{
  "id": 5056609,
  "title": "Connor Blakley used to tell America’s biggest brands what Gen Z wanted. He’s no longer waiting for them to listen",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/02/connor-blakley-used-to-tell-americas-biggest-brands-what-gen-z-wanted",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-09-02T09:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91599402/connor-blakley-used-to-tell-americas-biggest-brands-what-gen-z-wanted-jams-uncrustables-bronco-pbj-smucker-dropout"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Connor Blakley, now 24, used to advise America's largest brands on how to attract Gen Z consumers, but he has since gone on to create his own consumer packaged goods (CPG) business and launch Jams, a better-for-you frozen PB&J sandwich. The sandwich is making waves in the market, outselling the long-standing Uncrustables in Target stores. Blakley, a former high school dropout, started his first business at 13, and later founded YouthLogic, a youth marketing firm, at 16. He believes that Gen Z consumers value authenticity in brands more than traditional advertising, and his new venture, Dropout, aims to tap into this multibillion-dollar untapped opportunity. Jams has already taken off, debuting as the NFL Players Association's first official PB&J and gaining traction in NFL locker rooms. Blakley's strategy involves a mix of entertainment, food, and nostalgia, with athletes, actors, and country singers as equity partners.",
  "summary": "Mark Smucker probably should have taken the meeting. In 2018, Connor Blakley, then 18, mailed a handwritten letter to the CEO of J.M. Smucker Co., the fifth generation of the Smucker family to lead the business. Blakley was pitching the services of his Gen Z marketing consultancy, called YouthLogic. “ I grew up eating Uncrustables,” Blakley tells me. “We all did.” J.M. Smucker Co. executives…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}