Shadowing Practice: Why Brands Are Getting So Weird Online - Learn English Speaking with Video
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You may have noticed brands are getting weirder online.
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They're joking with customers in the comments, jumping on memes and internet trends, and sometimes they're behaving more like influencers than actual companies.
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Food & Bev specifically, everyone tries to make all their imagery and everything look so delicious.
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We were doing things that were completely the opposite, like putting pickles in condoms and putting pickles on stilettos and things like that.
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It created a reaction.
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Gen Z's growing spending power is helping drive that shift.
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Gen Z, who's between the ages of 14 and 29, is projected to become the largest, wealthiest and highest spending generation in history.
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Even though many Gen Zers are still in school or early in their careers, they're already spending 16 % more than millennials did at the same age, adjusted for inflation.
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And Gen Z's spending power is only expected to grow as time goes on.
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Gen Z consumers are expected to spend a total of $12 trillion by the end of 2026.
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By 2036, that amount is projected to grow to over $22 trillion, surpassing Boomer's projected spending in the same time period.
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Brands that are really focusing on Gen Zs are in it for the long game, right?
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They know this generation is going to be gaining significant wealth, not only through, as we talked about,
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career progression, income progression, but also through pass on of generational wealth.
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But they're also highly influential.
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So if I'm a retailer or a brand, I want to focus on households that have those young consumers as well
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because even though they may not show up right in terms
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of they're the ones spending the money they're influencing those those decisions
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and so it's just more reason to really focus on
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that consumer as a result brands are changing how they look sound
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and even behave online to cater to an audience
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that has grown up bombarded by social media
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and advertisements historical tactics of retail have been about i have this product i'm going to tell you the features
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and function of this product or i'm going to tell you how much it costs or how much it's on sale
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that's not what gen z's are buying gen z gen z's
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are buying the cultural around those products you just can't get
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a gen z's attention you have to get this permission to be part of their story
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and that permission is somewhat granted through not only them
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but their peers and the interaction of how you show up in their social media circles in ways
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that are authentic and in ways that help them express who they are.
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Few companies have embraced that strategy quite like Duolingo.
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The digital education platform gained massive attention through its green owl mascot duo and its often chaotic social media presence.
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All the girls will go loca.
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Loca.
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All the girls will go loca.
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Loca.
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But its strategy wasn't even originally designed to appeal to Gen Z.
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Duolingo has sort of built over time this really authentic voice
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that frankly accidentally started speaking to Gen Z
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and early on actually we discovered
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that sending push notifications from the voice of duo our mascot
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that were like let's just say very mildly threatening was a
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really effective way to get people to learn hello you owe me money the internet kind of jumped on this
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and made their own memes based on the notifications and from
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that the duo mascot and all of his antics
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and social media were born today the company has built an entire marketing strategy around participating in internet culture
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but according to chan gen z branding isn't quite as simple as just copying the latest meme
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or learning the right slang there's like nothing less gen z than presenting a deck of like, here's how we're going to reach Gen Z.
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I try to resist codifying it too much, because I think really what it is, is that it should be something that you kind of entrust a strong creative team with,
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hopefully that is made up of Gen Z.
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But if I were to codify it, I think there's three things.
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Yes, one is like, be in conversation with the community, you should be participating with your audience and not just kind of preaching at them.
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Two is I think moving at the speed of culture
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so uh like gen z is more media savvy i think than any generation
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that has come before and is very aware of how much they're being marketed to
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and so you have to sort of jump into conversations
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that are already happening versus like just trying to make your own moment happen
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and then lastly sense of humor don't take yourself too seriously i think there's a real awareness
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that like behind every brand on social media is a social media manager like posting
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and trying to come up with ideas and winking at
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that is sort of like a self -awareness that I think Gen Z really appreciates.
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According to Duolingo, this type of marketing has brought in real results.
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Yes, it's like great to get millions of organic views on social media,
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but virality ultimately is meant to help drive the business and get more learners on the app to like accomplish our mission.
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And so we do look beyond the views and actually see
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that social media is a big driver of new user growth in the app, which we're really proud of.
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It's not just established companies that are leaning into these Gen Z branding methods.
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Young startup founders don't really have to learn how Gen Z communicates because they're Gen Zers themselves.
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Take Good Girl Snacks, for instance.
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It was founded by two Gen Z entrepreneurs, and their flagship product has a very Gen Z name.
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It's called Hot Girl Pickles.
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We always kind of want people to feel like our brand is approachable.
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So we speak to people like they're our best friends.
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A lot of our content and behind the scenes kind of feels like we're on FaceTime, which, again, wasn't super on purpose.
