MAM
Times of India wins the ‘Green Brand of the Year’ at IAA’s Olive Crown Awards 2024
Mumbai: The India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) hosted the 14th edition of its annual property, the Olive Crown Awards 2024, on 5 April at the ITC Grand Central, Parel, Mumbai. The awards acknowledged the remarkable work of those individuals and corporations who drove the message of sustainability or ‘green advertising’.
The event was attended by senior marketing, media, and advertising professionals from across the country. The event was supported by The Hindu Group & ZEE News; Blue Star Ltd was the cooling partner; Radio City was the radio partner; while Vijay Sales, Rajasthan Patrika, ASUS and News18 were the associate partners for the event. Laqshya Media Group was the outdoor partner & Awardor the strategic partner.
An eminent jury comprising renowned professionals such as Anupama Ramaswamy (Chief Creative Officer, Havas Worldwide India), K.V. Sridhar (Global Chief Creative Officer Nihilent Limited & Hypercollective), Prateek Bharadwaj (Chief Creative Officer, Lowe Lintas India), Tista Sen (Creative Brand Consultant), Carlton D’Silva (Co-Founder, Musemakers & House of Awe) & Mukund Olety (Chief Creative Office, VML) shortlisted the winners through a rigorous process.
Jury members being felicitated at the event (L-R) Tista Sen, Avinash Pandey (President IAA India Chapter), Mukund Olety, Janak Sarda (Chairperson, IAA Olive Crown Awards), K V Sridhar
Avinash Pandey, President IAA India Chapter said “I believe these awards are not just unique but also very special. Unique because they are a symbol of intra-industry collaboration. Even though this is an IAA India Chapter property, it was launched 14 years ago at the GoaFest which is jointly run by the Advertising Club and the Advertising Agencies Association of India. Even now, it is associated with the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations, thereby being the only property with a real reach in both the Eastern and the Western parts of the world.
Special, because these awards symbolize the commitment of the Marcom industry to be not just guardians of their respective brands, but also guardians of Brand Earth..”
Avinash Pandey, President, IAA India Chapter
Adds Janak Sarda, Chairperson, IAA Olive Crown Awards “Any awards are only as good as the jury that judges them. So let me begin by thanking our jury members who were a real asset to us.
Our event could never have been held without the help of our supporters. Some have supported us for the second and third time. This marks them as loyal supporters of the environment.
And then I would like to thank those who have sent in their entries from all over the world. Their active participation shows that the marcom industry is indeed populated with people who believe that what’s good is also good for business. Finally, I would like to thank each one who is here today. All true friends of the environment. Planet Earth needs you.”
Janak Sarda, Chairperson IAA Olive Crown Committee 2024
VML bags 9 awards across categories including the ‘Green Agency Of The Year’ & Green Campaign of the Year’- for ‘#UnplasticIndia’
Teams from VML receiving the ‘Green Agency Of The Year’ trophy
The Times of India wins the ‘Green Brand of the Year’- Gold
Team from The Times of India along with presenters
‘Corporate Crusader Of The Year’ – Gold bagged jointly by Mathrubhumi Printing and Publishing Co. Ltd for the work ‘Mathrubhumi SEED’ & The Times of India for their work ‘#UnplasticIndia & Saving Our Stripes’
Mayura Shreyams Kumar, Director-Digital Business, Mathrubhumi Printing & Publishing Company Ltd receiving the trophy
The awards were presented across 17 different categories, including the coveted title ‘Green Crusader of the Year’ award, which was presented to Padma Shri Jadav Payeng for his life’s mission to put the green agenda on not just top of their list but to make sure that the people around them have stood up and taken notice. He has a forest spread over 550 hectares after him – the Molai Forest in Jorhat, Assam. Popularly known as the Forest Man of India, Jadav “Molai” Payeng is an environmental activist and forestry worker from Majuli. Over the course of several decades, he has planted and tended trees on a sandbar of the river Brahmaputra turning it into a forest reserve.
(L-R): Avinash Pandey (President IAA India Chapter), Bittu Sahgal (environmental activist, writer, and Founder, Sanctuary Nature Foundation), Jadav Payeng, Srinivasan K Swamy (Chairman – AFAA) & Janak Sarda (Chairman – IAA Olive Crown Awards 2024)
Malhar Kalambe gets the ‘Young Green Crusader of the Year’. He has been conducting beach clean-ups in Mumbai for the past five years at Dadar Beach, Mithi River & Airoli Mangroves, Elephanta Caves & Carter Road at Bandra. He uses social media to draw attention towards his cause, create awareness about environment conservation and plastic pollution, and gather a community of volunteers to help him with on-ground clean-up activities every weekend. He is an environmentalist, founder of BeachPlease and has won accolades from the Government of India as well as is the recipient of U.N. “I am the change I want to see in the world.’
