While brands are still embracing minimalism, young people are indulging in maximalism.
The online world has become increasingly noisy. Videos are getting faster-paced, and their frames are filled with more and more elements. In a short video lasting just a few seconds, there seems to be an overwhelming amount of memes and information that would take minutes to digest.
If you've had this feeling, you might be sensing the pulse of the next wave of content.
Recently, YouTube released a report titled The Next Generation of Creative Culture and Trends. It points out that today's Generation Z, with their innate high digital literacy, are transcending the traditional role of consumers and becoming the core creators, curators, and cultural influencers of online content.
The report also introduces a concept - Creative Maximalism. It argues that this new creative language, characterized by dense information, co-creation and sharing, a meme culture, and a global perspective, is the native language of Generation Z and is reshaping the landscape of global pop culture.
Maximalism is not a new term. It originated in the fields of art and design and is known for its philosophy of opposing minimalism, embracing exuberance, and advocating "more is more."
From Gucci's fashion with clashing colors and layered patterns to Yayoi Kusama's dizzying Infinity Mirror Rooms, they are all representatives of maximalist aesthetics. It pursues a vibrant and almost excessive visual expression and experience.
Creative Maximalism is an extension of this spirit in the digital age. To truly understand this concept, we need to first look at the cultural characteristics and content preferences of Generation Z.
01 Cultural Characteristics and Content Preferences of Generation Z
Generation Z's attention has shifted from traditional TV to online-created content. Data shows that they spend 26% less time watching TV and movies than the average person, while spending 54% more time on social platforms and UGC.
In their eyes, mainstream media is no longer at the center of daily life. Instead, the creations and expressions of their peers better represent their real world.
This cultural confidence and influence are reflected in the data: 66% of 14 - 24-year-olds believe that their peers have a huge influence on online hot topics, while only 49% of adults (25 - 49 years old) hold the same view.
In other words, Generation Z not only believes in their own influence but is also actively defining the online popular context.
More importantly, their cultural cognition and daily behavior are deeply shaped by the Internet:
58% believe that their sense of humor is shaped by the Internet;
60% say they have learned habits, traditions, or rituals from online creators;
59% admit that their personal style is influenced by online content;
62% use the language learned from videos or online memes.
Behind these numbers is an unprecedented Internet-native culture. For them, the Internet is not a supplement to life but the main space for shaping identity, socializing, and aesthetic taste.
They grew up after global cultural phenomena such as YouTube, Minecraft, and "Gangnam Style."
YouTube has made them familiar with creator-led content from a young age. Games like Minecraft and Roblox have made them accustomed to free creation and socializing in open worlds. And the global popularity of "Gangnam Style" has made them witness the normalization of cross-cultural communication from an early age.
This means that the media environment they are in is borderless, customizable, and participatory. It is in such an environment that Creative Maximalism was born, becoming the best way for them to express themselves and connect with the world.
02 Characteristics of Creative Maximalism
Put simply, Creative Maximalism is a creative style that crams all the fun memes, special effects, and information onto the screen, making the content seem full of information and extremely lively. It has four core characteristics.
● Audiovisual Complexity:
Different from the slow-paced and single-threaded narratives of TV and movies in the past, Generation Z is used to the impact of full-screen information. From the complex interfaces of video games they've been exposed to since childhood, the fast-paced visual language of anime, to the easy-to-use editing tools in the short-video era, they are naturally adapted to this multi-input creative style.
The viral Skibidi Toilet on YouTube tells the absurd battle between toilet people and camera people. The videos are filled with fast-paced editing, grotesque images, and absurd settings. Seemingly chaotic, but it's also an expression of maximalism: the continuous stacking of information and exaggerated audiovisual stimuli keep the audience hooked.
● Content Co-creation:
Creative Maximalism is not a monologue by the author but a relay by the whole people. Generation Z is more accustomed to a sense of participation in content. They are willing to supplement the plot through secondary creations, bullet comments, and reviews, and even expand the story together with the original author.
For example, EPIC: The Musical was originally a personal work by composer Jorge Rivera-Herrans, but it quickly evolved into a large-scale co-creation project by fans. Some people drew animations for it, some wrote fan stories, and others did cover songs. Eventually, a collective narrative fan universe was formed.
In China, this phenomenon is also very common on Bilibili. UP owners create a large number of secondary fan works based on a certain game, anime, or meme, and fans continue the relay through bullet comments, reviews, and secondary creation videos. This is a typical ecosystem of Creative Maximalism.
● Meme Fluidity:
Another characteristic of maximalist content is to stuff the latest and hottest memes into the work. There's no need to explain this too much. From "crazy literature" to "I people" and "E people," many hot memes are born in China every year.
This approach can not only increase the resonance of the content but also keep the creation highly relevant. After all, online buzzwords are the cultural codes of Generation Z.
● Global Culturalism:
Different from the past when local culture dominated, today's young people have been exposed to various globalized content on YouTube and TikTok since childhood. They have a very high acceptance of cross-cultural content.
