TikTok is the new Google and Gen Z are sick of ‘basic’ online branded content: OK COOL 2025 Trend Report
TikTok has become the new Google for Gen Z and Gen Alpha, and young people are getting sick of “basic” branded content online, according to global creative network OK COOL’s 2025 Trend Report.
The annual report, which delves into social trends and how they shape culture, has found that 75% of users feel educated when using TikTok, with 72% using it as their main search function over Google, and 79% learning new skills from content on the app.
Gen Z and Gen Alpha are more open to sharing information and reshaping how they do so. With gatekeeping being described as “boomer coded”, the report found that content is the anti-elitist entry to a world of information and discovery.
According to OK COOL, young people are reclaiming the power, rewriting the narrative and bypassing the structures and ideals that have reduced or excluded them until now.
Meanwhile, the 2025 Trend Report also found that brands need to be adding to the conversation, rather than interrupting to repeat what has already been said.
Brands should create a content personality that “does something” and only create social-first content when their input is authentic and adds value.
Gen Z and Gen Alpha want to know brands more personally and how they align with their audiences – and according to the report, the audience can “smell the desperation” when brands are trying too hard, being unauthentic or copying the content of others.
Some brands doing it right – according to OK COOL – include water brand Liquid Death, the Paralympics, and Scrub Daddy.
With Liquid Death blending low-lift, spontaneous content with polished, high-effort studio productions that have a native narrative, it can tell a cohesive and compelling story of chaos, truly connecting to its audience.
Whereas Scrub Daddy has made cleaning cool and relevant, with crazy brand collaborations and humorous content that cuts through.
Meanwhile, the Paralympics drove conversation amongst audiences with a comedic strategy on TikTok, all while breaking down stereotypes in a “highly native and hilariously bold” way.
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Lauren McNamara is a freelance journalist contributing to Mumbrella. She previously spent three years at the publication, most recently as the associate editor. She first joined in 2022 after completing a Bachelor of Communications (Journalism) at UTS. She left her staff role at Mumbrella in August 2025.
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