In the Demo

Generalizations can be damaging. In this episode, Benish Shah joins us for a conversation about how marketers, in an attempt to simplify the huge Millennial consumer group, over-simplified them en masse. She looks at how power structures are shaped, people on the margins are held there and others are pushed there by the narrative perpetuated to make it easier to sell things.

Benish Shah is a marketer, builder and advisor to companies and brands around the world. Learn more here: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benishshah/

Every generation is the next great generation. (6:13)

The power of the box. (10:04)

The collective good vs. the individual good. (16:30)

Finding a balance between individualism and community. (22:14)

Setting respectful boundaries. (25:02)

Free will is an illusion. (29:49)

Disruptions of complacency. (35:06)

Everybody gets a trophy trope. (39:23)

Being a millennial boss to millennial employees. (43:22)

In The Demo, a podcast about how stories of groups are created, subverted and destroyed. On the first season, we pursue the origins of the Millennial Myth. Farrah Bostic is the founder and Head of Research & Strategy of, The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy focused on helping business leaders make decisions. Adam Pierno, author and brand consultant and managing director of brand strategy at Arizona State University. Our host is voiced by Eliza, a robot created by Murf.ai.

Music by 0megaMan under the Creative Commons license. Learn more and find research and supporting materials at inthedemopodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

BREAKING (kidding, sort of). In late May, Pew Research announced they would "only do generational analysis when we have historical data that allows us to compare generations at similar stages of life" after a year-long analysis of their own approach to reporting on differences by generations, and the overall landscape of such content and reporting. This announcement supports a lot of what Farrah and Adam have been circling while conducting their research into the Millennial narrative, and Pew's got the data to explain why their approach makes so much sense. Kim Parker, director of social trends research at Pew Research Center, joins to share more context on the thinking and data that got them to this exciting (to us) conclusion.

Read the article from Pew here: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/05/22/how-pew-research-center-will-report-on-generations-moving-forward/. Learn more about Kim Parker here: https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/kim-parker/

How did you know Millennials were coming into their own? 3:39

Methodological considerations for comparison. 8:09

How the narrative has shifted over time. 13:11

The knock on effects of not reporting on generations. 18:40

Gen Z vs. Millennials. 26:40

Why do we skip over Gen X? Millennials? 30:48

How Millennials have become a synonym for young. 36:50

How do you segment millennials into different political parties? 40:04

Stereotypes about Millennials. 46:29

In The Demo, a podcast about how stories of groups are created, subverted and destroyed. On the first season, we pursue the origins of the Millennial Myth. Farrah Bostic is the founder and Head of Research & Strategy of, The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy focused on helping business leaders make decisions. Adam Pierno, author and brand consultant and managing director of brand strategy at Arizona State University. Our host is voiced by Eliza, a robot created by Murf.ai.

Music by 0megaMan under the Creative Commons license. Learn more and find research and supporting materials at inthedemopodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Millennial Myth was created in the late 1990's to help provide context about the coming juggernaut of a generation. As with most stories about huge groups, the narrative held on to broad generalizations and chose odd anecdotes to incorporate, while eschewing other detailed experiences and perspective. Early on, people on the fringes took notice, and have been hanging on ever since. We spoke to author expert on narratives and Founder of The New Quo, (https://www.thenewquo.com/) and host of the Sway Them in Color podcast (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sway-them-in-color/id1487837712) to help add context about how people are left out as a narrative and others this size are being shaped.

How generational segmentations are useful to marketers and business. 10:23

The problem with social media. 15:04

Falling in love with storytelling. 18:19

How did you receive the stories of millennials in America? 25:59

Where did the fear of college debt come from? 31:54

The conflicting narratives of Millennials and Millennials. 39:36

Marketing starts as soon as a kid can walk. 45:25

The hidden polemics of boomers. 49:51

Most media organizations are owned by one person. 55:15

The myth of colorblindness in Millennials. 1:00:41

The problem with colorblindness. 1:04:39

How do I become more culturally competent? 1:08:58

In The Demo, a podcast about how stories of groups are created, subverted and destroyed. On the first season, we pursue the origins of the Millennial Myth. Farrah Bostic is the founder and Head of Research & Strategy of, The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy focused on helping business leaders make decisions. Adam Pierno, author and brand consultant and managing director of brand strategy at Arizona State University. Our host is voiced by Eliza, a robot created by Murf.ai.

Music by 0megaMan under the Creative Commons license. Learn more and find research and supporting materials at inthedemopodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the beginning was the word, and the word was hopeful. Or optimistic. Or idealistic. The people crafting the Millennial Myth branded 70 million people as bright eyed and positive that they would make the world a better place. Which is a bit weird because very clear recurring data show that they were no more or less idealistic in their senior year of high-school as the generations before or after them. No more trusting of government. Millennials were defined in this way and have been held to account for the label for the next 20 years and counting.

How idealism is just equity. 7:52

The Coddling of the American Mind. 12:09

The template set by coddling of the American mind. 17:22

Millennials and green consumerism. 23:01

The importance of having a brand manifesto. 27:54

Sustainability rises to the top. 34:21

Millennials rooting for a housing bust. 39:41

More sophisticated and capital requires more capital. 48:20

The cult of the young and how to appeal to them. 52:43

In The Demo, a podcast about how stories of groups are created, subverted and destroyed. On the first season, we pursue the origins of the Millennial Myth. Farrah Bostic is the founder and Head of Research & Strategy of, The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy focused on helping business leaders make decisions. Adam Pierno, author and brand consultant and managing director of brand strategy at Arizona State University. Our host is voiced by Eliza, a robot created by Murf.ai.

