MAM
Brand Factory uses consumer-first approach to launch the 4th edition of Free Shopping Weekend
Mumbai: Brand Factory, India's leading retail discount chain by Future Lifestyle Fashion is back with the country's annual shopping pilgrimage, ‘Free Shopping Weekend’ (FSW) from 4th to 8th December. Customers can shop from over 200 plus original national and international brands like Zara, Jack & Jones, Lee Cooper, Levis, Imara, ONLY, PEPE, Iktara, Adidas, Reebok, Skechers, Fila, American Tourister, V.I.P, Lino Perros, Lavie, Caprese and much more. This event offers the customers goods worth Rs 5,000 at Rs 2,000 only and returns the entire value in the form of free merchandise, gift vouchers and cash backs.
Aiming to increase brand awareness and directing themselves towards strengthening the connection with customers, Brand Factory is going all out on its digital campaign. The retail chain will be sending over 1,00,000 customized invites in the video format, created by IdeateLabs, to each customer who has conversed with the brand, through various social media platforms. The entire marketing exercise has led to a large variety of user-generated content organically and has received a tremendous response.
This integrated marketing campaign has roped in influencers across fields, gender, reach and demographics to raise mass awareness around its upcoming sale. Along with boosting awareness on personalization and Influencers marketing, Brand Factory ensured to be visibility to consumers across multiple touchpoints such as print, television, OOH, radio amongst others to connect with their target audience.
Announcing the launch of the 4th edition of Free Shopping Weekend, Roch D’Souza Chief Marketing Officer of Brand Factory said, “Brand Factory is known to take alternative experimental approaches for its campaigns, and this time was no different. Free Shopping Weekend is one of our prime properties and also India’s annual shopping pilgrimage where people readily queue up to get the best deals on the best brands. In this spirit, we have launched a 360-degree marketing strategy including customizations, influencer trends in regional markets and digital platforms like Tik Tok to amplify the biggest shopping festival of the year. We have created over 1,00,000 personalized videos and messages for our brand followers while having strict deadlines was one mammoth task. The initial response of the audience is phenomenal. They have been surprised with the personalized approach which in-return is successfully generating numerous conversations and user-generated content. With FSW, we have enabled equalization among audiences. As always we are looking forward to having maximum footfalls at FSW.”
Amit Tripathi, Managing Director, IdeateLabs commented, “Digital today is primarily about building conversations. Brands have the opportunity as well as resources to use various digital channels to connect with their customers effectively and engage with them in more personalized ways. A content approach that speaks to your desire of ‘hunt for the deal’ and weaving an impactful messaging around it, is the only way to gain consumers attention in a heavily cluttered world today. Team IdeateLabs has been involved with FSW since the launch, and this is the 4th edition of the event. Our focus was on maximizing our engagement with the entire loyal follower base of Brand Factory. FSW is a concept which provides ‘value’ to the customers in terms of money, products as well as the entire shopping experience. And hence we stayed focused on reaching out to our existing audiences and at the same time communicating with new ones in a more meaningful manner and inviting them to the party of the year at FSW."
Brand Factory presently has 103 store outlets across 49 cities in India such as Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, Orissa, Calicut, Mysore, Thiruvananthapuram, Gurajat, Bhuj, Guwahati, Ghaziabad, Mangalore, Hyderabad, to name a few.
Customers can book their entry tickets on insider.in or through brandfactoryonline.com or visit the nearest Brand Factory store.
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.
