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Born between 2010 and 2024, Gen Alpha is the first cohort raised entirely in a world shaped by algorithms, on-demand media and emotionally aware parenting.
According to The Kite Factory’s Gen Alpha Playbook, there are 11.8 million of them in the UK alone. And while many are still in primary school, their influence is already rippling outward: shifting household dynamics, platform behaviours and brand expectations.
What kids want from brands is often framed in terms of attention. But what they’re really offering is a lens into how culture is changing: how trust is built, how identity is shaped and how marketing can meet people where they are—or rather, where their parents allow them to be.
Perhaps the trick isn’t in decoding a generation, but listening to what they’re already telling us.
Hyper-online and out of reach
The focus isn’t just on Gen Alpha; it’s on the frameworks we use to talk about them. When we spoke to the team at Truant London, they challenged the industry’s dependence on generational shorthand, arguing that it often obscures more than it illuminates.
Their work surfaced the internal contradictions baked into Gen Alpha’s positioning. Yes, 87% of 13–15-year-olds say it’s up to their generation to stop climate change (Investopedia), but one in six boys in the same group hold a favourable opinion of Andrew Tate.
This may explain why, even as they grow up surrounded by technology, many Gen Alpha kids are deliberately kept away from it. A growing number of Millennial and Gen X parents, once early adopters themselves, are holding off on smartphones and social media.
The grassroots campaign Smartphone Free Childhood, launched in 2023, now connects over 25,000 UK parents through local WhatsApp groups. Their aim is to keep kids off smartphones until at least secondary school; not because they fear screens, but because they fear what’s behind them: algorithmic manipulation, polarisation, digital dependency.
The implications for marketers are significant. If kids aren’t online, or are heavily restricted, how exactly are you reaching them? According to The Kite Factory’s research, 64% of 12–15-year-olds prefer tech that allows them to skip ads. But that presumes they’re seeing ads in the first place. More often, brands are trying to speak to children through screens their parents control—or co-view.
In this environment, trust becomes the real currency. Brands aren’t just marketing to kids; they’re asking parents for permission.
Finding ground through autonomy, peace and play
Rob Pryce, director at brand experience agency, onepointfive, described Gen Alpha to us as “mentally mature but emotionally still developing.” They’re exposed to vast cultural inputs from an early age, but still working out what feels real, what’s worth caring about and how to emotionally engage with brands or ideas.
This is where The Kite Factory’s Empathy Framework becomes less theory, more instruction. The emotional needs they identified—Autonomy, Play and Peace—aren’t traits, but design requirements.
Autonomy, in particular, is expressed loudest through how Gen Alpha games. According to GWI, 65% of kids aged 8–15 say gaming helps them feel in control, and nearly half say it helps them express who they are. Roblox, Fortnite, Minecraft aren’t distractions. They’re spaces where kids experiment with identity, collaborate with peers and create worlds they get to shape. As environments go, they’re one of the clearest reflections of Gen Alpha’s values.
Brands that get this build experiences that reward exploration. Nike’s Airphoria didn’t push messaging; it gave players a world to explore. Vans’ Vans World on Roblox lets users customise skateboards, outfits and avatars. These are brand ecosystems that put autonomy first and earn loyalty in the process.
Play isn’t limited to digital environments; for many Gen Alpha households, especially those delaying devices, it’s what happens offline. Open-ended, tactile and often co-created. LEGO’s Play Days remain a staple for this reason: they’re collaborative, repeatable and child-led.
When we spoke to Laura Medley, marketing manager at Nusa Studios, she shared how their work with tonies tapped into this very space by building creative that didn’t just appeal to parents, but involved kids directly:
“Our social-first approach tackled the everyday challenges of parenthood, positioning tonies as a thoughtful solution,” says Laura. “The campaign highlighted key product benefits – better sleep and screen-free play – through a mix of high-performing UGC content and Hi-Fi awareness assets, while also including authentic moments of childhood, with humour parents can relate to.”
“After filming, we watched as the young talent left the set still talking about the Toniebox, a clear sign of a product that truly sticks.”
When play is treated as something co-owned by parents and kids, it becomes a shared and powerful space.
Peace, the third need in the framework, is perhaps the most overlooked—but increasingly, the most prized. In homes where overstimulation is already managed carefully, products that deliver calm over noise hold real appeal. Headspace Kids, Calm, and even low-stimulus toys or ambient playlists are gaining ground among families who see digital quiet as a form of care.
“Being the generation most impacted by Covid-19, they appear driven to make genuine IRL connections,” Pryce adds, noting the rise in event-led marketing and brands investing in in-person experiences. According to McKinsey, 63% of Gen Z already favour brands that offer meaningful experiences. “Gen Alpha looks set to surpass that.”
Not a segment, but a signal
Generational identities are fragmented, full of contradiction and shaped as much by online ecosystems as by age. Truant told DCA this isn’t an anomaly: it’s architecture. Labels might be losing ground, but new identities—fandoms, subcultures, micro-aesthetics—are rising to take their place.
If Gen Alpha seems hard to decode, it might be because our metrics haven’t evolved. A recent SuperAwesome study found that 56% of kids globally engage with their fandoms daily, and more than half say their top fandom has an “enormous influence” on their everyday life.
Gen Alpha isn’t post-label. They’re building new ones, just not the kind most marketers are used to. What they care about shifts often; but the conditions under which they care don’t.
“Brands spend literal millions trying to carve up their audiences into neat little profiles,” says Will Poskett, founder of Defiant. “But with the rise of the internet, we’re seeing broader cultural shifts, ones where people are more unified by passion points than geography or demographics.”
Gen Alpha is already being cast as the generation that will save the world. But so was Gen Z. And millennials. Most of them are just trying to get through secondary school. What makes this generation different might not be their values, but our readiness to project our hopes onto them.
In reality, they’re complex, fragmented, and sometimes contradictory. Passion is their entry point, but it’s also the filter. If your message doesn’t align with what they value—or doesn’t even register in the environments they care about—they’ll move past it without hesitation.
They’re not asking brands to be perfect, just to be worth their time. And if we’re smart, we’ll realise they’re not a future to prepare for. They’re already watching.
Natasha Randhawa, newsletter editor.
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