Why The Ordinary wins
A Gen Z marketing example in radical transparency
Every brand says they are authentic. Almost none of them act like it.
Gen Z has heard the word “authentic” so many times it has become meaningless. They have seen brands claim transparency while hiding ingredients. They have watched companies promise sustainability while greenwashing. They have been told “we hear you” by social media managers who clearly don’t.
The brands actually winning Gen Z trust are not talking about authenticity. They are demonstrating it. And when it comes to Gen Z marketing examples, no brand demonstrates it better than The Ordinary.
What makes The Ordinary a standout
No lifestyle imagery. No aspirational messaging. No celebrity face. Just products with clinical packaging that lists every active ingredient, the percentage and what it does.
The brand’s entire identity is radical transparency. You are not buying a feeling. You are buying a formula. And because the formula is visible, you can evaluate it, research it and decide if it is right for you.
The Ordinary ranks #6 globally in our Gen Z Brand Radar. Ahead of Spotify, Amazon and Disney. A $7 skincare product outperforming some of the most recognizable brands on earth.
In our six conversation types framework, The Ordinary dominates The Verdict, the space where Gen Z decides whether a brand is worth trusting. When we ran a live Gen Z panel to stress-test our findings, one panelist called out The Ordinary’s before-and-after proof specifically. They show results with the same people, he said. Not different people trying to make it look like something it is not.
That is not brand perception. That is earned credibility.
Why radical transparency resonates
Gen Z grew up with Google. They research everything. They read reviews, watch comparison videos and crowdsource opinions in group chats before buying.
A brand that hides information is a brand that has something to hide. A brand that shows everything is a brand that trusts you to make your own decision.
This is a different relationship than previous generations had with brands:
- Less aspiration, more information
- Less “this brand makes me feel cool,” more “this brand gives me what I need to choose well”
- Less mystique, more proof
The Ordinary succeeded because it aligned its entire brand around this insight. Gen Z does not want to be sold to. They want to be informed.
The cost of vague claims
The flip side is brutal. Brands that make big promises without evidence get taken apart.
Gen Z will screenshot your claims and fact-check them. They will find the Reddit thread debunking your ingredient list. They will post TikToks calling out the gap between your marketing and your reality.
This is not cynicism, it’s pattern recognition. They have been misled enough times that verification is automatic.
This is why The Ordinary works and so many other brands fail at this. The Ordinary made a bet that showing everything would build more trust than carefully managing what people see. They were right.
How to apply this beyond Beauty
The Ordinary’s approach is not limited to skincare. The principle applies anywhere.
- Show your sourcing
- Show your pricing logic
- Show your manufacturing process
- Show the data behind your claims
- Show the trade-offs you made and why
This feels risky. What if competitors copy you? What if customers don’t like what they see?
Maybe. But the alternative is vague promises that Gen Z does not believe anyway. The brands gaining ground are the ones willing to be seen clearly.
The tracking implication
Traditional brand trackers measure perception. Do people think your brand is trustworthy? Do they associate it with quality?
But perception can lag reality. A brand can score highly on trust based on past reputation while current customers are quietly losing faith.
Tracking conversation in The Verdict specifically, where credibility is tested publicly and in real time, shows you whether your proof is landing. Whether your claims are believed. Whether the gap between what you promise and what you deliver is widening or closing.
The Ordinary performs well on both traditional tracking and conversation-level analysis. That alignment is rare. Most brands have a gap between how they are perceived in surveys and how they are discussed in organic conversation.
Closing that gap is the work. The Ordinary shows it is possible.
Download the full Gen Z research report
The Gen Z Brand Radar includes:
- Complete rankings: Global Top 100, US Top 80, UK Top 68
- Scoring across six conversation types for every brand
- Analysis of what’s driving the winners and what’s missing
- US and UK deep dives with brand-level case studies
- Methodology and data sources
Explore our Gen Z research series
How we conducted this Gen Z research
The Gen Z Brand Radar uses our Ideas methodology, which combines:
- Proprietary data lake. Over 50 million organic signals from social, search and digital behavior across platforms including TikTok, Instagram, Reddit and Discord. What Gen Z says and does when no one’s asking.
- Custom AI models. Brands scored on a composite of conversation volume, sentiment and momentum within each conversation type. Ranked by Strength (average percentile score, weighted 60%) and Breadth (number of conversation types a brand appears in, weighted 40%).
- Human insight consultancy. Our team interprets the patterns and translates them into strategic recommendations.
This approach surfaces signals traditional research misses. Social listening requires knowing what to look for. Surveys capture responses to your questions, not organic behavior. Our Gen Z research captures what’s actually happening.
