• by Elisa Becker , January 9, 2026

I’ll admit it: I used to love personas. I’d spend hours crafting profiles like “Lauren, the 39-year-old suburban mom who buys oat milk on Tuesdays” and feel like I’d cracked the code of human behavior. It felt smart, surgical, genius even. But now I’m cringing thinking about it.

In hindsight, we were kidding ourselves. Those personas were rarely as useful in the wild as they were in the pitch deck. And when the industry got tired of micro-targeting fatigue, we swung hard in the opposite direction: lumping millions of people into generational buckets.

Suddenly, whole campaigns were built on clichés like “Gen Z loves authenticity” or “Boomers don’t get tech.” It’s a clean shortcut, sure—but at best it creates watered-down work, and at worst it alienates the very people we’re trying to reach.

The Myth of Generational Homogeneity

Take millennials. At age 38, I’m one. But I’m a remarried city-dweller with no kids on the horizon, while most of my closest millennial contemporaries live in the suburbs, juggle kids’ schedules, and spend their weekends on baseball diamonds and trampoline parks. Same “generation.” Diverging priorities and buying behaviors.

That’s the problem. When we treat a generation as a monolith, we erase the nuances that actually matter. We end up with one-size-fits-none marketing -- and waste money chasing a phantom audience that doesn’t exist.

Culture already proves this. Gaming is a $200-billion industry spanning teenagers to retirees, with the average gamer now 34. Pickleball went from a retiree stereotype to the fastest-growing sport in America, played by college kids, mid-career professionals, and retirees alike. Passions don’t stay locked in one generation.

If marketers ignore that, we’re not just missing the mark, we’re leaving money on the table.

Beyond Generations: What Really Connects People

The strongest connections today are happening across age lines. A 22-year-old and a 62-year-old can bond more over pickleball, side hustles, or the same Discord community than with anyone who just shares their birth year.

The communities driving culture right now are age-agnostic: BookTok, fantasy football leagues, craft mocktail clubs. They’re defined by what people care about and how they show up.

And when brands show they “get it,” they don’t just gain relevance. They create belonging. That’s a stronger currency than generational cool points.

A New Playbook: Beyond Birth Year Buckets

Before your next brief, strike “Gen Z” from the target audience slide. Replace it with a passion, mindset, or habit.