Raul Rios, head of strategy at Saylor, has a problem with how agencies pitch demographics. After a decade watching marketers trap themselves in what he calls “demo jail,” the Stanford MBA thinks it’s time for a reality check.
Saylor just nabbed 2025 Ad Age Small Agency of the Year, and Rios‘s path there spans early Facebook internships and multicultural campaigns at Walton Isaacson for Lexus, McDonald’s and American Airlines. Now at the LA entertainment agency, he sees the same targeting mistakes repeating across briefs. Gen Z is pushing 30, but agencies still treat them like college freshmen discovering brands for the first time.
The latte problem
“Gen Z is almost 30. Can you believe that?” Rios says. The oldest members are approaching 28 with mortgages, kids and established careers. Yet he keeps seeing briefs that position them as cultural newcomers.
“Many briefs still treat them like they’re all on their first latte ever, like they’ve seen the world for the first time,” he explains. This creates what Rios calls “demo jail”—targeting so narrowly that marketers need a magnifying glass to see their audience.
According to Rios, brands that go broader and tap into culture can grow two to three times faster than those stuck in narrow demographic targeting.
McDonald’s gets it right
Rios points to McDonald’s adult Happy Meal comeback as proof that cultural moments beat demographic precision. Having worked on McDonald’s during his Walton Isaacson years, he watched the campaign generate 700% more social chatter and TikTok views surpassing 2 billion.
“Millennials got their nostalgia hit. Gen Alpha gets to meet the crew for the first time,” Rios notes. “That’s not an ad, that’s a cultural event.”
The success came from refusing demographic constraints. McDonald’s created something that resonated across generations through shared cultural understanding—the approach Saylor uses with entertainment clients like Disney+, Netflix and Prime Video.
The scale problem with hyper-targeting
Rios acknowledges the tension marketers face. Tools allow hyper-specific personalization for niche audiences, which works for growth initiatives. But scaling still requires talking to lots of people.
“Really good work that’s able to have maybe a bull’s eye, or maybe even several bulls eyes for various audiences, but still appeal to a larger group,” he explains. “That does a lot of lift for a marketer.”
The challenge is the extra work required, which explains why many marketers stick to familiar demographic approaches. But when executed properly, brands establish presence across generations and mindsets.
The chessboard approach
When clients cling to outdated targeting strategies, Rios recommends diplomatic precision. “You walk in with a chessboard, not a sledgehammer,” he says.
His approach involves running current plans alongside strategies built on behaviors and culture. Set clear metrics—incremental reach, cost per buyer, engagement—and let results guide the conversation.
Rios uses Coca-Cola’s “Share a Coke” campaign as an example. Personalized bottles with QR codes delivered a 20% lift in younger engagement while maintaining steady sales with older drinkers, plus single-digit bumps in test markets.
Busting the boomer wealth myth
Rios challenges one of the industry’s favorite statistics: that boomers hold over half the wealth but receive less than 10% of marketing budgets. His automotive experience tells a different story.
“When I would still look at the budget and the spend, a lot of it is still talking to this older audience,” Rios notes from his Lexus work. While agencies publicly focused on down-aging the brand, actual media allocation revealed where money really went.
He also points to brands like Aura ring featuring Gen X and boomer narratives in their advertising despite selling complex wearable technology. The stereotype that older demographics don’t understand tech doesn’t match reality.
Where to find real cultural insights
Rios identifies gaming platforms like Roblox as emerging territories where Gen Alpha encounters brands first. These consumers may not even be on Instagram yet, making traditional social targeting irrelevant.
“It’s really one of the first times they may encounter a brand is through a platform like Roblox,” he explains. The platform functions as social fabric where people create goods and develop subcultures.
Sneaker and streetwear culture offers another goldmine. Limited editions and surprise drops impact music, fashion and entertainment. Rios also points to fandoms, which mobilize faster than political movements and create content while buying merchandise at premiums.
The Taylor Swift phenomenon
Rios uses Taylor Swift’s tour launch as proof of fandom power. “That has percolated into like I am seeing these sparkly gold backgrounds every brand is sort of jumping on,” he notes.
Fandoms create content, run meetups and drive premium merchandise sales. “People at Harvard Business School are studying her, like that’s how good it is,” Rios adds.
This cultural pulse point approach mirrors Saylor‘s entertainment-first methodology with clients spanning Disney to Netflix.
The pitch deck problem
Rios offers crucial advice for independent agencies: stop leading with demographics. “Most independent agencies make the mistake of walking into a pitch with this tidy audience slide—it’s got the age, the demos, maybe a little cute stock photo.”
Instead, lead with cultural pulse points. Show marketers subcultures already sharing, spending or influencing around their brand. Connect the dots to brand DNA.
“You flip the conversation from ‘here’s who you’re trying to reach’ to ‘here’s the community that’s already ready to reach for you,'” Rios explains. This positions indie agencies to win with faster ideas, less red tape and deeper authenticity.
The real myth worth questioning
When asked about demographic assumptions that need challenging, Rios points to younger audiences rather than older ones.
“The fact that Gen Z and Gen Alpha are sort of new, kind of New Kids on the Block to brands and marketing, I think that’s total bullshit,” Rios explains.
“Gen Alpha is growing up with AI integrated into how they see the world,” he notes. “The ability to learn and ask questions and focus—how they engage with brands—is at a level I don’t even really understand yet.”
The dangerous assumption is treating digital natives as marketing newcomers rather than the sophisticated audience they represent.
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