From the release:

Seed – the Gen Z marketing agency for clients including Spotify, Jack Daniel’s and Bumble – is today launching Cultivating Community – the latest chapter in its ongoing Gen Z research and insights platform, What Matters To Us.

Breaking away from more conventional report formats, this latest phase of What Matters To Us has been executed as a collaborative project with for-youth-by-youth communities. The project champions the voices of the young people leading cultural change for the next generation to co-create a short film, zine and an unfiltered panel event. All three outputs explore what community means to Gen Z, what’s driving change in these communities and how they are making a difference in culture.

The film and zine bring together perspectives from eight collectives as they share the challenges they face, the legacy they hope to leave behind and how brands can partner with them to reach their audiences and drive credibility with their generation.

Partners for the project, as outlined below, had to meet key criteria: be for youth, by youth; enable both online and offline forms of participation; involve cultural passions representing youth trends; be routed in challenging “norms”; and uphold diverse representation.

Black Girl Gamers: A multi-platform global community for Black women gamers
Bugeisha Club: Martial arts warrior women preparing for the apocalypse
DR3 Sounds: Promoters and club night championing rising youth DJ talent
EOTT: A mental health project changing the conversation around stigma and services
Hellaa Melanin: safe space that celebrates blackness
Hells Bells FC: A radically trans inclusive grassroots football team
Peng Femme Jam: A monthly jam session for women, queer and gender non-conforming musicians
Pilot Magazine: A digest dedicated to all things creative, experimental, and authentic

Unpacking the best practice rules of working with Gen Z communities, Cultivating Community offers five key takeaways on successfully working hand-in-hand with communities, reaching new youth audiences and driving brand credibility. The advice ranges from how brands can create a value exchange that resonates with a shifting power dynamic, to navigating skillsets and deadlines with community collabs while meeting brand objectives.

The content will be unveiled at an exclusive panel event featuring representatives from each collective. Brand speakers include: Lucy Edwards, Senior Marketing Manager at Spotify, Chloe Young UK Marketing Lead at Depop and Frankie Matthews, Brand Activation and Strategic Projects at JD Sports. The panel takes place on 20th March at Shoreditch’s Motel Studios to offer brands a chance to have a direct and unfiltered conversation with this hard-to-reach cohort.

Seed’s Strategy Director, Louise Millar, said: “Ten years ago, brands were getting a handle on the influencer market and the power that lay within. The brands that understood it early cemented long-term, commercially beneficial relationships that reaped rewards as the industry progressed. Communities are now the most significant force of influence on the next gen and yet will become much more powerful. They are literally changing how society functions. Brands that underestimate them will be left behind. ”

Jen Anderson, Managing Director, Seed said: “The purpose of Cultivating Communities for Seed was not just to invest and champion young people. We also wanted to deliver profound depth of knowledge to help brands understand how to collaborate with communities while solving how they can navigate the internal challenges faced around resource, investment and measurable objectives.”

What Matters To Us is Seed’s ongoing, next-generation research and insights platform. Now in its fourth edition, What Matters To Us is ruled by the community that Seed creates for. It’s a platform for Gen Z communities to share their thoughts, views and opinions, allowing Seed to gain “of-the-moment” perspectives to form and craft campaigns as they take shape, rather than as an afterthought.