MAM
Sony electronics feels it’s “like no other”
MUMBAI: Sony sees itself to be “like no other”. And they have decided to focus their brand positioning on this tagline. Sony electronics is implementing a major propaganda blitz for its electronics business, as part of its drive to get closer to its core markets and maximise growth in an increasingly competitive consumer electronics market in India.
The new positioning will see the introduction of the new advertising line “like no other” and will run in all markets around the world and across all of Sony’s electronics’ product categories from April 2005.
“Like no other” represents Sony’s DNA and legacy and will be used in marketing and communications to reaffirm Sony as the best in category and strengthen its product proposition for the home, office and mobile environments.
Sony India general manager (AV-IT division) Mohit Parasher said, “Sony’s strategy has always been to innovate and offer extraordinary technological insights into the consumer electronics market. The “like no other” campaign will build on this tradition. In essence, everyone that interacts or connects with Sony will experience a new exciting energy and momentum for the brand and its products.”
Sony Corporation, Japan set up Sony India in 1995 as a 100 per cent subsidiary. Today, the company’s sales and distribution has penetrated all major Indian towns and cities. The network currently comprises 2,200 dealers and distributors, 45 Sony World outlets, 91 Sony Exclusives and 14 direct branch locations.
Sony India has a strong service presence across the country with five company-owned and 137 authorised service centres. In a competitive Indian consumer durables market, Sony India aims to make a difference to people’s lifestyles and offer them new dimensions of enjoyment.
Working hand in hand with the domestic industry, the company hopes to achieve its goal through new age technology, digital concepts and excellent service.
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.
