But before you shrug this off as yet another fad, think seriously about the implications for brands. This isn’t simply about quirky aesthetics or fleeting nostalgia. It’s a strategic recalibration for a generation of digital natives seeking boundaries.

It’s also a call to action for communicators and marketers who need to employ research and carefully select strategies and tools that allow us to meet Gen Zs where they are.

A Mental Health-Driven Move to Retro

The analog revival isn’t just a passing TikTok trend and retro “dumb” phones. It’s a coping mechanism for mental overload, a rebellion against algorithmic manipulation, and a reassertion of agency over attention. And while Gen Z is now in the spotlight as workers and consumers, this shift also applies to rising Gen Alpha – those born between 2010 and 2024.

In fact, data released in July 2025 by audience research company GWI showed the percentage of 12-to-15-year-old Gen A-ers who take breaks from smartphones, computers, and iPads has risen by 18% to 40% since 2022. A survey of 20,000 young people and their parents across 18 countries found that 40% of these young teens now take deliberate breaks from smartphones and social media, an 18% increase since 2022.

The Global Wellness Summit’s Future of Wellness 2025 has highlighted this movement as one of the year’s defining cultural trends that reflect both rebellion against screen fatigue and a rediscovery of the physical joy of non-screen tools. Businesses like Retrospekt, a company specializing in refurbished retro tech, are seeing significant growth, reporting annual sales of $8 million, primarily from customers aged 13 to 39. The Vinyl Alliance’s 2025 report showed 50% of Gen Z vinyl enthusiasts see the medium as a form of “digital detox,” while 61% aim to improve their well-being by shifting away from digital music consumption. It noted that in 2024, 40% of 18-to-24-year-olds bought vinyl. There’s also renewed interest in zines (self-published magazines), newsletters, and retro blogging platforms like Substack and Tumblr, as well as journaling and mailed cards and letters.

Digital fatigue is real. Nearly half of Gen Z reports feeling overwhelmed by screens. Over 44% intentionally reduced screen time in the past six months. Ofcom reports that 47% of 16-to-24-year-olds now silence notifications or enable Do Not Disturb to regain focus.

What this means for brands

At Tunheim, we see this as more than a trend. It’s a values-driven shift that reflects a craving for the authenticity, tangible experiences, and control that Gen Z  regains with analog. A 2025 study by Skeepers, an AI/user-driven content platform, revealed that Gen Z increasingly prefers unfiltered content and peer-led storytelling over brand-polished digital encounters.

Here are our four key takeaways:

1. Rethink message channels.

Gen Z consumes media across a fragmented landscape. A 100% digital strategy is incomplete. Smart campaigns might pair short-form video with a limited-run print magazine, a podcast hotline, or even an old-school mailer with QR code access to bonus content. Unexpected channels translate to deeper curiosity.

2. Build trust through tangible actions.

In a low-trust digital climate, doing things the “hard way” can be a brand builder. A fashion brand might mail out a zine on sustainability authored by young activists. A university might create a retro course catalog as a recruiting piece. Print can cut through the noise, especially if it reflects values.

3. Revisit your audience research.

It’s become clear that Gen Z doesn’t respond to broad personas. At Tunheim, we specialize in attitudinal segmentation and uncovering psychographic insights that go deeper than “18-to-24 digital native.” If your outreach relies on assumptions instead of insights, you’re likely missing this analog shift altogether.

4. Lead with authenticity, not just aesthetics.

In a recent case study, we found that publishing short-form video isn’t enough. For example, the Las Vegas Review-Journal outperforms by pairing format consistency with a strong brand voice. Aesthetic nods to retro culture only work when paired with substance, clarity, and intention.

In our view, this isn’t a fad; it’s a generational recalibration driven by creating balance. As Gen Z, with Gen Alpha on its heels, continues to prioritize privacy, mental wellness, and self-expression, expect them to fluctuate between digital efficiency and analog intimacy. Today’s flip phones and zines may evolve, but the underlying values like authenticity, simplicity, and autonomy will remain.

