Following the presentation by Ayoade Omolola, Strategy Lead at X3M Ideas of the agency’s groundbreaking Gen Z Drinking Report to stakeholders at the Lagos Marriott Hotel Ikeja last Friday, attention shifted from the data itself to why X3M Ideas decided to undertake such an ambitious consumer intelligence study in the first place.
The answer, provided by Steve Babaeko, Chief Executive Officer and Chief Creative Officer of X3M Ideas, offered insights into how one of Africa’s leading independent agencies is redefining the relationship between creativity and research.
“We are in the creative business,” Babaeko told journalists during a media interaction following the presentation. “But the way creativity works is that creativity is a structure, and it does not stand on nothingness. The foundation on which good creativity stands is market intelligence, research and insight.”
For Babaeko, the objective is to ensure that X3M’s insight and research teams engage with markets continuously, generating proprietary intelligence that helps clients make more informed decisions, allocate budgets more effectively and build strategies rooted in real consumer understanding..
“We felt that our insight department and research department should be engaging and interrogating the market on a frequent basis,” he said. “The purpose is to come up with deep insights that will help clients make forecasts, appropriate budgets, solve some of their challenges and, most importantly, provide a much more solid foundation on which we can direct even more brilliant creative.”
That ambition found its fullest expression yet in the Gen Z Drinking Report, a first-of-its-kind study that examines how Nigerian Gen Z consumers are reshaping the alcohol and broader beverage landscape. Presented by Omolola to a room filled with marketers, strategists, beverage executives and members of the media, the report drew from a nationwide online survey of 1,015 respondents aged 18 to 28 and two focus group discussions involving 15 participants from urban and semi-urban Lagos, bringing the total number of respondents to 1,030.
The study set out to answer a question that has become increasingly relevant to alcohol manufacturers and marketers globally: are Gen Z consumers drinking less? Its findings suggest that the question itself may be too simplistic.
According to the report, 74.3 per cent of Nigerian Gen Z respondents drink rarely or occasionally, with 40.1 per cent saying they drink only “once in a blue moon” and 34.2 per cent consuming alcohol just one to three times a month. More than half, 56.2 per cent, said their alcohol consumption had declined over the past two years, while only 14 per cent reported drinking more.
Yet the research makes clear that this is not a about abstinence. Rather, it is a story of intentionality. Nigerian Gen Z consumers are still drinking, but doing so more selectively, more socially and with greater emphasis on taste, wellness, identity and shared experiences.
For Babaeko, these kinds of insights show why agencies must be willing to challenge assumptions rather than accept conventional wisdom. X3M Ideas works with alcohol brands, giving the agency a direct interest in understanding shifts in consumer behaviour. But beyond client needs, Babaeko said the team was motivated by the many “urban legends” surrounding Gen Z.
“There has been so much hearsay about Gen Zs, like what they do and what they don’t do,” he said. “We felt that instead of relying on assumptions, we should go and interrogate these opinions and see whether there is any truth or substance to them.”
The findings delivered several surprises, none more striking than the rise of wine as Gen Z’s preferred alcoholic beverage. Wine accounted for 47 per cent of overall consumption and 42.4 per cent of purchases, outpacing vodka and whiskey. “They say Gen Z people drink more wine,” Babaeko said, reflecting on one of the report’s most unexpected conclusions. “I didn’t see that coming.”
“At X3M, we are not an agency that is going to take hook, line and sinker any material that the client gives us,” he said. “We want to be able to say that we did our own study and what we found is slightly different.” While acknowledging that multinational clients often commission far larger and more statistically intensive studies, Babaeko believes agencies still have a responsibility to conduct their own investigations, even within limited budgets.
“Within the scope of what our project can accommodate, we want to interrogate some of the assumptions that are rife in the marketplace,” he said. “I think this report has done that brilliantly.”
If Babaeko articulated the strategic rationale, Omolola provided insight into the determination and curiosity that brought the report to life. Speaking with journalists after the event, the Strategy Lead described the project as both intellectually demanding and deeply rewarding.
“It was easy at first, then it started getting hard,” he said, recalling the extensive work required not only to conduct the research but also to shape how the findings would be presented to the world. “But it was worth it. It definitely was worth it.”
For Omolola, the project began with a simple act of immersion. Before formalising the study, he and the team visited the University of Lagos and engaged directly with students to understand their attitudes and lifestyles firsthand.
Although the launch event prioritised X3M’s core clients, including major players in the brewing industry, he emphasised that the report is available to the broader market and intended to spark collaboration.
“This report is public for everyone. Anyone interested in getting it can send us an email and we can collaborate together.”