Gen Z Expert Connor Blakley Reacquires Marketing & Innovation Agency Youth Logic

Founder of the first-ever Generation Z marketing agency, Connor Blakley is back at the helm of Youth Logic with a strategy to disrupt how brands engage modern consumers

Youth Logic's distinctive approach to generational research, the creator economy, and deep experience in activating Gen Z culture is tailored to fit the speed of the internet.

NASHVILLE, Tenn., March 8, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Connor Blakley, the founder of the first-ever, full-service Gen Z innovation and marketing agency Youth Logic, today announced that he has reacquired the agency, which he started when he was 15 years old (and sold when he was 19). Since its original founding in 2015, Youth Logic's clients have included PepsiCo, Kraft-Heinz, T-Mobile, Viacom, Discord, McCormick, The NHL, and more. Connor has regained the reins of his company with a mandate to reframe the way brands, new and old, engage with youth culture.

Youth Logic was reacquired from The Campus Agency, which purchased Connor's company in 2018. "We're all aware of the important role content plays in the modern marketing landscape," said Connor Blakley, "but genuinely connecting with the youth is difficult if you're not privy to the most current cultural trends and consumer behavior. This is why so many campaigns get placed in the "dad joke" bucket by Gen Z."

Connor and the Youth Logic team heavily emphasize content production capabilities, leveraging deep personal relationships with well-known Gen Z talent and UGC (user-generated content) creators. As a full-service agency catering to the preferences of young modern consumers, Youth Logic offers a full-service suite of multidisciplinary creative execution capabilities that includes: 

• Actionable insights: Youth Logic revolutionizes research by conducting custom, qualitative assessments and data collection with tailored reports to help companies figure out what Gen Z means for their business.
• Gen Z consulting: Youth Logic incorporates the creator economy to work directly with brands on cultural audits, strategic collaboration, consumer feedback, creative exploration, and brand invigoration.
• Curated Culture Camp–Customized and direct feedback from Gen Z experts
• Youth Culture Playbook–a proprietary methodology that gives each brand they work with insights into the current and future trends specific to their industry and goals.
• Gen Z innovation: Youth Logic works cross-functionally with companies to revitalize dying brands and breathe life into new ones, from idea to finished product.
• Execution: Multidisciplinary, full-service execution capabilities range from campaign management to design + branding and more. Content + execution are tailored to bring Y.L.'s strategies to life.

"The days of your "talent agency" partner adding on tens and even hundreds of thousands of dollars in needless fees just to work with talent are over," said Connor. "The relationships we've fostered over the past nine years allow us to communicate and directly work with creators of all sizes, from the largest names in this space to micro influencers and smaller UGC accounts.

"We tend to stay away from projects that involve large partner agencies who are just looking to carelessly check the Gen Z box. Our entire model and execution strategy is predicated on measuring culture and activating against it with timely, culture-centric creativity," he added.

A mission to authentically reach and represent young modern consumers

Youth Logic's mission is simple, targeted at solving one core problem: brands don't know how to authentically position themselves for today's young consumers. Y.L. offers an antidote for companies across industries who are about to get disrupted by competing startups run by Gen Z professionals who understand the digital landscape and culture better.

"Youth culture moves at such a rapid speed that in today's landscape, if you're not positioning for the future, or actively working to create culture, you're already behind," said Connor. "You need to be playing offense, and to get ahead in this environment, an understanding of modern cultural nuance is a must."

A creative bridge between corporate and culture

Though young consumers are easily reachable via social media, they are hard to genuinely engage. This results in companies burning through marketing budgets on campaigns that may have high visibility and impressions but minimal bottom-line or cultural impact. The cause? Flawed research and strategy.

"I absolutely disdain the way generational research is done today," said Connor. "From the polling methods to the actual questions asked, it's all pseudoscience. It's one of the driving factors behind why I started Youth Logic." 

"For example, let's consider one of the most commonly held tropes out there: Gen Z's attention span is roughly 6-8 seconds. Is this true? There might be some data that supports that number, but the issue in this case, and in many others, is that there's no context. That 6-8 second window actually serves as a B.S. meter for what they'd like to spend their time and valuable attention on. This lack of context is rampant throughout much of today's beliefs surrounding Gen Z. My goal is to read between the lines to ensure our collaborators know what the stats actually mean, so nothing is lost in translation," he said.

Connor and his team have spent the last nine years decoding and demystifying what makes Gen Z tick. "Most people don't realize that Gen Z controls north of $360 billion in spending power. If brands continue to rely on antiquated research and strategies, they'll leave a lot on the table," added Blakley.