Gen Z is telling us what they want  – less noise, more meaning, more listening. The smartest phone in 2025 might be one that does…nothing. If you’re not listening to that signal, you’re not listening to your future audience.

Ask us how we can help you listen smarter.

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If you think disruption is occurring, take the bold move to ask your CEO if she has faith in your team’s ability to respond to rapid disruption. The Forbes survey, titled “Disrupt and Grow,” included 400 CEOs across eleven industry sectors. Two-thirds of the CEOs surveyed think their organizations “do not have the sensory capabilities and innovative processes to respond to rapid disruption.”

Based on our experience working with many clients trying to transform in the context of market changes, we suspect that what we have here is a bad case of disruption avoidance.

We all understand avoidance. Disruption pushes us out of our comfort zones. It challenges conventional wisdom and the ways we have always done things. It scrambles our routines by forcing us to confront skills sets we don’t have and expertise we need to develop.

The question, now that you’ve read this far, is whether this makes you feel uncomfortable or energized? If uncomfortable, we challenge you to ask yourself whether you are content to hide under your desk hoping disruption will leave you alone (it won’t), or if you are ready to jump up, embrace your vulnerability and start disrupting your own teams.

Here are a few things we have learned as our consulting teams at Tunheim help clients begin the process of embracing disruption to better their organizations’ competitiveness.

We make this offering with one important caveat: we consider this a rapid prototype process. We and our clients have to go into it ready to embrace a process confronting a new and different set of factors. It is fast, it can be uncomfortable – embrace the process and it can be fun.

#1 Take a shot at challenging the positioning

Ask the question: Where are we now versus where we need to go? Where is the high ground that challenges the existing equation in our sector? As an example to ignite your thinking process, consider a couple industry examples where disruption is challenging old-world positioning:

ENTERTAINMENT: HBO’s pivot from a subscription-based model for cable and satellite to developing its own platform, and licensing content to other streaming platforms (Amazon Prime).

MANUFACTURING: Repositioning Lego from a plastic toy company, with an unprofitable game to digital designer producing movies, a hardware/software robot platform and video games.

You get the idea.

#2 Survey your executive team

Ask your executive leaders about the things that keep them up at night. How do their answers compare to what their industry peers say? There are several great research polling groups that constantly survey most business categories with this information. The internal answers you gather versus category research on these questions, may be an eye-opening experience. If nothing else, this should spur deeper conversations about disruption and its effects on your organization. In the end you want to understand what needs to be different within your organization that will enable transformation.

#3 Identify industry trends

Perhaps the easiest step in the process is identifying trends. This is an exercise to compare and contrast where value is being created, how innovation is being unlocked, the role of technology versus talent and perhaps most importantly, the new and improved customer centric focus. In the end, every trend is a response to one overarching credo: Remove friction from every step in your process. If you need inspiration check out the case study of the entertainment company that was nailing customer service at every touchpoint – only to find they were losing significant ground in overall satisfaction. The McKinsey study can be found here.

#4 Who is the competition, really?

Who are your competitors and where are they going? There are no secrets. Between thought leadership publishing, quarterly financial reports and annual reports (with information-rich MD&As), there is a wealth of information outlining what your competitors are trying to achieve. Mine this for all it is worth.

One warning: Do not make the mistake of limiting your search to historic competitors. Technology is making it easy to be a disruptor. The real competition is likely to be found outside your typical industry sector. Who are the outliers looking to disrupt your market?

#5 Identify challenges and opportunities

Get beyond the usual challenge/opportunity bucket list. Consider that yesterday’s data bottlenecks are becoming today’s opportunities. The ability to leverage operating systems for data to inform key product and customer insight is a high priority within most organizations.

CEOs have begun an important pivot away from initiatives aimed at understanding customers, to fully funding tasks focused on execution that delivers against customer expectations.

The good news about this exercise is that you and your team(s) will have a better understanding of the challenge of being a disruptor. The really good news is that if you invest the time and ignite your teams, your CEO is unlikely to be worried about your ability to help her disrupt the category.

