MAM
POP Asia: Can Visual Merchandising lead the way?
MUMBAI: The second day at POP Asia 2005 kick started with the Titan head, CEO Bijou Kurien addressing the seminar on visual merchandising- challenges in specialty stores.
Titan, which has retail outlets in 170 locations has to keep engaging in clever visual merchandising (VM) to ensure excitement and freshness of the product. Flashing back Kurien pointed out that in 1987 watches as a category were need driven. Retail outlets were very small and extremely poor presentation of point of purchase (POP) merchandise.
Today, although is a different scenario. Customers of today are driven by desire and latest trends. Stores have become a lot more glamorous. In the current day and age, VM will become increasingly significant with more and more international design trends entering the Indian market.
Coming to pointers on VM, Kurien pointed out that if a product was small, the focus has to remain on the product. Too much usage of props will divert the customers’ attention and the product will get lost. Secondly, educating the customer and creating a luxury feel that is commensurate with the product identified target audience is very important. Products need to be segregated into clusters to differentiate one from another so as to seduce the customer.
Titan also changes its positioning and evolved from ‘Titan’ to ‘The World of Titan’ which Kurien averred made a world of a difference. Another point in note for store design specifically was that what was correct today might not be relevant tomorrow. Also, showing less did not mean selling less. Clusters of product is a definite no-no. On the display window, it is essential only to showcase a few and the rest to be displayed on the counter. Kurien’s ending words were that VM in India is going to be the link between brand communication and the product.
Up next was R Kannan, director and president RAMMS India who threw light upon how to grow the POP business and how to build long term strategies for tomorrow. Citing HLL’s example, Kannan pointed out that POP was the central theme of HLL’s entire brand communication plan . He said the return on investment (ROI) from POP is a lot higher than the ROI on advertising.
Delving into viewpoints both of the client and the players in POP business, Kanan highlighted that a lot of brand managers today still look at POP as a last minute post-launch promotional activity. He stressed on the fact that today companies have to look at POP as an integral part of the launch. Brand managers also felt that the POP players lacked credibility, innovation and understanding of the holistic business. On the other hand the POP players felt that POP was always a last minute rush, where delivery and cost were the most important factors rather than quality.
Kanan said that to formulate a long term strategy for growth, one needs an integrated solution which will lead to the emergence of POP agents. The need of the hour was also stated as the POP business to develop their skill sets and get out of the rut of taking orders from their clients. There is a need for players in this space to demonstrate more accountability, understanding of customer behavior and marketing skillsets. The POP players need to give broader solution and finally evolve as one stop shops for POP.
HLL’s head (personal wash) Gopal Vittal talked about a marketers perspective on POP advertising at work and the power of below the line. Stating that there was more to advertising than television, Vittal said it is getting increasingly important to influence your customer in multiple ways. Stating some current market realities, he pointed out that today the battle for the wallet was not just within the category his product was in but, across varied categories. Forty per cent of advertising today is ignored and 60 per cent is surfed upon superficially. Differentiation among products is getting more difficult and today’s consumer is influenced by a wide variety of stimuli. The message was clearly to move beyond eye-balls to making products talking points. And to move from traditional media to more innovative non-traditional ways.
The most awaited session of the day was Martin Pegler’s workshop on VM. Referring to a retail store as above the water line. A question that Pegler asked the audience was that do the retailers in India realize that they are dealing with the new age shopper? Mapping current trends Pegler pointed out the teen boys and the metrosexual man as the new shopper.
What does today’s shopper need?
The today’s shopper needs to be stimulated. The stimuli needs to come from entertainment and interactivity that appeals to the customers.
Stating key pointers in clever VM, Pegler pointed out the following:
1) Fixtures within a store need to be movable & dismantable
2) Ambience plays a very big role in ensuring value for money to customers.
3) There is an increasing trend of stores beginning to warm up and get friendly
4) Effort needs to be made to integrate commercial with community, ensuring customer spend longer hours at the store.
5) Bright strong colours and illuminated back light are interesting concepts
6) Use of graphics which compliments your display and design
7) Bringing in of subtle smells
8) Freedom for customers to touch and feel the product.
9) Daylight being brought back into the stores via skylight.
10) Mannequins used a fashion runway to make a statement.
11) Use of colours, sizes, style in a logical sense while arranging products.
All in all, Pegler’s parting words were VM is nothing but a lot of common sense. It is essentially arranging merchandise in an alluring and accessible manner which keeps it simple for the customer. “You have to know how your shoppers shop.”
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.