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It's just what felt natural to us being Gen Z.
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That young audience on social media has helped the company grow without having to spend so much on traditional marketing.
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Well, we post every single day on social media and we have for three years.
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So we've been able to maintain for the majority of those three years a zero dollar CAC
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because we didn't have to run ads.
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We didn't have to pay influencers.
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All of our sales were coming from our own social media and our own short form content.
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So, yeah, that was a huge win for us and we were able to save a ton of money.
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We didn't have to raise as much money, things like that.
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The founders say the key to their success was understanding how Gen Z wants and expects brands to communicate.
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I think with Gen Z, we're a generation that really hates being advertised to in a very overt way.
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And so I think the more you can talk about your product and talk about your brand in just a very natural, authentic way, the more it'll resonate with people.
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Experts say that's why successful Gen Z branding isn't technically about a particular look or feel.
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It's about a brand's ability to convince a customer
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that using their products can help them express part of their identity to other people.
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The best Gen Z brands announce to us that they are Gen Z brands by being, in terms of their ethos,
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less like a billboard and more like a box of identity Legos.
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And it really is very clear that they're going to try to attempt to, in terms of how they're talking to Gen Zers, help these Gen Zers communicate something,
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whether it be, hey, I am creative, I'm iconic, I'm environmentally aware, health conscious, rebellious, inclusive, culturally informed,
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or, you know, just simply, hey, I'm in on this joke.
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Now, eventually, Gen Z is not going to be the youngest generations of consumers anymore.
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Gen Alpha is already beginning to develop their own unique tastes, senses of humor, and online culture.
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Instead, the biggest lesson from learning how to market to Gen Z may stick around longer.
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The brands
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that learn how to successfully interact with consumers instead of simply
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marketing to them may be better prepared to work with whatever generation comes next.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Why Brands Are Getting So Weird Online”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: gen, brand, spending, generation, product. This video has 100 sentences and 1412 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:55. The speaker talks at a natural 178 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 80% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| locum noun | /ˈləʊkəm/ | A period working as a locum tenens. |
| pickle noun | /ˈpɪkəl/ | A cucumber preserved in a solution, usually a brine or a vinegar syrup. |
| mascot noun | /ˈmæsˌkɑːt/ | Something thought to bring good luck. |
| meme noun | /miːm/ | Any unit of (originally cultural) information, such as a practice or idea, that is transmitted verbally or by repeated action from one mind to another in a… |
| authentic adjective | /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/ | Of the same origin as claimed; genuine. |
| codify verb | /ˈkɑ.dɪˌfaɪ/ | To reduce to a code, to arrange into a code. |
| influencer noun | /ˈɪnflu.ənsə(ɹ)/ | A person who or a thing which influences. |
| humour noun | /ˈhjuːmɚ/ | The quality of being amusing, comical, funny. |
| progression noun | /pɹəˈɡɹɛʃən/ | The act of moving from one thing to another. |
| notification noun | /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/ | The act of notifying. |
| behave verb | /bɪˈheɪv/ | To conduct (oneself) well, or in a given way; to conform. |
| approachable adjective | /əˈpɹəʊ.t͡ʃə.bəl/ | Easily approached; easy to talk to. |
| bombard verb | /ˌbɑmˈbɑɹd/ | To continuously attack something with bombs, artillery shells or other missiles or projectiles. |
| entrust verb | /ɪnˈtɹʌst/ | To trust to the care of. |
| environmentally adverb | In a manner affecting the environment. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come up with verb | To manage to produce, deliver, or present (something) by inventing, creating, thinking of, or obtaining it. |
| grow up verb | To mature and become an adult. |
| show up verb | To appear, arrive, or attend, especially suddenly or erratically. |
| stick around verb | To stay; to linger; to remain. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is projected · is only expected · are expected |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has grown · have been · have embraced |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 33 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, I'm, we're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “th” sounds: authentic /ɔˈθɛn.tɪk/, threaten /ˈθɹɛt.n̩/
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: progression /pɹəˈɡɹɛʃən/, notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/, flagship /ˈflæɡʃɪp/, accomplish /əˈkɑm.plɪʃ/, influential /ɪnflʊˈɛnʃəl/
- Long words — get the stress right: influencer /ˈɪnflu.ənsə(ɹ)/, notification /ˌnoʊtɪfɪˈkeɪʃn̩/, approachable /əˈpɹəʊ.t͡ʃə.bəl/, millennial /mɪˈlɛn.ɪ.əl/, advertisement /ˈædvɚˌtaɪzmənt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like locum, pickle, mascot.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.