Truth is, there’s nothing better (or more fun) than being the disruptor, once you are armed for the role.

Tunheim’s core credo is to help its clients be understood by stakeholder audiences who are critical to success. We help clients through this disruptor process and then help them communicate their new positioning for business success.

Can Tunheim help your organization prepare to disrupt? Contact Us to get started today.

KPMG U.S. CEO Outlook – Disrupt and Grow, June 2017

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The Gillette ad and social media discussion — why it’s important

Gillette launched a two minute ad Monday that has been creating waves on social media all week long. Titled “We Believe: The Best Men Can Be”, the ad shows that men could be better. In the wake of the #MeToo movement and conversations of toxic masculinity, the short film sheds light on mansplaining in the conference room, bullying, and dads chanting “boys will be boys”. The ad reflects on masculine ideals and Gillette jumps right in to take a stance—all while being moderate and diverse in its depictions and resulting in a strong emotional reaction. The voiceover begs the question: “Is this the best a man can get?”

Why is this important?

Because being “woke” and socially aware is becoming more important to brands than ever before. Gillette’s message is important because it invests in a social cause. The social media conversation has commanded both support and outrage.  One thing Gillette has done is that they’ve successfully sparked a larger conversation—a conversation that can be divisive and heated, but is one that matters. “The intention was not to be political at all,” according to Pankaj Bhalla, the North American brand director for Gillette. Given the current cultural climate, it is not always easy to take on a social issue without being political. Millennial and Gen Z consumers seem to be receptive and interested in social responsibility. When a brand uses an ad to share that message, it can be impactful. “I think it is important to stand for more than the product’s benefit that you provide, and I think that’s the expectation of our younger audiences,” Bhalla says. (theatlantic.com)

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While 86 percent of industries reduced production during the Great Recession, (Isidore, 2009) other businesses thrived. These high performers increased sales, gained market share and recruited superior talent away from their toughest competitors. Their leaders smelled opportunity when everyone else began to panic. The proof is documented in a 2014 study, “The impact of economic downturns on marketing” conducted by David Nickell, Minna Rollins and Justin Ellis for the University of West Georgia/Richards College of Business.

And while not every action in a downturn has an equal and opposite reaction, there are some interesting insights from the two-year period known as the Great Recession. For example, sales of sugar and sweets were down almost seven percent while sales of fruits and vegetables rose nine percent. Grocers who recognized the trend and adjusted selections fared far better than the rest of the category. Apparently, A&P was not reading the same research as Target and Walmart. Both Target and Walmart acquired news customers while A&P was becoming defunct in 2009. This kind of insightful and entrepreneurial leadership enables some businesses to thrive while others struggle, and many fail.

One business leader interviewed for the study said, “We cut back our external marketing communications and reallocated a good share of it to internal communications with employees. We wanted to keep them informed about what we were doing to address the recession. We really wanted to keep them motivated.”

Every organization must reassess its talent investments during tough financial times. Organizations that thrive in recession focus not on wholesale cuts but rather on improving the quality of employees. Focusing on the quality of talent allows organizations to leverage the first of the three best practices of navigating a downturn according to the Richards College of Business study.

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They are more tech savvy than millennials. They are more liberal than you were at their age. They don’t know high school without Instagram and have never been on MySpace. They crave authenticity and can see right through you when you fake it. We think of them as teens, but they are also our college students and members of our workforce.

Generation Z is made up of the young people you raised, taught, or babysat, who are now your interns, assistants, and entry-level help. Gen Z is highly educated and very hardworking. However, there are some things you should know about the people you are employing:

• They are competitive. Where Millennials see their coworkers as people to collaborate with, Gen Z sees them as people to compete with to get to the top. While Millennials thrive in open work environments, Gen Z is fighting for the corner office.
• They don’t want a work/life balance, they demand work/life blend. They are fine with you emailing them at 9:00 pm. They have the Outlook app and will get right back to you; however, this means you need to forgive them for sending personal texts during work.
• They probably have another job. An increased amount of those entering the workforce will have “Side Hustles” to supplement their income.

