The Drum Awards for Marketing - Extended Deadline

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By Cat Turner | N/A

June 21, 2016 | 2 min read

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AOL’s digital prophet David “Shingy” Shing has had enough. It’s high time that the term “Millennials” is banned, he says – and here’s why.

david shing

AOL's David Shing on his marketing hate

“The truth is that everyone is trying to captivate them in terms of their behaviours, and I get that,” he says in a video pitch to have the term removed from the pages of The Drum forever. “But they’re young adults… so let’s call them what they are.”

Shing is the second to appear in Cannes It, a Riviera series of interviews in partnership with AudienceScience, that are based on The Drum’s popular Digital Dungeon format. This week marketers, agencies and media folk at Cannes Lions are being asked nominate their top hated phrases, jargon and buzzwords that should be banished.

In the video Shing urges the industry to stop its relentless focus on age-related audience segments at the expense of behaviours, attitudes and psychographics that span generations.

“They [Millennials] don’t all act the same, they don’t all stand on a hoverboard with headphones in while looking at their devices all the time,” he adds. “You are 18 to 34, therefore you 'are…'? It’s not true!”

Do you agree with Shing? Watch his three-minute pitch and let us know.

Shingy Cannes Lions Advertising

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