The Marketing Leadership Lessons Every Gen Z-Facing Team Needs to Hear

Youth marketing is competitive. That's not news. But right now, something feels different.

Culture moves faster than approval processes can manage. Gen Z's expectations are higher. And the pressure on marketing leaders — to stay relevant, build great teams, keep up to speed with AI, and bridge a widening generational gap — has never been more intense.

So what does good leadership actually look like in this environment? That was the question at the heart of one of YMS LDN 2026's (hosted by Pion) most anticipated sessions - Leadership Lessons for Winning Next-Gen Audiences. On stage: Hannah Bourne, Campaigns & Communications Director at Walker Books, Emily Laws, Head of Brand at Lucky Saint, and Will Weeks, CMO at Pion — in conversation with moderator Sherice Anibaba, Associate Partner and Head of Brand at Psalt/Homeserve.

Here's what came out of it.

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How to Build a Next-Gen Audience Strategy That Actually Keeps Up

A next-gen audience strategy is only as good as your understanding of the audience. So how do you actually stay close to Gen Z — as a leader, and as a team?

The starting point isn't tactics or tools — it's humility.

"It's less about staying in touch and more about having the humility to know you're not the target consumer. Whether you're an older marketer marketing to a younger audience or a younger marketer marketing to an older audience, it's about getting to know the consumer. It's not about you or your opinion." Emily Laws, Head of Brand, Lucky Saint

At Lucky Saint, that humility is built into the process. The team runs consumer calls once a quarter — bringing the C-suite closer to younger audiences while also helping younger team members understand older consumers. It's a two-way street.

The message was consistent: staying connected to your audience isn't a quarterly task. It's built into how you work — and the best marketing teams for Gen Z make it a daily habit.

Pion's own PION100 research backs this up. With 75% of young consumers identifying as budget-conscious and only around 5% of their income available for the brands they love, the gap between desire and affordability is real — and understanding it requires genuine proximity to the audience, not just data from a distance.

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Brand Relevance and Gen Z: How to Stay Relevant Without Chasing Every Trend

Every marketer working with young audiences is chasing the same thing — a brand that feels genuinely relevant. Not trend-chasing. Not performative. The real thing.

Hannah was direct about where most marketers go wrong:

"It's very easy to confuse maintaining brand relevance with how fast you want to jump on a trend. The key is that brand strategy doesn't change — that's the whole point of it. You need to hold exactly what your audiences are, what your brand means to them, and hold it tighter. Don't lose focus." Hannah Bourne, Campaigns & Communications Director, Walker Books

Will added the operational lens — because in competitive marketing, speed is everything. But speed without direction is just noise.

"Understanding your lens and narrative gives you freedom. As marketers, we need guardrails — the best creativity comes from rules. Knowing your lens and what your audience cares about allows you to cut through when it comes to looking at trends. Trends and culture move faster than an approval process can manage." Will Weeks, CMO, Pion

The practical test? Hannah had a simple one: if you can swap your brand's logo out for any other brand on a piece of content, don't do it. If it's interchangeable, it's not yours.

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Marketing Team Culture: How Senior Leaders Bridge the Gen Z Gap

Here's the irony at the heart of youth marketing leadership: the more senior you get, the further you move from the audience you're trying to reach. Will called it out directly:

"I'm not Gen Z — surprise. I started my career marketing to an audience I was part of. I was an expert in that audience. But the difference between me in the C-suite and the audience I'm marketing to has gotten bigger and bigger… In my role now, it's about effectively executing a strategy and bringing the team on that journey. I let them solve it themselves — I'm not the expert. As long as they've got the guardrails, the goal, and know what they're trying to solve, it's up to them." Will Weeks, CMO, Pion

Hannah brought a powerful analogy from an executive sports coaching session she'd attended — one that reframed what good leadership actually looks like.

"He put a slide up with 10 steps, went through it, then came to step 8 and said: let go of everything you've done in those past 8 steps, because it's not relevant to get to step 9. The only way to get somewhere new is to entirely change everything you do and leave your ego at the door. My role isn't to check everything my team is doing — it's to make sure they have the space to do great work." Hannah Bourne, Campaigns & Communications Director, Walker Books

Emily's turning point was equally honest. It came down to a single piece of feedback about her mindset.

"My MD told me I had a 'good student' mindset — I'd wait to be told what to do, do it brilliantly, and wait for the praise. Becoming a leader meant getting rid of that. It's about the language you use. Rather than 'I think' or 'my opinion' — think about the consumer, and how this supports the business." Emily Laws, Head of Brand, Lucky Saint

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AI and Marketing Transformation: What CMOs Need to Know in 2026

Marketing transformation is one of the defining challenges of modern youth marketing leadership. And right now, a huge part of that transformation is AI. The panel didn't shy away from it. Will took the direct approach:

"I know it can be divisive — the 'inevitable, get on board' approach — but it is inevitable, and you need to get on it. Don't focus on how it's going to take our roles. Focus on how it helps our roles. If you don't implement it, you're neglecting your team's development." Will Weeks, CMO, Pion

Emily framed it as a growth mindset question — and made clear it's also a career one.

"The idea that you would reject learning about a new tool or technology — whether that's AI or anything else — is not the attitude you want in your team. It should be a growth mindset. This will determine whether you grow or not. It's a career killer to say you're happy with how things are." Emily Laws, Head of Brand, Lucky Saint

Hannah's approach is to over-communicate — making sure the team understands the why before the what.

"Transformational change is always scary. The approach I take is to be crystal clear about what we're doing and over-communicate it. I'm not going to make you use AI, but I need you to understand it — because it's intrinsically changing how consumers are searching and buying things."

Emily added a practical tip for getting buy-in: find the champions.

"Find champions of it across all levels of the business and get them to infiltrate it organically. Don't make it sound like a chore or an extra thing to add to your plate." Emily Laws, Head of Brand, Lucky Saint

The message was clear: curiosity isn't optional. It's a career necessity.

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From the floor: the questions the audience wanted answered

The session closed with questions from the audience, and two in particular landed well.

How do you know when to get involved in a cultural moment — and whether to commit short or long term?

Emily drew on a conversation she'd had with a culture agency — and Lucky Saint's own approach to the running trend.

"Culture isn't something to press on the consumer — it's already happening. So get in there. We knew everyone was taking up running. Rather than taking on a big sponsorship, we just started a running club and gave out merch. If you jump in and out, you're not committing. Don't jump in and out — have a plan." Emily Laws, Head of Brand, Lucky Saint

How do you approach problem-solving in leadership?

"How you do it in leadership and marketing is the same way you'll manage it in any aspect of your life — by questioning and understanding what the problem actually is. Really interrogate it, and bring different heads together to find solutions." Will Weeks, CMO, Pion

From this, Emily also fed in:

"Ask 'but why?' Keep asking it. Often people have thought about the end result and had a creative idea but haven't thought about why they're doing it. That childlike mindset — constantly questioning — is one of the most powerful things you can bring to a leadership role." Emily Laws, Head of Brand, Lucky Saint

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The Youth Marketing Leadership Lessons That Apply to Every Brand

Leading a marketing team for Gen Z in 2026 isn't just about keeping up. It's about building the team, the culture and the instincts that let you move at the speed of culture — without losing what makes your brand worth following in the first place.

From leaving your ego at the door to finding your AI champions, from knowing your brand lens to building relationships beyond the work, Hannah, Emily and Will gave the room a lot to think about.

The best marketing leaders, it turns out, are the ones still asking the hard questions. And staying curious enough to find the answers.

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