17 percent of Gen Z would like to start their own business (vs. 11 percent of millennials) and 75 percent of them wish they could turn their hobby into a full-time job.

Gen Z experts David and Jonah Stillman define the Side Hustle as “the idea of having your own side business while still being gainfully employed.” They credit the rise in Side Hustles to the availability of resources to Gen Z as well as their entrepreneurial spirit.

To many employers, a Side Hustle is a red flag. They may jump to conclusions that an employee with a second job is disengaged in their work or not interested in their career long-term. However, this isn’t the case with Gen Z. The reality is that they don’t want to limit themselves to exploring just one of their interests. They are also doing everything they can to pay off their student loans.

We spoke with David and Jonah about their research and findings with Gen Z and the Side Hustle, and they are very strongly of the opinion that employers need to support their employees in their after-hours work, as long as it does not compete with their business. To Gen Z, the work they are doing on the side is important, and if their employer won’t support them, they may go find someone else who will. If their employer goes out of their way to help promote their Side Hustle, Jonah says, “it might be the best recruitment and retention tool companies have.”

Tunheim Consultant, Nick Marcouiller, has a side hustle that he says helps him stay inspired and creative.

He helps run an art space in Northeast Minneapolis that is available to local bands, musicians, and dancers as a rehearsal and performance space.  According to Nick, “At first, I was worried about adding a commitment outside of work hours. Would I have enough time and energy to fulfill both responsibilities? But I’ve found my work at Tunheim is enhanced by my work with local artists because I am constantly exposed to exciting new ideas that I can bring back for our clients.”

At Tunheim, we have made an effort to support endeavors like Nick’s side gig. We know that new experiences mean new perspectives and that is something we always welcome. We are also thinking ahead: the next generation and their Side Hustles are a package deal. If businesses are too rigid to support them in their after-hours work, they will be turning away some of the best talent out there.

If your intern takes wedding pictures on the weekend or your new assistant is freelance writing on her lunch break, we suggest you support and encourage it. Generation Z is not going to take “no” for an answer when it comes to their side hustle, so embracing it and allowing them to have a healthy work/life blend will enable you to recruit and retain hard working and multi-faceted employees.

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FIVE BURNING QUESTIONS TO HELP ACCELERATE A CEO’S DISRUPTION STRATEGY 

Last summer, two-thirds of U.S. CEOs regarded themselves as “disruptors” who are making aggressive moves to spur growth[1]. Those same CEOs worried aloud in the Forbes KPMG report whether their organizations have the sensory capabilities and innovative processes to respond to rapid disruption.

One year after that report, there is a stunning lack of alignment between what CEOs are saying about disruption and what middle and execution-tier employees are hearing. The confusion is best captured up by a high-performing national sales director for a global company who told me, “Our CEO calls it disruption but if his vision distracts from making our numbers, it will get us killed.” The very same sales leader describes his CEO as “inspirational.”

Bottom line: employees get the importance of disruption for their companies, the customers and their industry sector, but it isn’t relevant to their daily mission to sell as much stuff as possible, as fast as possible.

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By Margie Omero

Working as a pollster, white Americans’ racial prejudice is hard to avoid. You particularly hear it in focus groups, where voters can easily lapse into racially coded language. I’ve had respondents tell me they’ve heard on “very good authority” that “Latinos get to go directly to the front of the line” for government assistance. I once heard a veteran complain that “immigrants from Egypt” were getting more help to pay for college or housing than he was. Another complained “welfare queens” got priority over them when it came to health insurance.

While moderating, I’m not supposed to tackle these views head-on in real time. My job is to try to understand respondents’ motivations — worries about scarce economic resources, limited upward mobility, and financial insecurity. In the past hearing these comments saddened me, but I felt confident we could eventually neutralize many racially hostile views if our politics focused on economic prosperity and optimism.

