MAM
Cannes Lions 2022 Day 3: India earns 50 shortlists, ups its shortlists tally to 107
Mumbai: Continuing its good run at the Cannes Lions 2022 festival, India on day three saw a record 50 shortlists across six categories – Direct, Creative Data, Media, PR, Social & Influencer and Creative B2B. This takes the country’s total tally to 107 shortlists currently.
Social and Influencer
Under this category, the Indian contingent earned 14 shortlists. Dentsu Creative India’s star campaign ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ campaign done for Vice Media clinched five shortlists.
Ogilvy gained one shortlist for the ‘Shahrukh Khan – My Ad’ campaign.
FCB India and Kinnect’s ‘Chatpat’ campaign got four shortlists. The agency’s ‘Unbox Me’ campaign, created for Unaids, got another three shortlists. It also received another shortlist for the ‘Nominate Me Selfie’ campaign.
PR Lions
There are 13 shortlists for India in the PR category.
FCB India leads this category as well with 6 shortlists. The agency’s campaign in association with Kinnect India titled ‘Chatpat’ secured three shortlists. The other three shortlists are for FCB India’s ‘Unbox Me’ campaign done for Unaids.
VMLY&R clinched three shortlists in the PR category- all three were for the agency’s campaign ‘Adeli’ done for Unipads.
BBDO India’s ‘See Equal Share The Load (Integrated)’ campaign done for Ariel secured two shortlists.
Dentsu Creative’s ‘The Unfiltered History Tour’ received a single shortlist. Ogilvy India’s ‘NothingCoin’ created for Cadbury 5 Star gained a shortlist in the PR category.
Media
In the Media category, Indian agencies secured 12 shortlists, of which six were garnered by FCB India along with FCB Chicago. The agency got three shortlists for the ‘Nominate me Selfie’ campaign done for the Times of India and three for SOS Children’s Village India’s campaign ‘Chatpat’. The latter campaign was co-created by the agency along with Kinnect.
The category also saw Ogilvy India getting three shortlists – Two for Cadbury Perk’s ‘Perk Disclaimer’ campaign and the third one for Cadbury Celebrations’ ‘Shahrukh Khan – My Ad’ campaign.
BBDO India scored two shortlists for P&G’s ‘Name Change Pack ‘#ShareTheLoad’ and ‘See Equal #ShareTheLoad’ campaigns.
Mindshare’s ‘Bring Colors Back in the Lives of the Weavers’ campaign created for Sunlight Detergent fetched it one shortlist.
Direct
In the Direct category, Indian agencies scored nine shortlists.
FCB India gained six shortlists- three for its ‘Chatpat’ campaign done for SOS Children’s Villages India and jointly executed by FCB India and Kinnect India. FCB India’s ‘The Nominate Me Selfie’ done for Public Pressure Group earned two shortlists. ‘Unbox me’ for Unaids done by the agency secured one shortlist in the Direct category.
Ogilvy India secured two shortlists while McCann Worldgroup India has one shortlist in the Direct Lions.
‘Shah Rukh Khan – My Ad’ campaign done by Ogilvy India has been shortlisted under two subcategories in Direct Lions.
McCann’s ‘Shagun Ka Lifafa’ done for Ujjivan Small Finance Bank got shortlisted in Direct Lions.
Creative Data
‘Shah Rukh Khan – My Ad’ campaign done by Ogilvy India has secured two shortlists in Creative Data Lions category.
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.
