MAM
Madison Media ropes in Vishal, Ambica and Akanksha for key roles
Trio joins to drive digital and integrated growth in North & East
DELHI: Madison Media is giving its North and East operations a fresh jolt of energy, bringing in three senior professionals to strengthen its digital and integrated media leadership.
Vishal Kumar has joined the agency as vice president, digital business for the North and East. He will steer the region’s digital growth plans, working closely with chief digital officer Vivek Das and COO Mimi Deb.
This is a homecoming for Vishal, who returns to Madison with more than 18 years of experience across marketing, media and digital transformation. An alumnus of Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar, he spent nearly eight and a half years at GroupM, most recently leading the digital practice for Wavemaker North. His work earned recognition at industry platforms such as the Emvies and Goafest.
Most recently, he founded LeapX.ai, a Nasscom awarded start up that builds AI agents for paid digital advertising, sharpening his expertise at the crossroads of data, technology and performance marketing.
Madison has also added two more senior hires to the North and East leadership team. Ambica Chaudhary joins as deputy general manager, integrated media, while Akanksha Panwar comes on board as deputy general manager, digital business.
Ambica brings more than 15 years of experience across global agency networks including Starcom, Wavemaker and most recently PHD. She has handled integrated media planning for brands across categories such as CPG, smartphones, luxury fashion, mobility and life sciences, including managing Unilever’s media mandate in North America. At Madison, she will focus on building client centric, integrated media solutions for the region.
Akanksha also comes with over 15 years of experience, spanning software engineering, IT and digital advertising. An MBA from the University of Nottingham, she spent the last six years with WPP Media and previously held digital leadership roles at Dentsu. She has delivered full funnel strategies across sectors such as CPG, electronics, fashion and health insurance, and her work has been recognised at the Emvies, Indian Digital Marketing Awards and Campaign India Digital Crest Awards.
Speaking on his return, Vishal said it was an exciting time to be back as the company moves ahead with its Madison 3.0 vision. He added that his recent experience building LeapX.ai at the intersection of AI, data and performance marketing would help scale digital growth and strengthen tech and data capabilities in the region.
Mimi Deb said the new appointments would add fresh depth to the leadership team. She noted that Vishal’s expertise in data and technology, along with Akanksha’s digital experience and Ambica’s global exposure, would help drive the next phase of growth across the North and East markets.
Vivek Das added that the hires were strategic bets on digital first growth. He said Vishal’s mix of platform scale, AI entrepreneurship and agency experience would help translate Madison’s AI powered tools into sharper strategies and stronger brand commerce integration, while Ambica and Akanksha would reinforce integrated planning and full funnel execution.
With the new trio in place, Madison appears set to press the accelerator on its digital ambitions in the North and East.
Digital
India leads global adoption of ChatGPT Images 2.0 in first week
From anime avatars to fantasy covers, users turn AI visuals into culture
NEW DELHI: India has emerged as the largest user base for ChatGPT Images 2.0, just a week after its launch by OpenAI, underlining the country’s growing influence on global internet trends.
While the tool was introduced as an advanced image-generation upgrade within ChatGPT, Indian users are quickly reshaping its purpose. Instead of sticking to productivity-led use cases, many are embracing it as a creative playground for self-expression, storytelling and online identity.
From anime-style portraits and cinematic headshots to tarot-inspired visuals and fictional newspaper front pages, the model is being used to create highly stylised, shareable content. Features such as accurate text rendering, multilingual prompts and the ability to generate detailed visuals with minimal input have helped drive rapid adoption.
What sets the latest model apart is its ability to “think” through prompts, generating multiple outputs and adapting to context, including real-time web inputs. But the bigger story lies in how users are engaging with it.
In India, trends are already taking shape. Popular formats include dramatic studio-style lighting edits, LinkedIn-ready headshots, manga-inspired avatars, soft pastel “spring” aesthetics, AI-led fashion moodboards, paparazzi-style visuals and fantasy newspaper covers. Users are also restoring old photographs, creating tarot-style imagery and experimenting with futuristic design concepts.
Local flavour is adding another layer. Prompts such as cinematic portrait collages and Y2K-inspired romantic edits are gaining traction, blending global aesthetics with distinctly Indian internet culture.
The surge reflects a broader shift in how AI tools are being used in the country, moving beyond utility to creativity. As younger users, creators and social media enthusiasts experiment with new visual formats, AI-generated imagery is increasingly becoming part of everyday digital expression.
If early trends hold, ChatGPT Images 2.0 may not just be a tech upgrade but a cultural moment, giving millions a new visual language to play with online.
