MAM
Ameer Ismail signs off after 28 years at Lintas Live: PR titan to chase new-age dreams
MUMBAI – After nearly three decades of steering one of India’s most respected PR engines, president of Lintas Live, Ameer Ismail, has officially called time on his storied stint at MullenLowe Lintas group.
Ismail, a name long synonymous with the rise and reinvention of Lintas Live (formerly LinOpinion), is stepping down to pursue “new opportunities” in the ever-evolving world of communications, hinting at an AI-infused future that has him excited and energised.
“I’ve had a dream run,” said Ismail. “The future of PR is exhilarating—AI is opening up an entirely new canvas. My next move will build on the deep experience I’ve gathered across disciplines.”
Joining Lintas in 1996, Ismail became one of India’s longest-serving PR heads. Over the years, he transformed the agency from a traditional public relations outfit into a digital-first, integrated comms powerhouse—fusing media strategy, influencer engagement, crisis comms, and creative storytelling into award-winning campaigns
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His leadership earned client trust across sectors, with marquee names like Tata Starbucks, Etihad Airways, Hyatt, Budweiser, Sony Pictures Networks India, and Visit Victoria turning to Lintas Live for cutting-edge comms.
Ismail held multiple senior roles within the group—across dCell, Advent, and Lintertainment—before spearheading the Golin joint venture and joining its global leadership in 2014. By 2018, he was also chief growth officer at PointNine Lintas, all while continuing to captain the PR business.
With over 500 brands and countless C-suite leaders under his strategic wing, Ismail’s counsel became industry gold. He’s served on advisory boards and juries for Sabre, Abby, and Fulcrum, and was feted by CMO Asia in 2011 for his contribution to corporate comms.
While he readies for his next act, Lintas Live, backed by a robust client roster and mentored leadership, remains in steady hands. Ismail will stay on in the short term to ensure a smooth transition.
A committed mentor and academic, he continues to lecture at top comms schools including Symbiosis, XIC, and Scranton University, and serves on the Score advisory council.
As Ameer Ismail bows out, the Indian PR world salutes a leader who didn’t just follow trends—he wrote the playbook.
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.
