By Paulo Coelho
I recently attended the Nedbank Future of Business event and I think the Mad Men era is dead! Buried! Don Draper’s three-martini lunches died with the delusion that brands could tell people what they wanted.
Today’s market isn’t just fragmented, it’s tribal. Those tribes speak different languages, worship at different altars, and can cancel you faster than you can say “viral backlash.” #CancelCulture
After two decades watching brands rise and fall from Namibian townships to international boardrooms, here’s the brutal truth: you’re not talking to “consumers” anymore.
You’re talking to five generations that might as well be from different planets. The power has shifted and it’s not coming back.
Boomers remember when Coke could dictate what “refreshment” meant; those days are gone. Millennials turned ethical consumption into identity. Gen Z weaponizes rejection; one misstep becomes a meme before your comms team checks in for coffee. This isn’t about being “woke”; it’s about survival. Brand resilience now tracks how well you accept that the audience holds all the cards.
The five-language challenge
The “sweet spot” that pleases everyone? Mythical. Pick your lanes and speak them fluently:
• Boomers: respect, reliability, recognition. Honour heritage and craftsmanship.
• Gen X: authenticity. No spin, no try-hard cool, just “we get it, life is complicated.”
• Millennials: purpose with purchase. Values must align or they’ll walk.
• Gen Z: identity fit on sight. Diversity, inclusion and transparency are baseline.
• Gen Alpha: still forming, but expect them to be even more discerning, connected and empowered.
The agility imperative
Cultural relevance now expires in weeks, not years. What resonated with Millennials in 2019 can be cringe to Gen Z in 2025. Strategy can’t be a dusty five-year PDF; it must be a living system that anticipates cultural shifts and plugs into real conversations. Look at the pandemic: brands that pivoted quickly thrived; brands that clung to pre-COVID playbooks looked tone-deaf.
Values alignment: the non-negotiable
Your values can’t be a glossy page on the website while your operations say otherwise. Different generations weigh values differently, quality and service (Boomers), honesty and straight talk (Gen X), social responsibility and purpose (Millennials), diversity, sustainability and real activism (Gen Z). Winning brands don’t tick every box; they choose and commit. Patagonia isn’t chasing fast-fashion. Tesla isn’t courting petrolheads. Know who you are, who you serve, and why you exist.
A Namibian lens
Generational divides aren’t just Western. A Herero grandmother in Okahandja relates to brands through community proof and word-of-mouth; her granddaughter in Windhoek discovers brands through Instagram and peer creators. A Boomer in Oshakati might trust church groups and local leaders; a Gen Z in Walvis Bay might trust a TikTok review over a billboard. Same need for belonging, different entry points, different dialects.
The death of brand dictation
Old model: brands created desire; consumers fulfilled it. New model: consumers create conversations; brands either join authentically or get left out. Your Boomers want to feel heard and respected. Gen X wants real connection, not a pitch.
Millennials want to co-create. Gen Z wants to see themselves in your values. Gen Alpha will expect all of the above as table stakes.
The uncomfortable truth
You’re no longer building one brand, you’re building a brand ecosystem that can connect with five worldviews at once. That’s not just “a different social strategy per channel”; it’s adaptable personalities that ladder to a consistent core: purpose, product truth, and behaviour that matches your claims. Speak Boomer on LinkedIn, be native to Gen Z on TikTok, and keep the same spine of values everywhere.
The brands that master this won’t just survive the generational divide, they’ll thrive because of it. The ones that don’t? There’s space in the marketing graveyard next to Blockbuster and BlackBerry.
Your move. Are you building brand resilience, or brand rigidity? The generational clock is ticking.
* Paulo Coelho | Brand Manager | Entrepreneur | Storyteller
