MAM
Fevicol bags CNBC-TV18’s IBLA brand campaign of the year award
MUMBAI: Fevicol has been conferred with Brand Campaign of the year at the CNBC-TV18’s 15 Indian Business Leader Awards (IBLA), for its new ad campaign celebrating Fevicol’s 60 years milestone.
Conceptualized by Ogilvy, Pidilite’s creative agency, TVC reinforces the brand idea of ‘unbreakable bonds’, with the tagline ‘Barson se Barson Tak’. The film beautifully highlights Fevicol’s journey over the years in its typical human and humorous fashion. It further showcases the strength of Fevicol, while drawing parallels with the changing paradigms of Indian social and cultural scenario.
The award was presented by Minister of Finance Nirmala Sitharaman to Pidilite Industries chairman M.B. Parekh, Bharat Puri, Pidilite Industries managing director Piyush Pandey, Ogilvy worldwide and executive chairman India chief creative officer Prasoon Pandey, Ad Filmmaker, Corcoise Films.
Pidilite Industries managing director Bharat Puri said: “We are delightful and honoured to receive such a prestigious award. Fevicol, over 60 years has been one of the most trusted brands in Indian households. The brand is loved by consumers for its reliable performance as well as contemporary advertising and the 60-year campaign salutes this long-standing relationship with consumers and contractors.”
The campaign that won a million hearts also received phenomenal engagement on social media. The 90-second creative received 113 million completed views on various digital platforms apart from the innumerable shares on WhatsApp groups. The innovative usage of digital channels to propagate the campaign creative as content on OTT platforms such as Hotstar, Zee 5 struck a chord with the netizens.
The award sought to recognize the most impactful mass media/ advertising campaign and the jury members shortlisted the nominees based on criteria such as campaigns/communication that has been acknowledged and featured at industry forums, panels, and awards.
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.
