WGSN's latest brand strategy report, Interiors Strategies 2022, has an interesting perspective on building a brand in home retail. According to its insight, we're seeing more and more Gen Z and millennials making their personal spaces a priority. But while these demographics offer a new opportunity for brands to build a connection to a new audience, the rules of engagement are very different to the buyers the home retail sector is used to targeting.

Traditionally, any new brand entering the competitive home interiors sector would be faced with having to deliver high-class content right from the off. Expensive photoshoots, glossy websites and a PR campaign to make sure it was seen on the scene; all presented something of a barrier to the entry, or at the very least, a barrier to success. An interior startup would be hard pushed to make a noise without considerable investment and a well-polished image.

However, according to the report, gone are the days of glossy photoshoots and expensive production videos and in comes a rough and ready approach to content. WGSN says Gen Z is turned off by the glossy content of old – it screams unaffordable and unaccessible – and is more likely to find inspiration in the scrolls of TikTok. This is completely alien to most interiors brands that have lost many hours and invested many thousands in trying to achieve that perfect shot. God knows the amount of time I've spent in Photoshop correcting colour or touching up specks of dirt.

Gritty and real are now the buzzwords you should be bringing into your content, particularly on social media, which for most up to the age of 34, is the prime source of interiors inspiration. You should be creating content that reflects their lifestyle, showing how products can be styled, hacks and ways to bring new life into your products. There's fun and creativity at the heart of these ideas – Gen Z is braver and more experimental – and it's a breath of fresh air. You're targeting a generation of renters more open to nomadic lifestyles, so ways to reinvent and reuse your products are sure to be a hit.