What it really takes to be a category leader with Gen Z

Pion has partnered with Rise at Seven to get their take on being a category leader in this new era of marketing and search. They will also be taking the stage at YMS NYC 2025 in October.

This blog post was written by Carrie Rose and Ray Saddiq.

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What does it mean to be a category leader?

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Category leaders don’t just win clicks and views, they engineer the consumer journey.

In today’s fragmented search world where Gen Z discovery happens on TikTok for Gen Z as much as Google, the brands who lead their category aren’t just optimising for rankings. They’re shaping demand, capturing attention, and dominating both the mind of the young consumer and the real estate across every searchable platform.

It’s why when you think of air fryers, you think Ninja.

When you think of beauty dupes, you think Revolution Beauty.

And when you think of energy drinks, you think Red Bull.

We’re not playing the game of old school SEO, we’re rewriting it.

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Why category leadership matters

The old way of winning was simple: rank #1 on Google. Today, it’s nowhere near enough. Young consumers search, scroll, and shop across an entire ecosystem TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit, Amazon, Google, even LLMs.

If you’re absent from any of these that your Gen Z consumers spend their time on, you’re handing market share to someone else.

Category leaders know this. They treat search not as a channel, but as an environment – one that has to be mapped, influenced, and defended.

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The defend–grow–innovate model

At Rise at Seven, we call this the defend, grow innovate framework the playbook for becoming a category leader and staying owning that space.

Defend the Core‍

Own the spaces you must win. These are your high-intent searches, your brand terms, your core category keywords. If you can’t defend your house, you’ll never scale beyond it.

Grow into Adjacencies‍

Expansion doesn’t mean abandoning your niche, it means building authority in related searches. Revolution Beauty doesn’t just own “dupes”, it branches into “best budget beauty” and influencer-driven TikTok trends.

Innovate Across Channels‍

True leaders don’t just follow demand, they create it. Pooky didn't just own the term ‘’rechargeable lights’’ they created content in places their audiences search. 

This model makes brands unignorable not just in one algorithm, but in the culture of Gen Z consumer interest and search.

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The new rules of discovery

Category leadership today means:

Social search is rewriting discovery

‍Gen Z consumers are skipping Google entirely and using TikTok or YouTube as their starting point. If you’re not optimised for that, you’re invisible to them.

Owning attention means owning multiple SERPs

‍Google, TikTok, YouTube, and Amazon all have their own “search results pages.” Category leaders dominate all the platforms their audiences search on.

Signals matter as much as content

‍Content, Links, PR, UGC, reviews, video shares they’re not just “nice to have.” They’re the proof points that convince algorithms and young consumers you deserve to lead that space. 

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Becoming the category leader

Being a category leader isn’t about chasing algorithms. It’s about building a brand that people and platforms can’t ignore.

That means showing up first, most often, and in the most credible way – wherever your audience goes to search.

Whether you’re defending your core, growing into adjacencies, or innovating into new frontiers, the question is simple:

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Are you building a brand that ranks, or a brand that leads?

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