Mark Ritson and Adam Ferrier square off in millennial showdown

Lindsay Bennett
By Lindsay Bennett | 4 January 2017
 
Mark Ritson and Adam Ferrier

The age-old battle over the relevance of millennials has kicked off between two industry heavy weights – outspoken lecturer Mark Ritson and Cummins&Partners chief strategy officer Adam Ferrier.

In what could be called the grudge match of the advertising ages, the pair entered a discussion on Twitter today when Publicis Media chief strategy officer in China, Shann Biglione, questioned a recent TED Talk about millennials in the workforce.

The TED Talk featured author Simon Sinek speaking about the different expectations of the millennial generation in the workplace, from free food to bean bag chill out areas – a common feature in most advertising and technology companies today.

Sinek also spoke about how the levels of anxiety and low self-esteem are on the rise for the age group, as they were raised in the reality of filters and Facebook.

While Biglione challenged the accuracy of the Ted Talk, Ferrier agreed that millennials are a generation that differs from any other due the impact of technology.

However Ritson, who has previously questioned why marketers are obsessed with millennials, pulled out statistics from the IBM Institute of Business Value that showed millennials have the same career goals as baby boomers and Gen X.

Ferrier fired back with a study of his own that found millennials are more likely to suffer from depression and anxiety due to the pervasive power of media and increased screen time.

Unfortunately for Ferrier, this is a rant Ritson isn't prepared to take lying down. He questioned the validity of the study, with the researcher stating, “There were no clear causal factors” between the findings and millennials.

And it continued…

If 2016 was anything to go by, 2017 will not be the year that the millennial battle is put to bed.

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