MAM
Hike hires Seema Chawla as VP and head of marketing
MUMBAI: As Hike inches closer to launching its much-awaited offering HikeLand, India’s homegrown internet startup has hired Seema Chawla as its VP and head of marketing. Chawla joins Hike at an exciting new chapter for the startup, as it is closer to unveiling HikeLand, enabling a new social future. Chawla comes with over 20 years of multi-vertical experience; having launched multiple new brands and products in the course of her career across Disney, Ajio.com, Mattel, and Hotstar. Her appointment is in line with Hike’s plan to strengthen teams across product, design, marketing, AI and ML, engineering, partner functions, and user research with multiple hiring initiatives.
“What got me wildly excited about coming to Hike was Kavin’s vision on building a new social future. As technology blurs the line between imagination and what’s possible, Hike is perhaps the only company innovating at the intersection of art, AI and consumer delight. I’m excited to join a team that’s changing the way users experience social and forever change the way they hang out online. We’re building things right out of science-fiction movies and that’s really thrilling. I’m truly energized to be part of this journey along with the entire team at Hike,” shared Chawla.
In her new role, she would be looking after all things marketing at Hike including branding, user growth, and product marketing for HikeLand and all subsequent sub-brands. In her previous stints, Chawla has been VP marketing at Hotstar International, chief marketing officer at AJIO.com, head of marketing at Mattel Toys India, and held various strategic brand, marketing, and sales roles at The Walt Disney Company.
In line with the company’s recent announcement of leadership hires and multiple hiring initiatives, Chawla joins the team as the company focuses on growth and innovation. Working towards the launch and scale of its upcoming offering HikeLand, Hike plans to hire for over 20 open positions across teams. Hike has also initiated virtual hiring events as part of its ZeroTo2 program focused on onboarding young talent from colleges.
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.
