The bubbles have settled after UTA‘s ZCON event and new Gen Z-taught lessons have, hopefully, been learned by old-guard executives looking to team with the next wave of movers and shakers in media.
And plans have already started for ZCON 2026 — and more.
“This doesn’t only have to live at ZCON. This idea that we need to be intergenerationally, intersectionally platforming creative voices and connecting brands to culture can exist everywhere, and ought to exist everywhere,” Ziad Ahmed, head of UTA Next Gen, told Variety as the two-day event, which ran Oct.22-23 at The Preserve in Hollywood, concluded. “And that UTA can really be this supercharged engine to accelerate that transformation in the marketplace is something that we’re really excited about, and why we chose to call UTA home. I think it says so much about UTA as a company that they’ve not only let us, but actively really encouraged us and helped us, continue to build ZCON in the same vision of what it has always been. And so we’re just excited to carry forward that energy.”
Sonali Ohrie and Nick Dybel
Sonali Ohrie and Nick Dybel
As to how other generations are responding to the event, Ahmed notes “my boss just called me, [UTA NY chief] Mr. Julian Jacobs, and was like, ‘This was everything and more. And I want to never stop doing this.’” “And folks of all generations and titles and backgrounds have given us that encouragement,” he says. “I think that it’s less about, for me, this one moment that’s two days in October and more about, what is this movement? And what is this energy, and how do we scale it? Because I think we all need it right now.”
JUV Consulting, the company behind ZCON and more Gen Z-centered events and projects, was acquired by UTA’s marketing division a year and a half ago as part of the Hollywood talent agency’s efforts to focus more on the Gen Z audience in its entertainment and marketing partnerships.
Sonali Ohrie and Nick Dybel
Sonali Ohrie and Nick Dybel
This year, ZCON teamed up with brands including Cosmopolitan and Coach, among others, as it hosted sessions and panels exploring how Hollywood is evolving, Gen Z’s relationship with beauty, health and Wellness, digital identity, and cultural and social impact.
Participating talent included Adam Faze, Hannah Broadhurst, Auli’i Cravalho, Chandler Kinney, Josie Totah, Michael Cimino, Ezra Frech, Claire Almond, Austin Maguire, Olandria, Anthony Po, Umar Issa, Cami Téllez, Ramisha Sattar, Nia Sioux, Zaya Perysian, Cheyenne Hunt, Andrew Chang, Ella Emhoff and Josh Colley.
“I think there’s so many different platforms and stages that are trying to accomplish this in a lot of ways, and having similar conversations that we’re having at ZCON,” Olivia Frary, executive at UTA Next Gen, said. “But the feedback that we always get is that this just feels so authentic, and that this is truly a place where everyone is showing up as their true self, and no one is afraid to dance or belt their heart out or make a new friend and say hi to someone, give someone a compliment — hula hoop! We’re asking people to do pretty crazy things when they’re well-seasoned executives and folks with amazing careers who usually are in offices and on emails.”
Sonali Ohrie and Nick Dybel
Sonali Ohrie and Nick Dybel
Ahmed added: “And they really lean in and they do it with us!”
Frary says the organizers behind ZCON looks to “lead by example and create a space that folks feel comfortable and safe doing that in.”
“What we constantly are hearing and what we want to be able to accomplish is to create more spaces that feel that way and give people of all walks of life and all generations more permission to be their true self and have these types of experiences — but also come away feeling the way that people feel when they walk out of ZCON,” she said.