South Korea's Alien Stage is a typical example. It is a virtual animated series about an alien singing competition. With its dark theme, unique music, and excellent production, it has attracted fans from all over the world, and the United States is even its largest source of viewers.
This model of South Korean production and global consumption has become the new normal.
To talk about the ultimate example of maximalism, we have to mention the hottest phenomenon in 2025 - "Italian Brain Rot," also known as "AI Shan Hai Jing" in China.
It originated from the online term "brain rot," which has a bit of a ridiculous and spoofy meaning. Later, with the addition of AI generation technology, various grotesque characters and strange names keep appearing, combined with Italian and catchy music, forming a huge cult-like universe.
As of 2025, more than 450,000 videos related to "Italian Brain Rot" have been uploaded.
In China, there are also similar examples. For instance, videos like "Lin Daiyu vs. Sun Wukong" and even "Lin Daiyu joins forces with Voldemort in a chaotic battle" on short-video platforms.
With rough special effects, chaotic narratives, random appearances of illogical characters, traces of AI, and online memes, it's completely a "Chinese version of brain rot."
03 Implications for Brands and Industries
Putting aside the seemingly strange content forms, from a more macro perspective, Creative Maximalism represents a new trend in content creation. With the popularization of AI tools, the creation threshold of this kind of content continues to decrease, and its quantity and influence are bound to increase.
In fact, some forward-looking brands and institutions have begun to embrace this style. Snack brand Nutter Butter, sports giant NFL, and even Hollywood film companies have tried to communicate with young audiences in the language of maximalism.
For brands and industries, I think to embrace this trend, the following points should be achieved:
● Embrace Digital Native Scenarios and Contexts
The entertainment, expression, and socializing of Generation Z are almost entirely based on the Internet. To truly reach them, brands must be based on the online space and cultural context. Here, the context is not just a language imitation but a deep understanding of the cultural connotations of young people.
A classic example is Lei Jun's "Are you OK." Originally a bit embarrassing English sentence, on Bilibili, it was re-created into countless meme videos by netizens, with special effects, editing, and music, becoming an online carnival.
Xiaomi didn't stop this but instead acquiesced in this creativity. As a result, the brand and users were in the same cultural field and really had fun together. It is still an important brand asset of Xiaomi to this day.
● Find Inspiration in Niche Cultures
Instead of struggling to chase the fleeting mass popularity, it's better to focus on those vibrant subculture circles.
These circles are often the sources of new memes and new ideas, and also the natural incubators of Creative Maximalism. Brands can find the freshest and most cutting-edge creative sparks here.
For example, Taobao's Ugly Things Contest is a good example. Instead of choosing traditional beauty, it does the opposite and celebrates this kind of chaotic, diverse, and imperfect ugliness as a unique brand culture.
This fits the current online behavior of young people who are keen on appreciating ugliness, discovering, and sharing ugly things, turning a niche interest into a popular topic.
● Encourage Secondary Creations and Give Up Control
Brands shouldn't be afraid of users "ruining" their image. Instead, they should actively provide materials for secondary creations, such as a simple melody, an open-ended topic, or a mascot for photo editing.
By launching challenges, selection activities, and rewarding excellent user creations, brands can effectively turn users into their free promotion teams.
The theme song of the national brand Mixue Bingcheng, "You love me, I love you, Mixue Bingcheng is so sweet," has been re-created in large numbers by users on various platforms in this way. It has evolved from a simple advertising song into a well-known online meme.
● Embrace Imperfection and Pursue Internet Sense Instead of Quality
In the context of maximalism, excessive refinement seems alienating. Young people prefer content with an Internet sense, which looks like something they made themselves rather than something produced by an advertising company with a large budget.
Duolingo's mascot owl wears strange clothes and dances awkwardly in the office. It chases stars, edits photos, complains, and participates in popular TikTok challenges. Many of its videos are crudely produced, using the platform's native filters, stickers, and background music, but they are rich in information, casual, and immediate, which makes users feel they are real and interesting.
This imperfection is actually the authenticity of the Internet era. It's not a defect but the social currency recognized by young people.
Conclusion:
Creative Maximalism may seem noisy and chaotic, but it reflects the cultural logic of Generation Z: They want to participate, express themselves, and find their own shadows in the content.
In this transformation, AI plays a crucial catalytic role. It has greatly lowered the threshold of complex audiovisual creation, allowing every ordinary person to become a maximalist artist. This indicates that the future content ecosystem will become more crowded and chaotic, but also undoubtedly more diverse and vibrant.
For brands and creators, this is both a challenge and an opportunity.
The challenge is that the traditional communication logic that pursues quality and controllability is no longer effective. The opportunity is that the value of content no longer depends solely on its own perfection but on how much interaction it can stimulate, how many memes it can generate, and to what extent it can become the material for users' self-expression.
In the future content battlefield, victory may no longer belong to those who tell perfect stories but to those who are best at starting a fun game and inviting everyone to participate.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Xunkong's Marketing Revelations," author: Xunkong2009. Republished with permission by 36Kr.