AD Agencies
Dentsu India continues its contribution towards social responsibility with ‘One Day for Change’
Mumbai: Dentsu India has marked yet another milestone on its path to sustainability by celebrating the latest edition of its flagship volunteering initiative – ‘One Day for Change’. Aligned to the network’s 2030 Sustainability Strategy, the seventh iteration of this initiative was themed around one of the network’s global sustainability pillars – ‘Fair and Open Society’.
ODfC is dentsu’s annual initiative driven by its commitment to create solutions to impact business and society positively. This year, the event focused on cultivating a more diverse and inclusive community through activities that empowered individuals to think, feel, and act with empathy & mindfulness.
On 4 & 6 October 2023, a two-day event was organised at dentsu offices in Mumbai, Gurgaon, Bangalore, and Pune. Indoor and outdoor activities were planned in collaboration with Giftabled, an NGO that focuses on life skills, fine motor skills, and perception for children with autism and developmental delays. The event drew enthusiastic participation from over 478 employees contributing over 1434 hours across the two days.
The outdoor activity emphasized the importance of eating nutritious meals and creating healthy and hygienic behaviors in children. It also provided them with the necessary knowledge and abilities to care for themselves, prevent illness, and live better lives. The indoor exercise, on the other hand, was designed to address the issues connected with sensory processing and perceptual skills that are frequent in children with cognitive deficits and autism. It gave volunteers the opportunity to design games for children who struggle with sensory processing and perceptual skills utilizing colors and sensory aspects.
Commenting on the event, dentsu CEO Harsha Razdan said, “Sustainability is not just an idea; it is a way of being. At dentsu, our social impact goals are driven by our commitment to offer people-centered transformations that shape society. Our priority is to empower people – in business and beyond. As a leader in the space, we are privileged to have the expertise to influence people, making it our moral responsibility to ensure that opportunity and equality are provided as fundamental rights. They are not meant to be earned, but rather to be owned. Our goal for ODfC 2023 was to give this vision a boost, modify preconceptions, and embed the values that drive an open and fair society for all.”
AD Agencies
AdTrust Summit 2026 to examine trust, AI and Gen Alpha in advertising
Two-day summit in Mumbai to explore ethics, regulation and the future of advertising trust
MUMBAI: At a time when advertising is navigating a delicate trust deficit, the Advertising Standards Council of India is preparing to bring the industry to the table. On 17 and 18 March, the body will host the inaugural AdTrust Summit 2026 in Mumbai, a two-day gathering designed to spark conversation around responsibility, regulation and credibility in modern advertising.
The summit, to be held at the Jio World Convention Centre in Bandra Kurla Complex, will bring together leaders from advertising, media, technology and policy to examine how brands can build trust in a marketplace increasingly shaped by algorithms, influencers and artificial intelligence.
In an age of deepfakes, dark patterns and blurred lines between content and commerce, the question is no longer just how brands capture attention, but whether audiences believe what they see. The AdTrust Summit aims to unpack that challenge.
Day one will turn its attention to the youngest digital natives. Titled Decoding Gen Alpha, the session will unveil ‘What the Sigma?’, a study by ASCI and Futurebrands Consulting that explores how children growing up in a hyper-digital environment encounter advertising and commercial messaging.
The report presentation will be delivered by Santosh Desai, founder and director at Think9 Consumer Technologies and a social commentator known for his insights into consumer behaviour. The discussion that follows will attempt to decode how Gen Alpha consumes media, interacts with brands and navigates the growing overlap between entertainment and marketing.
In a move that mirrors the subject itself, two Gen Alpha students will also join the conversation, offering a rare perspective from the generation advertisers are trying to understand.
The second panel of the day will shift the focus from observation to implication, asking what the report’s findings mean for brands, agencies and society. Speakers include Karthik Srinivasan, communications strategy consultant; Preeti Vyas, president at Mythik; and Abigail Dias, associate president planning at Ogilvy. The session will be moderated by Sonali Krishna, editor at ET Brand Equity.
Day two moves from insight to regulation. Under the theme From Compliance to Trust, ASCI will release its Ad Law Compendium, a comprehensive guide to India’s advertising regulations.
The day will open with a keynote by Sudhanshu Vats, chairman at ASCI and managing director at Pidilite Industries, followed by a chief guest address by Sanjay Jaju, secretary at the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Legal experts from Khaitan & Co., including Haigreve Khaitan, senior partner, and Tanu Banerjee, partner, will present an overview of the current advertising law landscape in India and examine whether existing frameworks are equipped to deal with emerging technologies and formats.
Subsequent panels will explore issues increasingly shaping the industry’s ethical compass. Conversations will range from the limits of persuasive design and the rise of dark patterns, to the growing scrutiny brands face from digital creators and consumer watchdogs.
One session will also feature Revant Himatsingka, widely known online as the Food Pharmer, whose critiques of packaged food brands have sparked debate around transparency and corporate accountability.
Later discussions will turn toward media literacy among Gen Alpha, asking how children can be equipped to navigate a digital world where gaming, content and commerce are becoming indistinguishable.
The summit will conclude with a final panel on the future of advertising, bringing together voices from agencies, legal circles and technology platforms to discuss how innovation, intelligence and integrity can coexist.
For an industry built on persuasion, trust has always been its quiet currency. But as audiences grow more sceptical and digital ecosystems more complex, that currency is under pressure.
Events like the AdTrust Summit suggest the advertising world knows it cannot afford to take credibility for granted. The real challenge now is turning conversation into commitment.
