In a year filled with shifting changes across the retail landscape, Gen Z research and strategy firm DCDX’s latest report has compiled a report of the top 25 “magnetic brands” of 2024 — which is defined as brands that are “attracting consumers, controlling their own ecosystems, driving pricing power, fueling innovation and distancing themselves from competitors.”
The top brands have been given a “Gen Z score,” a ranking out of 100 that the company creates by analyzing a brand’s engagement and consistency of organic user-generated content, or UGC, on TikTok. DCDX said UGCs are the most important metric for brands today, as consumers reported that are four times more likely to be influenced by UGC versus an influencer post — especially as this younger demographic continues to be more aware of the power they hold to shape the culture.
In today’s digital-first landscape brands who can create, not just tap into the cultural zeitgeist and prompt UGCs with less biased content will continue to rank supreme by Gen Z. The top percentage of the UGC content that made up the largest part of the conversation share on the social media platform was content that tapped into Internet culture — with a major amount of relatable jokes, fan cams and memes in the constantly shifting online trends that tapped into raw creativity performing the best.
“The top brands in this year’s rankings let culture take the wheel, enabling their communities and fans to shape the narrative around them — ultimately fueling organic momentum and excitement,” said Andrew Roth, founder and chief executive officer of DCDX. “These brands did not chase the zeitgeist, they created it.”
Some notable shifts on the list include the NFL receiving a 13-place increase — moving up from its 27th place last year to the 14th slot this year. Walmart also received a 12-place place rise — now sitting at 12th place versus 24th in 2023.
Other brands who dropped down in comparison to last year include Skims, who is now down 28 places at 42nd versus 14th last year and Nike descent 21 places to 32nd place in 2024 versus its 11th slot in 2023. The report also found that Samsung, Audi, Tesla, Charlotte Tilbury and Temu all fell just short of making the top 25 list.
Roth said that some surprising findings from this year’s ranking include ChatGPT beating Google, Nike falling out of the report’s top 25 list, Starbucks dropping 10 spots in the ranking and the prominence of chicken reflected on the list.
“While these ‘shockers’ may surprise, they reflect the genuine movement of culture in the previous year — away from manufactured and ‘protected’ images — to community-driven brands that are not just relevant, but resonant with the behaviors of the modern and young consumer,” Roth explained.
Looking ahead to 2025, which DCDX predicts will be a year filled with decision-making with Gen Z taking a more active presence in brands’ place in the cultural conversation, Roth said that brands will take two paths to increase their appeal to the demographic: chase or long-term thinking. He notes that the first will result in a lack of brand identity with “sameness for brands all chasing the same trends, language and cultural moments.” And the latter, and more rewarding decision-making route, will focus on making “strategic, bold and unwavering investments in a vision — focused not on what is trending but why.”
Here are DCDX’s top 25 brands by engagement and consistency of organic UGC on TikTok and their Gen Z score out of 100.