Music by 0megaMan under the Creative Commons license. Learn more and find research and supporting materials at inthedemopodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is a bonus, audio-only episode. Did you even know In The Demo is found on YouTube? We were a little surprised, too.

You can find In The Demo on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@inthedemopodcast1834

Rose Cameron joins Farrah and Adam to talk about her work leading research of the Millennial generation going back to when they were still just babies. Working for global brands, she saw first-hand some of the drivers of the interest in this audience; deemed both an opportunity and a threat. Maybe more importantly they were viewed as the unknowable children of Baby Boomers facing their own parenting shortcomings and mortality.

In The Demo, a podcast about how stories of groups are created, subverted and destroyed. On the first season, we pursue the origins of the Millennial Myth. Farrah Bostic is the founder and Head of Research & Strategy of, The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy focused on helping business leaders make decisions. Adam Pierno, author and brand consultant and managing director of brand strategy at Arizona State University. Our host is voiced by Eliza, a robot created by Murf.ai.

Music by 0megaMan under the Creative Commons license. Learn more and find research and supporting materials at inthedemopodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode features our robot Eliza. She queried her cousin, ChatGPT, to write a summary of the Millennial generation. We think they nailed it.

Let Farrah and Adam know what you think they got right and wrong by crawling the open web and twenty years of content marketing.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This time, Farrah and Adam look at the supposedly 100 million people–well, not people–CONSUMERS that had marketers mouths watering. We look at how that plan to receive and sell to Millennials drove the wishful thinking about their behavior and preferences, along with how it might reshape workplaces.

In The Demo, a podcast about how stories of groups are created, subverted and destroyed. On the first season, we pursue the origins of the Millennial Myth. Farrah Bostic is the founder and Head of Research & Strategy of, The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy focused on helping business leaders make decisions. Adam Pierno, author and brand consultant and managing director of brand strategy at Arizona State University. Our host is voiced by Eliza, a robot created by Murf.ai.

Music by 0megaMan under the Creative Commons license. Learn more and find research and supporting materials at inthedemopodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Farrah and Adam talk about the research that went into Millennials Rising. As always, they have questions. An entire generation–supposedly 100 million people–defined by one survey in one school district? Farrah talks to quantitative researcher, Paul Soldera, who opens the curtain on segmentation and best practices in the most interesting conversation on research methodology that you will hear this year.

In The Demo, a podcast about how stories of groups are created, subverted and destroyed. On the first season, we pursue the origins of the Millennial Myth. Farrah Bostic is the founder and Head of Research & Strategy of, The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy focused on helping business leaders make decisions. Adam Pierno, author and brand consultant and managing director of brand strategy at Arizona State University. Our host is voiced by Eliza, a robot created by Murf.ai.

Music by 0megaMan under the Creative Commons license. Learn more and find research and supporting materials at inthedemopodcast.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this last episode, Farrah and Adam look more closely at the beginnings of the Millennial Myth, literally the opening quote of Millennials Rising. We discuss how much of the myth hangs on one short quote written in an essay by a (then) high school girl living in McLean, Virginia where the authors set their work. Then, Adam talks to the woman behind that very quote to understand how she feels the myth has defined, served and punished her generation.

In The Demo, a podcast about how stories of groups are created, subverted and destroyed. On the first season, we pursue the origins of the Millennial Myth. Farrah Bostic is the founder and Head of Research & Strategy of, The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy focused on helping business leaders make decisions. Adam Pierno, author and brand consultant and managing director of brand strategy at Arizona State University. Our host is voiced by Eliza, a robot created by Murf.ai.

Music by 0megaMan under the Creative Commons license. Learn more and find research and supporting materials at inthedemopodcast.com

An outline created by Otter.ai

0:00 Show introduction with Farrah and Adam

4:40 Is Millennials Rising a forecast?

10:55 Introducing Tyler

12:15 Growing up in Mclean, Virginia.

15:10 What is a typical American town?

21:27 How Tyler describes the millennial generation

27:16 What are Millennials responsible for in culture

32:31 Are reporters anti-millennial?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the last episode, Farrah reveals the source text for the Millennial Myth was written by an economist and a cultural commentator based on light research they did in McLean, VA in the late 1990's. Farrah and Adam asked themselves, is McLean an appropriate stand in for the entire world? The entire U.S.? As it turns out, it might not be an appropriate representative sample for the state of Virginia. Farrah and Adam compare the U.S. census around the time of this book and since to shed light on possible challenges to the conclusions of the book, and the ongoing crumbling myth. Then, Adam is joined by historians of McLean, Merrily Pierce and Paul Kohlenberger who give a quick history and talk about the unique origins of city and surrounding area.

In The Demo, a podcast about how stories of groups are created, subverted and destroyed. On the first season, we pursue the origins of the Millennial Myth. Farrah Bostic is the founder and Head of Research & Strategy of, The Difference Engine, a strategic insights consultancy focused on helping business leaders make decisions. Adam Pierno, author and brand consultant and managing director of brand strategy at Arizona State University. Our host is voiced by Eliza, a robot created by Murf.ai.

Music by 0megaMan under the Creative Commons license. Learn more and find research and supporting materials at inthedemopodcast.com

Show outline (which is generated by another robot; Otter.ai)

Introduction to the episode.

9:00 Education representation in the United States

12:39 Understanding the demographics of the area

18:36 Looking at voting records for Mclean

25:13 How did the civic league get its start?

30:30 Mclean as an affluent suburb

35:40 What does it take to buy a house in Mclean?

41:03 How did the neighborhood look like then?

46:56 The economic reality of living in the suburbs

50:45 Youth in the clean area

56:30 Protecting your kids from threats

1:00:57 The pressure to succeed in school

1:06:43 Paul’s closing closing thoughts

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