MAM
Olive Crown Awards 2013 crowns Grey Worldwide as ‘Agency of the Year’
Mumbai: IAA Olive Crown Awards has crowned Grey Worldwide as ‘Agency of the Year’ for the year 2013.
Organised by the India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA), the Olive Crown Awards were launched in 2011. They celebrate excellence in communicating sustainability or ‘green’ advertising.
Cheil’s Samsung Printers ‘Minus 1 Project’ was awarded as the Campaign of the Year while Kewal Kiran Clothing took away the Client of the Year award. Meanwhile, Padmashree Kartikeya Sarabhai was honored with the Green Crusader of the Year Award, an award which is presented to one unique individual who has dauntlessly fought our battle for going green.
The event saw many marketing and media heads and other industry leaders gracing the occasion like Colors CEO Raj Nayak, Hungama Digital Media Entertainment MD and CEO Neeraj Roy, Piyush Pandey, JWT South Asia CEO Colvyn Harries and Madison World chairman Sam Balsara. Praful Patel, Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises was the chief guest.
This was the first year when IAA Olive Crown Awards witnessed pan-Asia participation.
Olive Crown Awards 2013 chairperson and ED & CEO Draftfcb Ulka M.G. Parameswaran said “We saw an almost 45 per cent increase in the number of entries this year alone and our Awards Jury consisting of veterans like Sonal Dabral, Pops Sridhar, Vinod Rao, Chax, Ramki and Charles Victor were of the opinion that the quality has also seen a dramatic improvement over the years”.
IAA India chapter president and RK Swamy BBDO chairman Srinivasan Swamy said, “There has been widespread acceptance for these awards as corporates see the green message as a key differentiator in a competitive environment. And going green is no longer a luxury but an essential part of doing business. We are delighted to see that clients are roping in agency partners to help them build green awareness for their brands”.
A total of 35 Awards were handed over at the event hosted by former Miss World, Daina Hayden. The Award Function was opened by a performance in Indian Fusion music by Raghu Dixit Project, the Bangalore based band. Midcourse was a laser pyrotechnic show was followed by a comic include by ‘A Slice of Ham’.
Click here for winner list
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.
