In the world of trends, it’s never too early to take an interest in tomorrow’s consumer. Born from 2025 onwards, the oldest Betas are only a few months old at the moment, but they’ll be the target of brands within a decade. In a recent article, futures agency WGSN shared its initial projections of who the Betas will be.
The Betas are the children of Generation Y and Generation Z, two digital native cohorts. “Being chronically online for most of their lives has enabled them to learn to use their voice for activism, education, entrepreneurship and insight compared to previous generations,” explains WGSN.
Betas will represent 16% of the world’s population by 2035.
“This cohort will be the first generation to grow up in an artificially intelligent world, shaping its definitions of truth and reality through manipulated media (90% of all online content could be AI-generated by 2026). The arrival of AI on this scale is akin to the technological developments that marked the era of older generations, such as the internet or the smartphone, and will shape everything about their coming-of-age. An artificially intelligent world will be the only one that Betas will experience, shaping their professional and personal lives in the decades to come.”
However, these future consumers will, like their elders, be keen to revive “pre-digital” experiences.
“They can be expected to romanticize the way the general public lived and interacted before the advent of social networks,” comments WGSN. “In this context, Betas may also romanticize past experiences and develop an interest …
