Millennials are a coveted market for advertisers, so we asked three judges: ‘What do you think about millennials?’
Rajay Singh, Film Director & Partner at Directors Think Tank “In the old days, you had to work really hard to succeed, but millennials don’t want to work hard anymore. They’ll say:“If it’s too hard, I’m jumping into something else.” Because there are a lot of things they can jump into… especially in Malaysia, a lot of millennials – they don’t want to work under somebody else, they prefer to open a small café, online businesses, stuff like that. They want to be their own bosses. “A lot of the people working with us are millennials. I try to inspire them, keep them going. I don’t just want to be teaching them. I also want to learn from them. It’s that nice balance. Try to keep them hungry.” Andrew Simpson, Design Director, Vert Design “
People are just people. We have broadly an inequity in wealth distribution and we have a baby boomer population sitting on top of a younger generation making it very difficult for them to get ahead. I think the branding of them as ‘millennials’ is uninteresting and unhelpful.” Aleya Sen- Co-Founder & Film Director – Chrome Pictures “I think the biggest challenge for today – even from the age of 8 or 9 years old – is social media. A lot of footage is available so kids grow up with very short attention spans and are impatient with ideas. They want everything quick. When I make a film, especially a film for children, I have to keep it very upbeat. It needs to be peppy so they are gripped on, especially in advertising. “I do have millennials in my company and it’s just about how you train those minds. That generation takes a lot of things for granted. Some of the basic values are shaken. When they come to a company, you have to work to keep them rooted.” Derry Simpson - Managing director of MullenLowe (Perth, pictured above) “I think we get a little lost trying to look at them as so different to everybody else. I think they are a little underestimated as far as how engaged they can be or how deep they can think about things. Sometimes we do them a disservice by saying they’re impossible to reach. You need to have a message that can engage with them. Millennials focus on causal stuff that makes them think about their own role, family or perception. Very pointy messages seem to reach them.”
- Mahmood Ali
