MAM
Dentsu APAC elevates next generation leaders
Mumbai: Dentsu Asia Pacific has announced promotions of its next generation leaders. As a part of this development, Sharan Jaswal has been promoted to general counsel APAC, Luke Speers to chief people officer APAC, both effective from 1 April. The company further has named Paul Koppelman as chief financial officer for APAC, effective from 1 May.
“Asia Pacific is critical to the future growth of Dentsu and our clients. I am delighted to see the promotions of three executives in the region, bolstering the existing team with exceptional people who have grown through our organisation,” commented Dentsu International global CEO Wendy Clark.
Jaswal brings nearly 20 years of in-house experience with previous roles at ESPN Star Sports and Yahoo!. She joined Dentsu in 2015 as senior regional counsel and has steadily assumed responsibility and respect from her peers, being promoted to deputy general counsel, APAC in 2018. She’s a vocal DEI advocate, founding Women@dentsu in Singapore in 2018 and currently co-leads the women empowerment pillar of dentsu’s DEI strategy in the region.
“Sharan’s a trusted advisor, respected for her strong commercial acumen. She has a proven record of developing and leading our legal teams across South Asia, South-East Asia and Creative businesses in APAC, all while initiating a DEI agenda in Singapore and supporting our global initiatives in the region,” added Wendy.
Luke Speers brings extensive experience from the digital, telecommunications and financial services sector having previously worked as head of people at iSelect, one of Australia’s largest insurance comparators, Telstra and The MitchelLake Group in consulting capacities. He joined dentsu Australia in March 2016 as head of talent, and was promoted to HR Director in August the same year, before being promoted to chief people officer in April 2019 and adding South-East Asia to his remit in 2021.
“Luke’s passionate about people. His exposure to global brands and start-ups across sectors has enabled him to develop expertise pivotal in identifying and securing world-class leaders, building high-performance teams and helping secure the success of some of the world’s most exciting organisations,” commented Wendy.
Paul Koppelman has a track record of delivering transformation and growth, with a strong global outlook. Having worked in Europe and Asia Pacific over his 20-year career, he has held leadership positions in several global companies across banking, technology and media & entertainment.
Wendy said on Paul’s promotion, “Paul is a respected member of the finance community and has proven his strategic and commercial capability as a partner to the ANZ business. His appointment will bring stronger commercial acumen and rigor across the APAC region.”
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.
