Digital
Sujay Ray rises up the ranks at L’Oréal India as CX champ with content crown
MUMBAI: From spritzing Axe campaigns in Manila to stirring up Mauka Mauka magic back home, Sujay Ray’s marketing playbook has always mixed brains, buzz and bold moves. Now, the man with the digital Midas touch has levelled up at L’Oréal India.
After a high-glam 3.5-year stint as chief digital officer for the Professional Products Division (PPD), Sujay has been handpicked to lead consumer experience, content and advocacy across L’Oréal’s multi-division powerhouse under the CDMO team.
In May 2021, when the opportunity first came knocking, Sujay famously joked about being the “devil in beauty land.”
But that devil’s now wearing Prada —and steering everything from D2C & B2B strategies to DDX, CARE and CX. He credits the rise to strong leadership, a rockstar team, and partners who brought the glow-up.
Before the world of shampoos and serums, Sujay was media royalty—scripting iconic digital runs at Star Sports (remember #LePanga?), AB InBev, Airtel and Mindshare. He’s sold sports, beer, bandwidth and even deodorants. And let’s not forget his early innings at ET and TimesJobs.com, where the pixels were as powerful as the prose.
With this new move, Sujay’s mission is simple: craft experiences that don’t just sell beauty, but feel beautiful.
As L’Oréal doubles down on consumer-first innovation, expect Ray’s roadmap to deliver more punch than a Pro-Kabaddi slam. #OnwardsAndUpwards indeed.
Digital
Ethical AI must benefit society, not dominate it, says WFEB chief Sanjay Pradhan at IAA event
At Mumbai event, ethics expert urges businesses and governments to shape AI responsibly
MUMBAI: Artificial intelligence may be racing ahead at lightning speed, but its direction must still be guided by human conscience. That was the central message delivered by Sanjay Pradhan, president of the World Forum for Ethics in Business (WFEB), during the latest edition of IAA Conversations held in Mumbai.
The session was organised by the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the Artificial Intelligence Association of India (AIAI) in association with The Free Press Journal at the Free Press House on 7 March. Addressing a packed audience, Pradhan called for stronger ethical leadership to ensure AI remains a tool that benefits humanity rather than one that governs it.
“Artificial intelligence has rapidly become one of the most powerful technologies humanity has created,” Pradhan said. “It is unlocking breakthroughs in medicine, science and creativity at a pace unimaginable just a few years ago.”
But he warned that the same technology carries serious risks. AI, he noted, can amplify disinformation faster than facts can travel, compromise privacy, deepen discrimination and disrupt millions of livelihoods. Referencing concerns raised by AI pioneers such as Geoffrey Hinton, often called the godfather of AI, Pradhan stressed that the real challenge is not whether AI will shape the world, but whether humans will shape it with ethics and wisdom.
Structuring his talk around four guiding questions, why, what, how and who, Pradhan introduced the audience to WFEB’s emerging AI Ethics Partnership, a global platform aimed at advancing responsible artificial intelligence. He outlined four priority concerns that demand urgent attention: disinformation, bias and discrimination, data privacy and job security.
To make the idea of ethical AI easier to grasp, Pradhan offered a simple metaphor. Ethical AI, he said, is like a three layered cake. The outer layer represents the visible value ethical AI creates for businesses and society. The middle layer is organisational culture that moves ethics from written codes to everyday practice. The innermost layer, however, is the most crucial, the conscience of individual leaders.
Drawing from Indian philosophical thought through WFEB co-founder Ravi Shankar, Pradhan noted that while artificial intelligence can reproduce stored knowledge, true intelligence is boundless and rooted in conscience, creativity and compassion. Practices such as breathwork and meditation, he suggested, can help leaders develop the calm clarity needed for ethical decision making.
The event also featured a discussion with Maninder Adityaraj Singh, chief of staff and head of innovation at Rediffusion Brand Solutions Pvt Ltd, and Yash Johri, lawyer, Supreme Court of India.
Opening the session, IAA India chapter president Abhishek Karnani, highlighted the need for industries to understand and engage with AI responsibly.
“AI has to be befriended and understood,” added Rediffusion managing director and AIAI national convenor Sandeep Goyal. “Its ethical use will determine whether it becomes a friend or a foe.”
As AI continues to reshape industries and societies, Pradhan ended with a simple but powerful call to action. Businesses, governments and individuals must work together to ensure that the algorithms shaping the future reflect human values rather than just cold logic.
