Hilary Duff is on tour. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is streaming. LL Bean Boat Totes are in HYPEBEAST. Millennials are getting their redemption arc, skinny jeans and side parts be damned. And yet, marketers across the country are still rinsing and repeating the same Gen Z brief to creative agencies everywhere. We’ve all been in that room: [insert brand here] needs to build relevance with the new generation.
Millennials hold the (credit) cards
Millennials outspend Gen Z by nearly $30,000 a year, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Source
Proven brand loyal, not “going through a phase”
Millennials are the most likely generation to buy exclusively from one preferred brand. Gen Z is the most likely to have abandoned a brand in the past year. Source
Creatively underserved in a sea of cultural same
This is an audience that spent years being told that their cultural touchstones were embarrassing, while every brand under the sun chased relevance with Gen Z TikTok brain rot.
But if everyone is doing it, how could it be the fastest path to growth? We’ve seen some cautionary tales… Just ask Neutrogena x Tate McRae (Source), or American Eagle (Source). Two brands that would’ve been arguably better off with the millennial stronghold their brands were built on. Because unlike Gen Z, courted by many but engaged with few, millennials pay attention to the brands that pay attention to them.
Nostalgia is a big driver, but it goes deeper than aesthetics; the ones that do it best understand what this audience is often looking for: the feeling of a simpler time. JCrew absolutely nailed this truth with their latest Camp Crew campaign. They didn’t spend the summer of 2026 glow-maxxing, they met the 00s summer moment millennial women are craving by reuniting a group of 30- 40-year-old supermodels clad in clear jelly sandals, ringer tees, and string bikinis at The Parent Trap’s iconic summer camp setting as an ode to a simpler time in this audience’s past. After the campaign debuted, the roll-neck sweater featured was fully sold out. Source
Another shortcut to millennial cachet is embracing their basic tendencies. Stanley answered this call when they handed the reins to a trio of women running a shopping blog, The Buy Guide, who kept selling out of the 40oz Quencher to their largely millennial female audience. Instead of ignoring the anomaly, Stanley brought The Buy Guide into its affiliate network, relaunched the Quencher in new, oh so basic millennial hues (dusty pink, h*ck yes), and let the audience’s favorite influencers carry it from there. Revenue went from $73 million to $750 million in four years. Source
The secret? None of this is generational pandering. It's specificity: the right cultural reference, aimed at the right audience, backed by a brand willing to bet on their audience instead of past them. The brands still writing the same generic “win the new generation” brief should ask themselves some hard questions: How could getting more specific about my audience make my brand more relevant? Is chasing Gen Z actually the safe bet, or just the easy-to-explain one?
You never know… giving an unexpected audience a chance just might surprise you. The millennial comeback sure did.
