"We’re not here to tell you the answers, but we hope you might hear something today that just changes how you think tomorrow."
- Kevin Carr, CEO of Protection Review
Kicking off this year’s ProtectZ Conference – where every speaker is 30 or under - Clodagh Griffin, 27-year-old journalist & content creator at The News Movement, discussed how to engage a younger audience.
After moving from Dublin to London, Clodagh’s first major gig led to the creation of Yahoo! UK’s TikTok account (@yahoouk) which, to date, has 991.1k followers and 18.8mn likes. “I managed to weasel my way in saying ‘I know how to make these videos on this app and you guys don’t’. That was four years ago, and nobody was working as a journalist on social media at the time,” Clodagh explained.
“I’m not in insurance, but I hope my experience working on social media will be useful in figuring out how to build that younger audience. I’ve been viewed over 100mn times online by Gen Z […] I’m excited to tell you how I did that and what you can learn from my journey,” she said.
“I’m quite a good gauge for where people are at; I almost cancelled my pension the other day because I didn’t see the use in it.”
Over the years, Clodagh has noticed popular themes amongst Gen Z: “equality (whether that’s sex, race, ability, it’s so important. Something we’ve found at The News Movement is that they really respect when you’re honest about your standpoint, whether they agree with it or not.
“For Gen Z, everything is on their phone. Everyone has 1,000,000 WhatsApp groups; they want to follow Instagram and TikTok accounts that they feel seen by […] Community is so essential.
“They care about health […] #food on TikTok has over 1bn uploads; that’s where I get my recipes. Lots of young people are turning to these platforms for fitness advice. The big thing we’ve found as well is things aren’t as taboo. I didn’t realise how taboo things were before – we casualise things – with the general election coming up, how many of you have heard of ‘genny lec’?
“I can’t imagine my Mum & Dad saying they are having a ‘Menty B’; mental health just wasn’t as open as it is now – whether that’s a good or bad thing is up to you.”
Overall, Clodagh believes these themes showcase that Gen Z want to learn and be engaged, but they don’t always know how.
“So,” she continued,” we know what they care about, how do we reach them? They’re the first generation to go through puberty on social media; they’re digital natives, and their phones are everything. 67% of Gen Z use TikTok as their search engine, whereas only 62% (because they use multiple platforms) rely on Google. If that doesn’t tell you something, then I don’t know what will.”
But, if the industry is going to show up on these platforms, “you need to use the right language.” Clodagh thinks there’s a space for older people “but speaking in their own way […] which is why it’s so important to have young people on your team.”
“I think there’s a real lesson in authenticity with these platforms. I don’t know if anyone follows RyanAir on TikTok (@ryanair), I think it’s quite cool because they’re so authentic to who they are – you’re going to get a cheap, crap flight and they’re not making a secret of it,” Clodagh continued.
“It all circles back to the values, the language – it’s essential that you know who you are to reach these people.”
“Keeping it simple but not stupid is something we’ve learnt time and time again. News avoidance is at its highest, something like 49% of Gen Z don’t watch the news or want to engage with it […] they turn it on and then switch it off immediately because they feel stupid, and it’s just not true, they want to learn, it’s just too much.
“If you have someone who looks like you, feels like you, telling you to do something, you’re more likely to listen. Gen Z are the future, so it’s worth investing now,” she exclaimed.
After Clodagh’s keynote address, she was joined by Lucia Jarvis (National Friendly), Juliette Meads (Vitality), and Britney Trussler (Dynamo) to debate the success of engagement and communications with Gen Z in the protection space.
When asked what techniques companies can use to reach younger audiences, Clodagh thought launching campaigns that are “really targeted at young people” is important. Britney agreed, “We need to push content that’s not only educational but also engaging and relatable.”
“We need to keep it simple but not make them feel stupid.”
Lucia thinks the industry needs to “tap into the emotional side of things […] being human rather than providing a list of things that you need to know.” In response, Clodagh noted that there’s been a real interest and rise in workplace influencers: “There’s been a lot of research coming out that these people are more relatable now than fashion influencers.”
“I think you’re right, it’s that kind of everyday content. Vitality has recently joined TikTok (@vitality_uk) […] we’ve noticed that even when we’ve posted TikToks on LinkedIn, there’s more engagement,” said Juliette. Despite these results, she warned that “you have to be careful; you can’t be misleading.” Juliette wasn’t sure what direction Vitality’s TikTok will take but she hopes the team gets inspired by “sassy Stanley, you might know the sausage dog on TV?”
“If it’s on TV, it’d probably miss me.”
“We do invest quite a bit in TV because when people are watching the cricket, we tend to see little spikes in sales where we’ve been visible. But this is why we’re moving to TikTok because that’s what the next generation watches,” Juliette added.
Clodagh thinks there’s still a space for broadcast, “and speaking from a news perspective, especially when there’s breaking news, I think my generation will put on the BBC because you want that trusted source.
“What they’re doing for the other 23 hours of the day is a mystery to me. Other than Love Island or big sports events, I’m not engaged.”
“To that effect, I don’t think TV has the same impact as TikTok and Instagram – even LinkedIn at this point. People that are working 9-5 aren’t watching daytime TV, so what audience is that going to reach?” said Brittany.
To conclude, Kevin Carr, CEO of Protection Review, revealed whether the panelists think the life insurance industry currently engages well with young people - 14 out of 15 said no. Juliette summarised this result with a lived experience: “When I asked my friends what Critical Illness (CI) was, they described Income Protection (IP). There’s a barrier for younger generations in terms of how we are actually explaining it.”
