How Extra Hummed Its Way Back to Gen Z
Updated: 1 day ago
Mars Wrigley's gum brand Extra reconnected with Gen Z in Germany not with a hard-sell ad but with a song on Spotify, built on the platform's Culture Next insight that young audiences form identity through content and fan communities — a campaign that reportedly lifted brand association among 18-to-25-year-olds.
A gum brand that made a track, not an ad
Rather than running a conventional product spot, Extra leaned into music and Spotify's Culture Next research, which argues that Gen Z builds identity through the content and fan communities they belong to. The brand showed up as part of that culture — via a song and the audio environment young people live in — and reportedly saw a meaningful lift in brand association among 18-to-25-year-olds.
It is a telling choice. For a low-involvement product like chewing gum, nobody is seeking a rational pitch. Attention has to be earned by adding to the culture, not interrupting it.
Why entertainment beats advertising for Gen Z
Gen Z has grown up able to skip, block and scroll past anything that feels like an ad. The brands reaching them succeed by making something worth consuming in its own right — a track, a meme, a moment — that carries the brand along rather than shoving it to the front. Be the content, not the interruption.
Audio is an underrated route here. Streaming is where young audiences spend enormous, attentive time, and sound is a powerful, low-cost carrier of brand memory. A distinctive sonic idea can lodge in a way a banner never will.
What smaller brands should take from it
You do not need a chart hit. The principle is to identify the culture your audience actually belongs to and contribute something they would choose to engage with — then let your brand travel with it. Usefulness and entertainment are the price of entry; the hard sell is what gets skipped.
Measure it properly, too. Extra's reported lift in brand association is the right kind of metric for this work — mental availability among a hard-to-reach group — rather than vanity views. Culture-led marketing still has to move a business number.
Quick FAQ
What did Extra do with Spotify?
Mars Wrigley's Extra used a song and Spotify's Culture Next insight to reach Gen Z in Germany through audio and culture rather than a conventional ad, reportedly lifting brand association among 18-to-25-year-olds.
Why does entertainment work better than ads for Gen Z?
Gen Z skips anything that feels like advertising, so brands reach them by creating content worth consuming - music, memes, moments - that carries the brand along instead of interrupting.
Nobody wants a rational pitch for chewing gum, so Extra did the smart thing - it made something worth listening to instead. For Gen Z, you earn attention by adding to the culture, not interrupting it. Audio is the underused weapon here: huge, attentive time and a cheap, sticky carrier of brand memory. — Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing
For hard-to-reach audiences, be the content they choose - not the ad they skip.
What could your brand make that your audience would actually choose to press play on?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Sources: Horizont, WARC, MediaPost.
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Written by Daniel Nikolla, Founder of Merx Marketing Ltd and Marketing Minute
