A new study reveals just how discerning Gen Z has become with their attention. In an age where the idea of a captive audience feels almost quaint, consumers’ focus is fractured across endless platforms and passions – forcing brands to work harder and spend more for ever-smaller windows of engagement.
Connect by Live Nation, a music sponsorship, creative, and experiential agency, surveyed 5,692 Australians, including 1,411 Gen Z respondents, in its annual Love Song study. It found that 84 per cent of Gen Z are increasingly deliberate about where they engage, seeking deeper, more meaningful connections than any other generation.
Erica Valenti, Live Nation ANZ’s integrated marketing director highlighted to a room full of marketers at the Ace Hotel in Sydney on Wednesday, the importance of concerts and festivals for Gen Z.
“Live music is now the new third space. It’s where they’re socializing. They’re showing up alone and meeting friends, brand new friends for the first time in these spaces, this has really replaced the community hall,” she said.
She shared that over half of Gen Z rely on playlists, creators, or events to navigate culture, with 86 per cent seeking experiences that make them feel part of something bigger than themselves.
Live music, in particular, has emerged as today’s social hub, with 89 per cent considering attending concerts solo to connect with others or forging friendships online through shared music fandom.
“At its core, Love Song shows that ‘fandom’ is central to Gen Z’s identity,” said Kristy Rosser, senior vice president, head of media and sponsorship at Live Nation ANZ.
“They actively seek out live experiences to create their own cultural moments and be fully present – making it a unique opportunity for brands to engage meaningfully through curated experiences or community-building initiatives.”
A brand recently that has leveraged live music to connect with consumers is Salomon. Originally designed to be hiking and outdoor sporting shoes, Salomon has grown massive influence with Gen Z over recent years. Now, you can’t go to a music festival or a rave without seeing numerous pairs of them.
Salomon has played into its popularity and are continuing to grow by activating at live music events.
Recently, with the help of the Live Nation crew, Salomon created a 1000 person gig with American DJ Disco Lines. Keeping the brand front of mind, the first 100 people to rock up to the Sydney concert in Salomon’s were rewarded with express entry.
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Ironically, at a brand awareness event, Salomon stickered the back of everybody’s phones, so no one could take photos. Gen Z obviously still took photos.
Following the event to keep the hype going, Salomon sent out photos of the set to all entrants’ emails (with the hope that they would make their way onto socials).
“We had 100 per cent open rate on that email. We sent it out to 1000 people and 1000 people opened it, which I’ve never seen before in my career,” said Briony Kent, head of marketing at Salomon.
“It definitely worked. There was a lot of posting, a lot of comments and people had even created their own edits.”
For Kent, she explained that the reason this activation was so successful was because the brand added something to consumers, and not more noise. This was because Disco Lines tour was sold out and this brand activation gave 1000 consumers a chance to see him.
@storiesofb 1K of our @Salomon ANZ community partying with @discolines in Sydney 🪩 all thanks to our epic Live Nation connects family 💖 full recap to come 💃🏼hehe largest brand owned event I’ve ever pulled off #discolines #salomonaus #marketing ♬ original sound – storiesofb
Shift from show day
Alike sport, music goers yearn for entertainment and content much before the first song has been played.
The Love Song survey shows a generation deeply invested in the full experience: planning outfits, coordinating with friends, researching setlists, and mapping out where to eat before and after the show.
From downloading setlists in advance to arriving early for the perfect spot, Gen Z are choreographing their entire concert journey. Even those without tickets are finding ways to be part of the moment, with 20 per cent even gathering outside venues just to listen. The show itself is just one chapter in a much longer, more intentional narrative.
That extended journey opens up a wealth of opportunity for brands. Instead of focusing solely on in-venue activation, there’s real value in showing up across the lead-up and the aftermath.
Salomon demonstrated this again in its recent Beyond The Valley campaign.
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Salomon turned Beyond The Valley—a four day music festival over New Year—into a multi-phase campaign by activating two months before, throughout the festival, and for a month after. It did this by hosting various run clubs before the festival, which helped build the hype for the morning run clubs that happened during the festival.
Whilst this was happening Salomon “worked with a slew of different creators to create sports style content about getting festival ready,” added Kent. This was to ensure commercial messaging was being sent to consumers, but not by “shoving something down people’s throats.”
By being across the whole process of a festival and not just show day, Kent said Salomon got the most out of the festival, which was “a large investment for the brand.”
