Study: What matters to Malaysian Gen Z (beyond just purposeful brands)

The youth of Malaysia remain optimistic in the face of adversity, said a recent study by McCann Kuala Lumpur titled “Truth About Generation Z”. While the youngest generation stands to inherit a number of societal problems, many of which have come to the fore in light of recent social justice movements and the COVID-19 pandemic, it is uniquely confident in its ability to overcome them.

According to the study, 66% of Gen Z globally say their generation can solve big global issues, with

85% young Malaysians believing their generation has the power to influence a brands’ actions for the better.

“For generations, young people have always been at the forefront of social justice and that is still true, even now. However, what we’ve seen from the data is that while other Gen Zs around the world are concerned with environmental issues or women’s rights issues, Malaysian Gen Z are more concerned with safety and security issues such as equal education opportunities, protection of personal privacy and poverty eradication” said Nura Yusof, planning director, McCann Kuala Lumpur. The study surveyed 500 18–24-year-olds Malaysians and combined those findings with insights from McCann Worldgroup Truth Central’s Gen Z anthropological community.

For this generation, questioning societal norms and systems isn’t youthful rebellion – it's a reflection that the only thing scarier than change for Gen Z, is if things stay the same. While a majority of Gen Z (53%) globally agree that “society staying the same as it currently is” is scarier than “society changing drastically in the future”, Malaysian Gen Z are nearly equally split between the two possibilities: About 53% of Malaysian Gen Z fear drastic change vs. 47% fearing no change.

As with previous generations, Gen Z continues the pursuit for what’s cool (60% globally say they are always looking for the next cool thing). However, this number is much lower when compared with Malaysian Gen Z. With Malaysian Gen Z, around 85% admit to always looking for the next cool thing.

Brands should take note that newness and novelty would be essential to capturing their interest.

Money Troubles is the most difficult to talk about for this generation. Malaysian Gen Z identify money troubles as the most difficult subject to talk about, even with the people who are close to them. Their numbers represent the highest in the APAC region.

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