Malhar with presenters
Earth Brigade Foundation get Gold in the category ‘Green NGO of the Year’.
Team from Earth Brigade Foundation receiving the trophy
Ramesh Narayan honoured with the ‘Most Sustainable Marcom Personality Award’ by EARTHDAY.ORG
Karuna Singh of EARTHDAY.ORG honors Ramesh Narayan
The ‘International Green Campaign of the Year’ Gold was won by Grameenphone ltd & Grey Advertising from Bangladesh for their truly outstanding campaign – Green Solar Network.
A ‘Committee Special Mention Award’ was conferred upon an initiative that brought together singers, artistes, green custodians and actors to act on the menace of Plastic waste. Asif Bhamla (Bhamla Foundation), Neeraj Roy (MD, Hungama), Ricky Kej, Shankar Mahadevan and Armaan Malik are a few of those who contributed to the cause.
MAM
ASCI study uncovers how Gen Alpha navigates ads in endless digital feeds
‘What the Sigma?’ ethnographic report maps blurred boundaries between content and commerce for 7–15-year-olds.
MUMBAI: Gen Alpha isn’t scrolling through the internet, they’re living rent-free inside its never-ending dopamine drip, and the ads have already moved in next door. The Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) Academy, partnering with Futurebrands Consulting, has published ‘What the Sigma?’, an immersive ethnographic study that maps how Indian children aged 7–15 (Generation Alpha) consume, interpret and live alongside media and commercial messaging in a hyper-digital environment.
The research draws on in-home interviews, sibling and peer conversations, and discussions with parents, teachers, counsellors, psychologists, marketers and kidfluencers across six cities. It examines not only what children watch but how algorithms, content creators, peers and parents shape their relationship with the constant stream of shorts, vlogs, gameplay, memes, sponsored posts and ‘kid-ified’ adult material.
Five core themes emerged:
- Discontinuous Generation, Gen Alpha is not growing up alongside the internet, they are growing up inside it. Cultural references, humour, aesthetics and language sync globally in real time, often leaving adults functionally illiterate in their children’s world. A reference that lands instantly for a 10-year-old in Mumbai or Visakhapatnam feels opaque or disjointed to most parents.
- Authority Vacuum, Parents and teachers frequently lose cultural fluency in digital spaces. The algorithm responsive, inexhaustible and perfectly attuned to preferences becomes the most attentive presence in many children’s daily lives. Rules around screen time feel increasingly difficult to enforce when adults cannot fully see or understand the content landscape.
- Digital as Society, Online and offline no longer exist as separate realms, they form one continuous reality. The phone is not a tool children pick up; it is the primary social environment they inhabit.
- Great Media Mukbang, Content flows as an ambient, boundary-less, multi-sensorial stream. Entertainment, advertising, commerce, gameplay, memes and vlogs merge into one undifferentiated feed. The line between active choice and passive absorption has largely collapsed.
- Blurred Ad Recognition, Children aged 7–12 typically recognise only the most overt advertising formats. Influencer promotions, gaming integrations and vlog sponsorships often register as organic entertainment. Children aged 13–15 show greater ad literacy but remain highly susceptible to narrative-integrated, passion-driven and emotionally resonant brand messaging. Discernment remains low across the board in a non-stop stream.
ASCI CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor said, “ASCI Academy’s study is an investigation into the content life of Generation Alpha not to judge them but to understand them. Their cultural reference points seem disjointed from those of earlier generations. Insights on how they perceive advertising is the first step towards building more responsible engagement frameworks, given that they are the youngest media consumers in our country right now.”
Futurebrands Consulting founder and director Santosh Desai added, “While earlier generations have been exposed to digital media, for this generation it is the world they inhabit. This report explores not only what they watch but how they are being shaped by algorithms, content and advertising.”
The study proposes four adaptive, principles-led pathways:
- Universal signposting of commercial intent using design principles that make advertising recognisable even to young audiences.
- Ecosystem-wide responsibility shared among advertisers, platforms, creators, schools and parents.
- Future-ready safeguards built directly into children’s content experiences rather than as optional background settings.
- Formal media and advertising literacy embedded in school curricula to teach age-appropriate understanding of persuasion and commercial intent.
In a feed that never pauses, Gen Alpha isn’t merely watching content, they’re swimming in an ocean where entertainment, commerce and identity swirl together. The real question isn’t whether they can spot an ad; it’s whether the adults building the ocean can agree on where the lifeguards should stand.
