MAM
Parle renews partnership with Celebrity Cricket League for tenth season
Mumbai: Parle Products, a manufacturer of biscuits and confectionery, has extended its partnership with the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) for its upcoming tenth season. For about seven seasons, Parle and CCL have built a relationship on shared values of passion, talent, and innovation. Together, Parle and CCL have elevated the cricketing experience for fans nationwide, blending the excitement of cricket with the joy of indulging in Parle’s delicious offerings.
This marks a significant milestone in sports and brand collaboration, showcasing the mutual commitment to excellence and entertainment. As the co-presenting sponsor, Parle, through its brand Parle 20-20 has planned an initiative called Parle 12th Man, where Parle 20-20 customers will get a unique and lifetime opportunity to be a part of their favourite CCL teams across India. To activate this, Parle has printed around 15 crore biscuit packets carrying iconic actor-player images from CCL.
Commenting on the same, Parle Products vice president Mayank Shah said, “We are thrilled to continue our partnership with the Celebrity Cricket League for its 10th season. Our collaboration brings together the love for cricket and the joy of indulging in Parle products. This edition we are celebrating the passionate supporters of the game with our 12th Man campaign and print around 15 Crore specially branded packs with CCL Player images. We reaffirm our commitment to enhancing the spectator experience for fans worldwide.”
Speaking on the continued partnership, Celebrity Cricket League founder Vishnu Vardhan Induri said, “We are happy to have Parle as the co-presenting sponsor for the tenth season of CCL. Parle has been a committed partner for CCL over the seven seasons sharing our passion towards talent and the spirit of cricket. With their continued support, CCL is scaling and we are looking forward to our biggest season this year.”
CCL kicked off the tenth season with a spectacular show in Dubai, on 2 February 2024, right in the heart of the global metropolis, projecting this season’s promo on the magnificent Burj Khalifa. It is the only sports league in India that brings 200+ actors from 8 different languages together. The grandiose league starts on February 23 in Sharjah, continuing for another three weekends in India with 20 action-packed and entertaining matches that appeal to a wide audience cohort beyond cricket fans. The adrenaline-pumping tournament will be live-streamed on Sony Sports Ten 5 and Jio Cinema along with multiple regional channels.
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.
