GEN ALPHA

THE NEWER KIDS IN CLASS; PART ONE

Move over Gen Z! There’s a new generation in town and they’re already in our schools and influencing purchasing decisions. Who is it?

Gen Alpha. And we want to tell you all about them!

Coined by McCrindle Research, the name symbolizes the idea of a new beginning and is also inspired by 2005’s hurricane Alpha. 

Every hurricane season, a list of 21 predetermined names are released. These names come from the World Meteorological Organization and rotate every 6 years.

(Names are retired if they are extremely deadly or costly.)

2005 made for a hectic hurricane season – so hectic that they went through all 21 of the names for that year. In the event that all of these names are used, the naming convention will move through the Greek alphabet. The 2005 hurricane season was so busy that they ended up going through the first 6 letters of the Greek Alphabet, the first being Alpha.

When thinking of this upcoming generation, McCrindle wanted to propose a name that not only made sense after Generation Z, but that also reflected the notion that this new generation is the only one where they are all born in this century. So instead of starting over, they adopted the name, Gen Alpha, to signify a new beginning

Gen Alpha was born as early as 2010 and will be born as late as 2024. As of today, the most significant social markers in their lifetime include the election of Donald J. Trump, Brexit, and COVID-19. Their go-to technology for music includes smart speakers, and they can watch just about anything on demand thanks to streaming services such as YouTube, Netflix, Hulu, and more. Gen Alpha is also referred to as “The Glass Generation”, referring to the glass-fronted technology they use to communicate and receive information.

Gen Alpha is still so young that they currently don’t have a lot of buying power, BUT they do have a major influence on how their parents make purchasing decisions. Their parents are none other than the famous Gen Y, also known as Millennials. In part 2 of this series, we will take a look into how Millennials make purchasing decisions, and what this means for Gen Alpha and your program.