MAM
Canon to spend Rs 400 million on marketing this festive season
MUMBAI: Canon India, a digital imaging company, will spend Rs 400 million on marketing during this festive season, 34 per cent more than a year earlier.
Canon India‘s camera division marketing spends comprise almost 72 per cent of Canon India‘s overall marketing budget of Rs 1.42 billion for 2012. This year, the camera division also has increased its marketing budget from Rs 760 million in 2011 to Rs 1.02 billion in 2012, which is also an increase of over 34 per cent.
Canon has registered a 32 per cent growth in the first six months of 2012 driven by a strong 60 per cent growth in its camera business. The growth drivers were “aggressive” marketing, new product launches, “attractive” pricing, retail expansion and portfolio expansion. Canon has also entered into the cinematography domain with the launch of its Cinema EOS C300 camera.
The company has rolled out a new marketing campaign for Onam, featuring its brand ambassador Anushka Sharma. The Onam campaign is an extension of Canon‘s ‘What Makes Us Click‘ campaign. The company is also pushing its in-shop and retail visibility by placing Ground Standing Boards (GSBs) and point of sale material at all Canon retail outlets in the region.
Canon India SVP Alok Bharadwaj said, “We are reconfiguring our photography business in India with youth-centric propositions using a three-pronged strategy of celebrity endorsement, imaging brand stores expansion and strong product lineup.”
To kick-start its festival sales plan, Cannon has announced price reduction for 11 camera models. We are also expanding imaging brand stores to 100 by end this year. All this will help us to reach revenues of Rs 21 billion in 2012 with a market share of 25 per cent in cameras and 45 per cent in DSLR.
Last year, Cannon held the No. 1 position in the DSLR cameras category and were among the top two digital cameras brands in Kerala during Onam and it aims to replicate that performance or go a step further. “We would like to announce signing of three new brand stores in Kerala to be opened before Christmas this year.”
Canon India assistant director and head of ICP division Seiji Hamanishi added, “Canon has a substantial market share in Kerala and plans to further its leadership during the current festive season. To consolidate this lead, Canon has recently launched a new range of 21 camera models and nine new lenses.”
The models where Canon slashed the prices are – 5 models of Canon PowerShot Series – A1200, A2300, A2400, A3400 and A4000; 4 models of Canon IXUS series – IXUS 125, IXUS 240, IXUS 500 and IXUS 510; 2 models of Canon PowerShot SX series – SX 240 and SX 260. As part of the Onam festive offer, Canon is also offering a 4GB SD card and a carry case to each customer on the purchase of a digital camera.
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.
