MAM
Makani Creatives launches #FoundMyPairMetros shoes in association with Humans Of Bombay
MUMBAI: This Valentine’s day, Makani Creatives launches #FoundMyPair a unique campaign for Metro Shoes in association with Humans of Bombay.Metro Shoes, the contemporary Indian fashion footwear and accessories brandknown for its wide and fashionable range of footwear, will run this social media campaign starting 9 February 2020. This will enable users to share their love-story with Metro Shoes and the unique story will be featured on the Humans of Bombay platform.
#FoundMyPair campaign is designed for millenials who want to share their love-story with the world to inspire the future generations. Metro shoes will feature each love story shared with them on their social media handle and 1 lucky story will get featured on Humans of Bombay.The brain behind this campaign, Makani Creatives is a 23-year-old Mumbai based integrated creative agency known for their innovative campaigns.
Humans Of Bombay is popular for their authentic stories which are crafted in a way to establish deeper connects with the readers. The style is appreciated by many readers across the country making Humans Of Bombay – India’s largest platform of showcasing the journey of individuals with 1.2 million followers.
Speaking about the campaign Ms. Alisha Malik, VP Marketing and Ecommerce, Metro shoes says, “It is important to be open to experimenting with opportunities on different platforms. It is also important to keep listening to those that engage with your brands, #FoundMyPair is an opportunity engage better with the millennials and showcase stories of our real followers.”
Adding to it Mr. Sameer Makani, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Makani Creatives said,“This association is the perfect fit as it talks about finding the right pair; a pun that fits perfectly for both shoes and love. Shoes are a crucial part of everyone’s journey. As one progresses in life, they evolve with them. We hope to strike the right cord with the audience on Valentine’s Day with this campaign.”
The campaign will be active from 09 Feb to 12 Feb and user will be required to share their unique stories using #FoundMYPair to get featured on the Metro Social Media handles.
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.
