MAM
ZeeMelt: Bitcoin to be biggest disruptor, predicts Project X’s Nicholas Russel
MUMBAI: It’s the third year of disruptive marketing communication. Established companies had a hard time understanding why this model is a thing of the past. What it all comes down to is: that customers have become market-savvy forward-thinkers.
Startups are entering the game and are giving customers what they want. They are disrupting the industry and forcing incumbents to catch up or fall behind.
WATConsult CEO Rajiv Dingra said, “It’s very important to know what disruption is — it’s not an event, it is a process, and digital creates a lot of disruption — in many ways, like pricing and promotion.”
Talking about disruptive pricing, Project X founder Nicholas Russel said, “If we think about pricing contextually, disruptive pricing is jumping in the real world and starts acting like pricing online. The main concern is about cost price and value. Considering Apple as a brand, the cost of making is $211 and the price we get it from the market is around $550, which helps in reaching the margin to $399, i.e 60%.
Comparing Amazon with Walmart, the former pays 1/3rd of what Walmart pays for its retail stores.” Amazon retail online EB/EBITA ratio is 26.41.
Talking about what e-commerce (Amazon) can do which retail can’t, he said, “E-commerce can have discounted price as compared to retail stores. And, it may lower the price for the good conditioned used products.”
“Bitcoin is going to be the biggest disrupting things in the future which is not controlled by anyone, it is the market altogether. In future, it is possible that you won’t see the price tag on products — it will be available after you scan the barcode on the product,” Russel said.
Dingra added, “Amazon is not an e-commerce company — it has now become an ecosystem company.”
Lava business head & CMO Sunil Raina said, “Disrupting only happens through technological advancements. The challenges faced by Lava to be one of the best and trusted brands in industry are rapid tech changes, short product life cycle, transparent product, demonstration-based selling, different marketing, one brand mutiple channels, multiple pricing and the ever-evolving customer.
To acheive the goal, Lava and XOLO have busted many myths in the industry and the business model of Lava and XOLO are single-layer distribution followed by cash & carry. Keeping the quality in mind it stands on two pillars — first, the consistent product quality, and second, consistent great service. “For us, quality is not a trade-off for price,” Raina said.
Lava claimed to have the highest reach of 1,65,000 retailers with $2 billion annual global revenue. About competition, Rana added, “We are building our base for the last seven years, and after an year, we will be prepared to take on Vivo and Oppo.”
SapientRazorfish VP Saurabh Das said, “Service is basically — live up to your brand promise wherever and whenever customers come calling. A brand needs to accelerate innovation in the service experience to create greater value for customers — stay differentiated & monetise.”
MAM
Brands push beyond compliance as trust takes centre stage
ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026 spotlights shift from legal checks to credibility.
MUMBAI: In a world where a disclaimer can be legally sound yet socially suspect, brands are learning that compliance may tick boxes but trust wins markets. At the inaugural ASCI AdTrust Summit 2026, a panel on “Beyond Compliance: The New Currency of Trust” unpacked a growing industry reality: the gap between what the law permits and what consumers accept is widening and fast.
Moderated by Meenakshi Ramkumar of National Law School of India University, the discussion brought together leaders across law, marketing and academia to examine how brands must evolve in a digital ecosystem increasingly shaped by scrutiny, scepticism and speed.
Ramkumar set the tone by highlighting a critical shift, advertising today operates in the same digital space that fuels misinformation, scams and fake news, making credibility harder to establish. “The challenge is not just about what brands do, but the broader context of low institutional trust,” she noted, adding that when violations go unchecked, trust erodes not just in brands but in the regulatory system itself.
This vacuum, she said, has given rise to consumer activism from boycotts to social media backlash as a parallel accountability mechanism.
For Amit Bhasin, Chief Legal Officer at Marico, the distinction was clear, legal compliance is non negotiable, but insufficient. “Compliance is the minimum threshold. The real challenge is staying aligned with changing consumer expectations,” he said.
He pointed to how advertising narratives have evolved from traditional depictions of gender roles to more shared responsibilities reflecting a broader societal shift. “Earlier, it was fine to show one person doing the household work. Today, that may not land well. Consumers expect brands to reflect reality,” Bhasin observed.
He also highlighted internal debates where campaigns that may be legally permissible are still rejected for being culturally insensitive, noting that responsible advertising often requires asking uncomfortable questions before the public does.
If compliance is the baseline, reputation is the battlefield.
Bhasin noted that reputational risk has become a far greater concern than legal exposure, particularly in an era where campaigns can be dissected within hours online. “Earlier, a controversial ad might invite a newspaper editorial. Today, within hours, you’re at the centre of a storm,” he said.
Brands, he added, now evaluate campaigns through a dual lens legal viability and reputational vulnerability with the latter often proving more decisive.
From a healthcare perspective, Satish Sahoo of Cipla Health underscored the complexity of operating within fragmented yet stringent regulatory frameworks, spanning drugs, food, cosmetics and Ayush. “Anything under a drug licence is the most tightly regulated,” he said, adding that this necessitates proactive, not reactive, compliance.
He shared an example from the oral rehydration salts (ORS) category, where Cipla resisted the temptation to position products aggressively despite competitive pressure. “Our product is WHO compliant, and our communication reflects that. We chose not to blur the lines, even if others did,” he noted.
The long term payoff, he suggested, lies in credibility built over consistency, not quick wins.
Yet, as Harsha N of National Law School of India University pointed out, even perfect compliance does not guarantee trust. Drawing from historical and modern examples from exaggerated product claims in the 1800s to contemporary environmental and health advertising, he argued that legal frameworks often lag behind consumer expectations. “A brand can be fully compliant and still be perceived as misleading,” he said, citing instances where fine print disclosures fail to reach or convince the average consumer. He added that larger companies carry a disproportionate responsibility to set ethical benchmarks, even in areas where the law remains silent.
The conversation also turned to digital advertising, where the challenge extends beyond content to how ads are experienced. From algorithmic targeting to personalised messaging, brands now operate in an environment where regulation struggles to keep pace with technology.
Sahoo noted that social media has amplified awareness, with influencers and consumers increasingly scrutinising product claims and calling out inconsistencies. “Awareness has gone up dramatically. People are questioning what goes into products and what brands are saying,” he said.
The role of self regulatory bodies such as Advertising Standards Council of India also came under the spotlight.
Harsha acknowledged that while SROs play a crucial role, they are not immune to criticism, particularly around perceived conflicts of interest and enforcement gaps. “SROs have a higher threshold of responsibility not just to interpret the law, but to anticipate societal expectations,” he said.
He added that failures in self regulation often push the burden back onto government intervention, underscoring the need for stronger, more proactive oversight.
One of the more nuanced debates centred on whether building trust comes at a cost. While Sahoo acknowledged that quality and compliance can increase costs, he argued that companies must absorb them as part of their long term strategy.
Bhasin, however, framed the challenge differently not as cost, but as competitiveness in a market where not all players play by the same rules. “The real tension is when others cut corners and you choose not to,” he said.
The panel concluded with a call to embed trust into business metrics.
Sahoo suggested that organisations must go beyond revenue targets to include consumer equity and trust based KPIs, ensuring that ethical considerations are not sidelined in the pursuit of growth. “Trust sounds abstract, but it can translate into measurable consumer equity,” he said.
As the discussion wrapped up, one message stood out: the rules of advertising are being rewritten not just by regulators, but by consumers themselves. In an ecosystem where attention is fleeting and scepticism is high, brands that merely comply may survive, but those that build trust are the ones that endure.
