#IndieThinking: How to Connect With GenZalpha by Creating Space to Co-Create with Brands

Resin Lab breaks the mold for brands wanting to connect with young creatives and consumers

Individually, Christian Stein and Raphael McMaster had built impressive careers in the agency world, navigating global markets and working with major brands. By 2022, however, Stein decided to leave that world behind to pursue his vision. He founded Stone Owl, a brand strategy consulting company, and relocated to Hermosa Beach, California, where his idea for something new began to take shape. He wanted to create a space where brands could connect with younger generations, co-create with them, and ideate meaningfully.

During this time, he met McMaster, a kindred spirit who had worked with companies representing action sports like snowboarding and skateboarding. He did a stint at CAA before making a pivotal career change focused on purpose and transformation. He founded Resin and Indivisible Arts, a nonprofit with a powerful message: unity and creativity. Their mission was to support youth through art and consciousness practices, nurturing emotional resilience and self-expression in a world that often left young people feeling disconnected.

The duo’s connection sparked conversations about their shared goals. They saw a need to bridge the gap between brands and the emerging Gen Z and Gen Alpha generations, who had unique ways of thinking, creating, and consuming. This was the genesis of their new venture, Resin, an art studio and creative lab.

Another marketing “thing?” Hardly

Resin Lab isn’t just another marketing “thing”; it’s a creative community laboratory. At its core, it aims to help brands understand and engage with the youngest generations by tapping into their creative processes. Stein had witnessed this firsthand when his son participated in a summer program at McMaster’s center and found that within just one week, his son’s creativity had blossomed in ways he hadn’t anticipated. That experience solidified Stein’s belief in directly engaging young minds.

Stein and McMaster told IAN that brands need to evolve to stay relevant, especially with Gen Alpha, a group born into a world shaped by technology and social change, especially given this generation alone has immense spending power—$50 billion a year’s worth. They also know that brands that want to thrive in the future need to connect with these young consumers and eschew traditional marketing approaches that wouldn’t work given Gen Z and Gen Alpha’s deep skepticism of anything that feels “inauthentic”—they crave authenticity, creativity, and a sense of purpose.

This is where Resin Lab offers something different. The lab invited brands to co-create directly with the youth, allowing them to gather genuine, qualitative feedback and collaborate with young creators on new products and marketing strategies. Whether a sneaker brand was looking to launch a new line or a beauty company wanted fresh ideas for digital marketing, Resin Lab offered a platform for innovation powered by the voices of the next generation.

“If you’re a marketer and you want your brand to be not just future proof, but relevant in five, seven, ten years…I think it’s absolutely paramount that you focus on winning with this audience,” said Stein. “And to do that, you need to actually engage with them.”

Building a movement

The space reflected its purpose—two blocks from the beach in Hermosa, it features everything from art studios to music spaces where young people can freely express themselves. It’s a place where brands can come, collaborate, and leave with insights that go beyond typical market research. By working with these young creatives, marketers gain access to cutting-edge ideas and build lasting relationships with tomorrow’s trendsetters.

For Stein and McMaster, Resin Lab is more than a business venture; it is a movement. They believe in the power of creativity to change lives and see how brands can support this change. Their hope is to create a blueprint that could be replicated in communities across the country, starting with the South Bay—a microcosm of Los Angeles that embodies the area’s diversity and cultural richness.

To the duo, Resin Lab is the intersection of purpose and commerce—giving brands the tools to stay relevant while offering the next generation the opportunity to shape the world they would inherit. Looking ahead, they know they’re onto something truly transformative—a space where creativity, authenticity, and community could drive meaningful change.

“It doesn’t matter who you are, where you’re from, what you do, or who you love,” said McMaster of the community the team has built and fostered. “Mental health, and that journey from the head to the heart, from consciousness to creativity, is a journey that we’re all on, and when we walk that path together, it’s sure as heck a lot more fun, a lot more supportive, [and] a lot more possible.”