Leveraging a network of over 10,000 members of Gen Z for real-time cultural understanding

A core feature of Youth Logic's positioning lies in its ties with Gen Z influencers of all sizes, from university students to the most prominent names in youth culture. Youth Logic's work spans many different industries. That depth has garnered an intimate discord community of over 10,000 cultural tastemakers, students, and influencers across various subsets and categories throughout youth culture. As a result, Y.L. claims a truly calibrated foothold on Gen Z culture.

Positioning brands within the creator economy, for the present day and beyond

A key aspect of Gen Z consumers is their dislike for one-size-fits-all approaches, an insight that guides much of Youth Logic's strategy for impactful marketing and innovation. Whether companies need direct feedback from the Gen Z creators themselves, available in Y.L.'s "Curated Culture Camp," or assistance with guiding the vision for a rebrand that reinvigorates a dated product line, or figuring out a new one, Connor and his team begin with the end in mind and frame their work within the context of the creator economy.

"Youth Logic is always authentic and on point with content, creative, and vision," said actor and producer Jace Norman. "Too often, it's difficult to meaningfully collaborate with agencies and brands because they don't get it. Y.L. gets it."

Forging an avenue for young leaders

It's no secret that Gen Z's preferences will have a lasting impact on how work life and work culture progress. Companies must utilize a cross-organizational approach to reposition and adapt for a future that is being forced upon them, a significant factor being Gen Z's deeply entrepreneurial spirit and preference for location freedom.

"Some leaders hear about Gen Z's propensity for entrepreneurship and freedom and wince, but it actually makes them much more capable as employees; they're hungrier, more agile, and more efficient than their older counterparts," said Connor.

Youth Logic is committed to supporting employee-employer relationships that are built on shared common goals. Y.L. recognizes that companies that fail to pivot in hiring and employment will be left in the dust by a generation that by 2030 will comprise over 30% of the overall U.S. workforce.

For more details on Youth Logic's entire array of service offerings and their work, visit youthlogic.com. To reach Connor and his team directly or to enquire about a potential collaboration, please email [email protected].

To stay on top of the latest from the world of Gen Z, check out the Youth Logic YouTube channel where Connor and his team break down current culture and trending topics. The Y.L. podcast will be dropping soon, where Connor will sit down with the highest-level Gen Z shakers and cultural tastemakers to share a candid look into the thoughts and approaches employed by the biggest names in the space.

About Connor Blakley

A Generation Z expert and thought leader, Connor Blakley is the founder and CEO of Youth Logic. He started his first company – a social media agency for small businesses – at age 13. His first client was the deli across from his high school and he was paid in free food. After building an impressive roster of small- to medium-sized businesses as clients, he founded Youth Logic in 2015 as the first Gen Z-focused agency serving some of the top businesses across industries in the United States and abroad. Youth Logic delivers insights, strategy, and creative execution that focuses on Gen Z and youth culture. Now in his early 20s, Connor is recognized as the leading marketing voice of the new generation. He was the youngest person to be named an Adweek "Young Influential," and was recognized by Forbes as the "#1 Gen Z Expert to follow."

Connor has collaborated with major brands that include T-Mobile, Kraft-Heinz, Discord, and Johnson & Johnson, and industry leaders that include Jay Abraham, Harvey Mackay, Tony Robbins, and Daymond John. He has taken the stage as a keynote speaker and panelist worldwide for many top brands, governments, conferences, and associations, including Viacom, Association of National Advertisers, PepsiCo, Darden, McCormick, The NHL, and more. Connor has been interviewed for major publications, including INC, Entrepreneur, TIME, DigiDay, Mashable, The Washington Post, the BBC, and more.

A Cleveland, Ohio native, Connor brings his mission and message across borders and currently strategizes from his headquarters in Nashville, TN. In addition to leading Youth Logic, Connor is the CEO of a Gen Z-positioned alcoholic beverage company, BRU, set to launch in Q3 of 2023. You can connect with Connor Blakley on LinkedIn.

About YouthLogic

Youth Logic is a full-service Gen Z marketing and innovation agency that operates at the intersection of the creator economy and culture. The agency's core focus is assisting the world's leading brands in developing and executing against strategies that drive genuine consumer engagement and enduring advocacy amongst Gen Z through social media, influencer and experiential marketing, research, and data insights. The most prolific brands in the world utilize Youth Logic's services, including PepsiCo, T-Mobile, Raising Cane's, and Levi's.

Learn more by exploring youthlogic.com, or reach out to [email protected]. Follow us on Instagram @YouthLogic.

Media Contact:
Debby Fireman
610-547-2229
[email protected]

SOURCE Youth Logic