Andres Zambrano Bravo is a Berlin-based freelance journalist who loves to ask why. He loves puzzles and seeks answers to social phenomena and trends, helping researchers, companies, and artists to also find their voice along the way. When not annoying people with questions, you can find him spinning records in one of Berlin’s smoky venues.

People are taking a patchwork approach to self-expression to feel like they have control over how their identity is generated. Yet as individual expression becomes more mutable and mistrust in social systems abounds, there’s one place above all that people are seeking integrity and guidance: brands.

Reality Split

Once a signifier of luxury or novelty, custom products and services are now within reach of the everyday consumer, thanks to the rise of artificial intelligence, algorithm-led platforms, and the COVID-era digitisation boom. Today, everyone wants to be the main character of their brand experience. 

Personal Worlds

Noam Auerbach is a product development and growth expert based in Berlin. As well as running PRYO, his own consulting firm, Noam has a background at Soundcloud, and has worked with Berlin-based startups for over 10 years. At the moment Noam leads product development at Spark Network.

Gen Y (born 1982-1996)

Gen Z (born 1997-2010)

Germany

Eating and Drinking

Technology

Business Insider

EU Startups

Interview with Noam Auerbach conducted by the author

McKinsey & Company

Interview with Auerbach conducted by the author

eCommerce

BusinessWire

German pizza brand Milano Vice works with professional kitchens to prepare and deliver pizzas directly to people’s homes, offering a novel concept for digital food delivery services – and one that is appealing to Gen Y and Z. What are the key learnings from its innovative approach to food delivery?