 10 being a lot) how important do you think your opinion is when me and dad decide to buy things for the house, eat out, go for a walk or travel? ‘ Alfa’s response was a hearty, “A thousand, mum, thousand, thousand!”

The truth is that this generation’s upbringing follows a ‘gentle parenting’ model, where children’s thoughts and feelings are really valued and taken into account. This means that children like my daughter, who is only 6 years old, play a crucial role in the family’s purchasing decisions, as parents listen to their children and are influenced by their requests and preferences. And this happens in the most diverse areas of consumption. The graph below exemplifies this idea. The other day, after dinner, I presented a challenge: ‘How important is Simone’s opinion when…’ The questions were addressed to the child and their father, with 1 referring to nothing and 10 to a lot:

But Alfa children are not just influencers within their families. Influencer marketing plays an important role, as many children follow and trust the opinions of digital influencers, which directly affects the way they perceive brands and products. Especially since we’re talking about digital influencers who are Gen Alpha! Catherine Driscoll’s article on the WARC website reads: “The Insights Family research has found Gen Alpha is fast becoming the most independent and financially astute generation. Across the EMEA region, a significant 31% of 10-14-year-olds report earning their own money, a 51% increase over just two years. The research shows this trend extends even to younger kids, with a similar number (28%) of 6-9-year-olds saying they earn their own money.” This article really got me thinking about names! 

An international example that illustrates the phenomenon is the YouTube channel ‘Ryan’s World’. Ryan Kaji is one of the biggest influencers of the Alpha generation. He became famous at the age of 3 with his toy reviews. Ryan’s YouTube channel has 3,000 videos, 37.8 million subscribers and his fortune is valued at over 100 million dollars. This summer, Ryan’s World Movie: Titan Universe Adventure premiered. This is the first film developed entirely by YouTube content creators to be widely distributed in cinemas!

What about semiotics in all this?

I confess it wasn’t my favorite subject at university. However, these days, when I watch my daughter, I often remember Pierce and his theory of signs and how technological evolution allows us to reiterate the author’s statements: ‘A symbol, once in being, spreads among the people. In use and in experience, its meaning grows.’ (In, Collected Papers of Charles Sanders Peirce, Vol. 2: Elements of Logic).

This mutable nature of signs is paradigmatic for me in Generation Alpha when we talk about the signifiers of Time, Space and Choice. Semiotics aside (that could also be another article), the important thing to remember is that if we want to fully understand this generation we have to follow not only their preferences but above all the way they perceive the world.

For them, space is not divided into physical and digital or virtual. Everything is phygital. Space expands into the digital and is understood without geographical limits. The play space is the bedroom on a video call with their friend. The concert space is the living room sofa while I jump around with my friends at a Metaverse concert.

Time also loses its linearity and ceases to be a mere chronological measure. Time is now a function and an emotion. From social networks to streaming services, everything happens in ‘real time’. The alpha generation lives in the instantaneity of events, in a cycle of needs and expectations that feeds back on itself.

In turn, the power of technology and the personalization offered by digital media means that ‘Choosing’ becomes an unlimited option, an immersive experience controlled by the user. in space and with time also at their disposal, the plethora of choices available to this generation is infinite. Choosing becomes an act of affirmation, of becoming singular and ‘mine’.

The possible conclusion

That said, it would be a bit pointless for this marketer, ‘dash’ mum, ‘dash’ educator, ‘dash’ researcher to say something like: “We can already see that Generation Alpha is influencing product sales and how brands position themselves in the market. So, if brands want to stay relevant, they need to understand and follow the behavior and thinking of Generation Alpha.”

But as a member of Generation X who ‘made it’ on the streets, I must warn you of the following: Brands, while paying attention to the younger generations, cannot neglect the wishes of the parents of these generations. For moms and dads of my generation (and the next), their children must have the opportunity to spend time outdoors, play, and explore independently. All it takes is a quick search or a chat over coffee to realize that parental movements are starting to emerge that are forcing schools to ban the use of smartphones inside the school or researchers and educators who are advocating greater autonomy and freedom for children, encouraging them to start going to the supermarket on their own much earlier, to have their own house key or to walk to school without adult supervision. 

That said, the big question for brands is: how can they devise a communication strategy that manages to reconcile generations with such different characteristics and desires?

Note on the images in this article:

1) The drawing with the 4 images represents my daughter Simone’s brain and “all the things she has inside”. It is a digital drawing created on the Ipad.

2) The anime cartoon images were generated by Artificial Intelligence according to Simone’s descriptions and then assembled by her.