The Instagram Generation Grew Up: What Millennial and Older Gen Z Brand Loyalty Looks Like Now

The cohort that drove Instagram's growth is now in its late twenties and thirties. Their brand relationships have matured. Their scepticism of performative marketing has deepened.

The 28-38 cohort in 2025 occupies a specific economic and cultural position that makes them the most commercially valuable consumer segment in the UK. They have reached the point of maximum discretionary income growth combined with maximum social influence over the consumer decisions of younger peers. They are simultaneously spending more and being listened to more than at any previous point in their consumer lives.

Their relationship with brand content has evolved significantly from their formative years as social media users. They are acutely sensitive to inauthenticity, having watched the entire cycle of social media marketing from novelty to saturation. They can identify performative brand behaviour, the forced diversity, the hollow purpose statements, the influencer content that is obviously paid, with a speed and accuracy that younger consumers have not yet developed.

What this cohort responds to is specificity. Not generic quality claims but specific demonstrations of knowledge and care. A brand that knows specifically what a 33-year-old Manchester professional wants from a Thursday evening, and has created something that delivers precisely that, has communicated something that a broad awareness campaign cannot. Specificity is the new luxury signal for this demographic.

The experience economy orientation of this cohort is also well-established and accelerating. They have reached the age at which spending on experiences rather than objects has become a deliberate lifestyle expression rather than a youthful preference. The brand that creates the experiences they value earns a relationship that no product brand can replicate.

That's the crowd a lot of our formats are built for. People in Manchester who want to meet others and do something a bit better than the usual night out, without paying a fortune for it.