MAM
Sunny Side Up champions authenticity in new Bison Panel ad
BANGALORE: Sunny Side Up has rolled out a new campaign for NCL Group’s Bison Panel, aiming to reaffirm the brand’s position as the original in the cement bonded particle board category. Built around the cheeky call of “Original hi lo ji”, the campaign nudges customers and trade partners to choose the genuine board rather than lookalike alternatives.
The idea springs from growing marketplace confusion, where other materials are often pitched as CBPB and casually labelled “Bison”. The agency’s response is a clarity-first strategy that spotlights Bison Panel’s category-defining legacy. Its television commercial captures a customer confronting a dealer after receiving a misleading product, using the scene to underscore the value of selecting the authentic board.
Sunny Side Up creative director Shyam Nair, said the team wanted to tap into a familiar consumer sentiment. “We live in a trust deficit society, but also an increasingly assertive consumer class that demands and values authenticity. The campaign keeps the message simple and reminds people what the right choice in this category has always been.”
The film, titled “Bison Panel, Original hi lo ji”, has been produced by Twenty Seventh Films and directed by Amit Satyaveer Singh.
NCL Industries Limited’s Ravi Pingali, said the campaign builds on the brand’s long standing reputation. “Bison Panel has maintained a standard of reliability and quality for over four decades. This campaign reinforces our leadership position and our commitment to helping customers make informed choices. ‘Original hi lo ji’ formalises our long-standing brand promise.”
The integrated campaign is now live across television, digital platforms, outdoor placements and retail touchpoints. Bison Panel’s latest push leans into clarity, confidence and category pride, inviting customers to trust the name that built the space and still sets its standards.
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.