Learnings From The Election

Now I know we need more than that. I was humbled in this past election to see how easily full-throated, defiant, proud racial animus could be brought to the surface. It’s made me question my own awareness and sensitivities on race. Even before Charlottesville, there was no doubt we had a mounting problem. Voters recognize it, too. Gallup showed in March a record high in the number of Americans who say they are personally worried about race relations—more than double in just the last few years.

While of course not all Trump voters were motivated by race, Trump’s candidacy gave oxygen to many voters’ worst tendencies. Public Religion Research Institute showed worries about “cultural displacement,” and support for deportation of undocumented immigrants were better predictors of Trump support among the white working class than economic fears. Pew found in multiple surveys major differences on immigration between Trump voters and non-Trump Republican primary voters. Other outlets further confirm. To suggest racial tensions didn’t contribute to Trump’s rise is to simply ignore the obvious or wish it wasn’t so. His presidency so far has shown no sign of shifting gears.

Trump aside, the Republican Party continues to be conflicted on race. According to the General Social Survey, over half of Republicans agree that “blacks just don’t have the motivation or will power to pull themselves out of poverty.” And more than twice as many Republicans as Democrats say “African-Americans are lazier” than other groups. Pew recently found Republicans evenly divided on whether being “too open to people from around the world” risks “losing our identity as a nation,” while only 14 percent of Democrats agreed.

To be sure, Democrats have their own work to do on race. Many 2016 post-mortems have focused on how the party should decide between re-engaging people of color versus reaching the elusive white working-class Obama/Trump voter. The implicit message created by this false choice is that white voters and people of color want different things, and that reaching out to one group invariably worsens your performance with the other. Why would Democrats allow that thinking to calcify? Does it not echo the fears of my focus group respondents: that there is a limited supply of something valuable–in this case of political advocacy and clout–and some groups are getting too much of it?

And even passing glances at the diversity challenges in Silicon Valley or among Democratic Party consultants suggest progressives have not solved the racial challenges in their own back yards.

Moving Foward

There are some glimmers of good news, of ways people can collaborate across party lines. Fueled by blockbuster books and films, and perhaps even by the Koch brothers, many are paying closer attention to the issue of criminal justice reform. The public airing of so many incidents of police brutality has forced the issue on those who were hoping to forget. I often point to this Matt K. Lewis 2016 piece as an example of the honesty that comes with being liberated from daily legislating or campaigning.

Our country’s racial wounds are so easily reopened; panels, articles, tweets, and Facebook posts won’t heal them. Have you, like me, asked yourself tough questions about how you’ve contributed to or wished away the problem, and how now you plan to do better? One answer should be obvious to people of both parties: With Trump, we all fare worse. When it comes to moving forward on race, a full-throated, proud, defiant uniting against the president must be the first step we take. “Private concerns” from Republicans and self-righteous partisan recriminations from Democrats are simply not enough. Continue to listen to voters, and hear them speak in their own words. And recognize racial bias where you see it—in your opponents, in your allies, and in yourself. 

The post A View From Our Pollster: Hear Voters Speak In Their Own Words, Then Recognize Racial Bias appeared first on Tunheim.

By Stan Alleyne

We’ve all heard the phrase “diversity matters.” We’ve read articles, attended training sessions and asked friends of color uncomfortable questions about their beliefs and backgrounds. Without a doubt, understanding and embracing different cultures, races and beliefs enriches our work and should add value to what we offer our clients or companies.

For many, the challenge is figuring out how to go beyond periodic insightful conversations and annual training sessions and conferences. How do you embed diversity and inclusivity into your daily workplace practices and culture?

Click here to read the full O’Dwyer’s article.

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Nominations for the award were accepted from mid-December through mid-February. After receiving more than 70 nominations, the editorial team selected 10 honorees. The honorees will be featured in the September 22^nd Weekly Edition of the Biz Journal and celebrated at an awards event on September 14^th.

 “[Kathy] is a true business visionary who pushes everyone around her to do better, every day. She is the go-to advisor when times are difficult, a constant leader in times of change and a professional that dedicates her time, ideas and resources to better the communities in which she lives and operates in around the globe.” – Lindsay Treichel, nominator

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