MAM
Ogilvy India appoints Kedar Mehta as head of consulting for its experience biz
MUMBAI: Ogilvy India has appointed Kedar Mehta as head of consulting for its experience business here. He has 18 years of experience working across Hansa Customer Equity, TCS, KPMG and Reliance Jio.
In his last assignment as the program and marketing lead at Jio, Mehta led program management for Jio Prime’s personalised commerce and customer engagement business.
Prior to Jio, he played an instrumental role in establishing the KPMG digital customer practice and retail & CPG consulting practice for TCS emerging markets.
His major work contributions lie in the areas of customer experience, digital transformation and marketing & CRM. He has driven successful customer-focused programs for the likes of Bata emerging markets, Tesco HSC, CEAT, Vodafone India, Carphone Warehouse (UK), Fidelity Investments (US), Celio, Tata Sky, Hypercity and Tata Starbucks, the global creative agency shared.
Ogilvy India CEO Kunal Jeswani said, “Clients increasingly turn to Ogilvy to help drive growth through every brand expression across every customer experience. Our experience business, aligned to our global martech centre of excellence, delivers Ogilvy’s trademark creative across the customer journey. Connecting with consumers in modern, surprising ways – focused on delivering growth for our clients. Kedar is a critical part of this vision. He is deeply customer focused and knows how to build and deliver programs that drive growth – from customer acquisition to increasing transaction volume and value to customer retention and loyalty.”
Mehta shared, “I like to play the role of a customer chair in most conference room discussions, and I strongly believe that the Ogilvy experience business will play that pivotal role for businesses focused on their CX and digital initiatives. Ogilvy has the skills, tools and credentials to shape next generation experiences for brands. I am really energised to accelerate this practice in the Indian market.”
A design-thinking practitioner and a thought leader, Mehta has led industry thought leadership with the likes of RAI, FICCI and World Retail Congress in the retail and consumer domains, said the agency.
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.
