MAM
POP Asia ropes in international speakers; begins 20 Jan
MUMBAI: The first-of-its-kind exhibition cum conference on point – of – purchase advertising POP Asia 2005 will commence on January 20 and will go on till January 22 at Nehru Center, Mumbai. This first edition of POP Asia will address the requirements of all constituents of the point-of-purchase advertising value chain – brand marketers, advertising agencies, designers, visual merchandisers, service providers and retailers.
The seminar has also roped in international speakers like Martin Pegler, the renowned guru of visual merchandising and store design, as well as Martin Kingdon, POP Advertising International director general, UK and Ireland.
Pegler is one of the most respected authorities on visual merchandising and store design. His book Visual merchandising & Display is currently in its fourth edition and is still prescribed reading for students and professionals in the field. Kingdon on the other hand, has spoken extensively across the world on various aspects of the display market and specialises in the effectiveness of retail displays and layouts and also on brand and retailer attitudes to in-store communications.
According to Pegler, “POP industry has become the visual arm and now encompasses store design, visual merchandising, point of purchase, store construction and exhibit design. All the extensions of visual field are involved in presentation. It is all about making things look better and more desirable than they may actually be”.
Other well-known speakers include Raghu Pillai -RPG Enterprises retail sector president and CEO, HLL VP/head – personal wash business Gopal Vittal, ACNielsen ORG-MARG director client servicing Nehal Medha, RAMMS India director and president R Kannan and Ravi Poovaiah – Faculty in visual communication and product design at the Industrial Design Centre (IDC), Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay.
POP Asia 2005 will showcase the best and latest international trends in point-of-purchase advertising.This will be the first time that an event will bring the industry buyers and sellers into direct contact from across continents. This exhibition-cum-conference aims at being the ultimate destination of producers and end users of POP who will be provided a ready platform to forge mutually rewarding business partnerships.
The event has already confirmed participation from POP designers, POP manufacturers, sign makers, electronic signage makers, visual merchandising and store fixtures, creative agencies, exhibition designers, modular systems, POP technology. These will be from both developed and emerging markets in Europe, Middle East, China, Far and South East Asia and the Indian sub continent. Depending on the company profile, exhibitors will be classified into four distinct pavilions: absolute POP, retail signs, V M and storefix and cutting edge technologies.
The Indian POP advertising industry currently stands at around Rs 180 billion and is on the upswing growing at a healthy 30-40 per cent annually. Organised retail has also grown three-fold from Rs 495 billion in 2000 to Rs 1485 billion today, with a potential to expand to around Rs 3600 billion in 2005. About 25 million square feet of organised retail space would be added to the existing eight million by the year 2005.
India today ranks fifth in the top list of the 30 emerging retail markets. In the overall 12 million retail outlets, only 5 million are in urban India and contribute to the overall magnitude of the retail opportunity in India. It is estimated that approximately 25 million square feet of organised retail space will be added to the existing eight million by 2005. Organized retail has grown three-fold from US$ 11 billion in 2000 to US$ 33 billion today, with a potential to expand to around US$ 80 billion in 2005. Growth of retail would be driven by an increase in consumer spending which has grown at an average rate of 11.5 per cent over the last decade.
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.
