Gen Z, Viral Trends and the Rise of “Trend Loyalty”

Hi Rebecca,

Thanks again for your interest in a sneak peek at the fifth annual Customer Loyalty Index. We hope the doughnuts hit the spot!

Your personalised blog is below, including a unique stat that we haven’t shared with anyone else:

• One in eight Gen Z shoppers would abandon a brand if it worked with an influencer they don’t support

Now — let’s dive into the CLI, and take a look at how brand loyalty is changing for businesses of all sizes…

If you have spent any time at all on TikTok, you’ll know just how fast a trend can take off and just how quickly it can fade. One minute it’s Stanley cups, the next it’s Labubus.

For marketers, keeping up with that pace is all about understanding how these moments are reshaping loyalty itself. And social media is further fuelling this change — they’re starting to reach shoppers no matter where they are, and no matter which brands they were once loyal to.

That’s what this year’s Customer Loyalty Index (CLI) revealed. Now in its fifth year, the report shows that the age of lifelong brand devotion is slowing, revealing that ‘True Loyalty’ has failed to rise in the UK for the first time ever.

Instead, a new loyalty type is taking over: Trend Loyalty.

Trend Loyalty, describes the fast-moving, emotionally charged allegiance that comes from viral moments rather than long-term relationships. Think of it as loyalty that arrives overnight and can disappear just as fast.

Among Gen Z, the effect is striking. Nearly half (43%) admit to buying a product purely because it was trending on social media – almost double the rate of the average shopper. A quarter even say they’ll be less loyal to a brand if a trending product disappoints.

That’s a fast-evolving shift from the slow-burn loyalty we’re used to seeing, built up over years of trust and consistency.

The new research also shows that:

• 45% of Gen Z are more likely to trust a product if it goes viral, compared to just 22% of the average shopper
• 33% trust TikTok and social trends more than ads, websites, or brand reviews
• 41% have bought products purely because an influencer promoted them
• 64% say they’re loyal to products, not brands.

For marketers, this shift is both a challenge and an opportunity. Campaigns built around viral products often start with a layer of credibility before the first ad is even served but the hype doesn’t last long.

To turn that initial spark into something sustainable, you need tools that can move as fast as your customers do.

That means leveraging AI to act  in real time, staying one step ahead of what customers want, even as their preferences shift hour by hour. That is how you build meaningful interactions and transform fleeting trends back into long term True Loyalty.

We’ve already seen how this works in practice. Krispy Kreme is a standout example. By partnering with SAP Emarsys to predict when and how customers wanted to hear from them, the brand lifted leads by 53% and delivered more than 20 personalised moments a year. Even something as simple as a doughnut run became a loyalty-building exercise.

Trend loyalty shows how fast Gen Z can flip from interest to indifference. In a world of shifting values and viral moments, success depends on connected data and real-time personalisation.

For brands, the race is on: capture attention instantly, then sustain it with meaningful, personalised experiences that outlast the hype.

As a marketer, staying ahead means connecting data, applying predictive AI, and orchestrating campaigns across every channel—turning cultural moments into long-term loyalty.

Download the full CLI 2025 report here for more insights.