Laura Agricola, Strategy Director, SickDogWolfMan
From the last of the silent generation to the newly emerging generation beta, Australia is experiencing a rare overlap of perspectives, values, and cultural reference points. It means no cohort gets to sit in its own bubble.
Everyone is in the cultural group chat, and younger generations, especially Gen Z and the budding Gen Alpha, are the ones spamming it with memes, energy, and a very loud reminder of what actually feels Australian.
And they’re rewarding the brands that get it.
Not the ones chasing that hyper-polished, global lifestyle sheen that dominated the 90s and 2000s (you know, that era of pretending we were all secretly living in New York lofts drinking Starbucks). Young Australians want brands that sound like home. Look like home. Laugh like home. And importantly, don’t apologise for it.
The turn away from global gloss
For about twenty years, Australian marketing suffered a chronic case of cultural cringe. We borrowed aesthetics from the US and Europe, like we were trying to impress a cool older cousin. ‘International’ became shorthand for ‘good’ and ‘local’ became shorthand for ‘budget’.
But younger Australians? They’re done with it. They’ve grown up drowning in curated feeds, global fast-fashion, and 24/7 branding. They’ve seen the polished version of life, and they don’t trust it. As a result, ‘perfect’ doesn’t feel aspirational; it feels fake.
According to McCrindle’s research on Gen Z, over 70% say purchases are expressions of personal values, not just transactions. Authenticity, real, flawed, specific, matters more than slickness.
The same research shows over 70% of Gen Z believe purchases are statements of values, not just objects. They want something with rough edges, a bit of personality, something that feels lived-in rather than airbrushed.
So, when brands roll out that placeless, accent-less, globally certified tone, they can smell the performance a mile away. They gravitate instead to the stuff that feels recognisably, undeniably Australian: the humour, the awkwardness, the accent, the dry wit, the democratic spirit of ‘everyone gets a go’.
‘Australianism’, to be clear, I’m not talking about nationalism, but cultural specificity, signals honesty. It says, ‘we know who we are, we’re not pretending, and we’re not trying to impress anyone but you’.
Sure, there are exceptions. Some Gen Z still go full polish; the Dyson-Airwrap, oat-milk-iced-latte. But the majority? If you look at what they actually buy, wear, share and hype, it appears they want truth, texture and a bit of grit.
A new expression of old Australian values
There’s a myth that younger Australians have abandoned ‘true-blue’ values, mateship, irony, and the fair go. But culturally, we’re witnessing something different: these ideas are being revived and reframed through a modern, inclusive lens.
Today’s Australianness is diverse, inclusive, and proudly mixed – a culture built by many faces, many accents, many histories – but still instantly recognisable.
It carries the same undercurrent of resilience, cheekiness, and that razor-sharp humour that can cut through pretension like a hot knife through a Woolies mud cake.
This is why you’ll see Gen Z belting out the Aussie version of Sweet Caroline at the footy with their whole chest. Ten years ago, doing that marked you as a dag. Now? Dagginess is the flex. Owning your Australianness says: I’m real. I’m grounded. I’m not performing for anyone.
Brands that understand this win. Brands that don’t… don’t.
Take Bundaberg Rum’s recent ‘Forever Classic’ platform.
The campaign marks the return of the iconic Bundy Bear, but not in a nostalgic or kitschy way. Instead, it’s a fully animatronic, seven-foot, slightly awkward but deeply lovable mate, which is the embodiment of Australian banter, irony and mateship.
Across three spots (‘Scam Artist’ ‘Roar’ and ‘Rug’), the bear is shown engaging in harmless ‘stitch-ups’ with his friends: the kind of light-hearted pranks, competitive ribbing and deadpan humour that Australians instantly recognise.
The campaign also launched heading into footy season, a deliberate anchoring into Australian rituals that remain generationally shared.
Sure, younger audiences may express culture differently than their parents, but they still gather for sport, still appreciate deadpan humour, still value mateship.
If Bundy taps into mateship, Drumstick goes straight for the summer nostalgia that is practically built into Australian DNA.
Sorry (not sorry) for the shameless plug, but our ‘Classic’ platform for Drumstick positions the product not as just another frozen treat, but as a cultural artefact.
A symbol of boiling-hot pavement, backyard sprinklers, sand sticking to your sunscreen, and driving home from the beach with the windows down because the air con takes ten minutes to kick in. It trades in shared memory, not global aspiration. And calling the platform ‘Classic’ is more than a brand line, but a statement: Drumstick is part of who we are.
The humour, too, is the kind that does not translate internationally, and that’s precisely the point. All of these examples are ads written by people, my peers, who grew up here, for people who grew up here.
Australianism is comfort, not costume
When a brand leans openly into Australian settings, references, humour or speech, it allows young people to express: This is my world. Not a borrowed world, not a global template, not marketing spin, but mine.
And in a period where young Australians are navigating instability such as economic uncertainty, digital overwhelm, and the collapse of old institutions, this cultural familiarity is comforting.
The brands succeeding aren’t the ones trying to appear global, they’re the ones unafraid to be unmistakably Australian.
Not a costume, not a stereotype, but a clear cultural identity. Because for young Australians, authenticity isn’t a buzzword, it’s a cultural refuge. And nothing feels more authentic right now than home.