MAM
Dentsu Creative Impact ropes in Anupama Ramaswamy and Akashneel Dasgupta as ECDs
MUMBAI: Dentsu Creative Impact, the creative agency from Dentsu Aegis Network that went on to win 23 metals at the Goafest this year, has made two major senior appointments in an attempt to further strengthen its creative product.
The agency has roped in Anupama Ramaswamy and Akashneel Dasgupta as Executive Creative Directors, who will report to Dentsu India Group, NCD Soumitra Karnik.
Prior to joining Dentsu Creative Impact, Ramaswamy was Executive Creative Director at Cheil, Gurgaon and was in-charge of the Samsung Mobile account. In the recent years, Anupama has worked on the launch of the Galaxy J series, Note 4, Grand 2 and the extremely-popular “Fickle is Fun” campaign for Lavie Handbags.
Commenting on her new role, Ramaswamy said, “I am very excited to join Dentsu Creative Impact. I have loved the vibe of the agency since the moment I walked in. Soumitra and Amit have been trying to get the best possible talent, and my mandate here is to have fun while building a vibrant and creative culture. This will involve less rhetoric and more hands-on hard work.”
Some of the agencies that she has worked with include JWT, Lowe, Rediffusion, Havas and FCB. She has worked across a gamut of brands such as Nokia, Airtel, Woodland, Whirlpool, LG, Maruti, Lays and Boost. In her kitty are a number of AdFest Golds, Spikes, Effies, New York Festival and a number of Abby’s. She was part of the One Show Jury in 2012 and is a regular face on the Goafest jury panel over the last few years.
Meanwhile, Dasgupta’s last assignment was at ADK Fortune where he was heading the creative function. Dasgupta started his career in advertising with strategic planning at Mudra.
Commenting on his new role, he said, “It’s an exciting time to join Dentsu Creative Impact where a young new team has taken shape and one cannot fail to notice the energy and enthusiasm. Also, it was a personal desire for some time to work with Soumitra and I am happy that an opportunity has presented itself. Hope you get to hear more from us, soon.”
Talking about the exciting new additions to the team, Karnik too said, “Great work happens when people commit to constantly raising the bar. We are young and tremendously hungry for qualitative growth. To satiate our appetite and to help us achieve our objective, people become easily our single most valuable asset and we cherry pick each one of them. Both Anupama and Akash are just the kind of people Dentsu Creative Impact needs to write its destiny. For me, they are our fantastic acquisitions.”
Echoing a similar sentiment Dentsu Creative Impact SVP and branch head Amit Wadhwa added, “It’s been great going for Dentsu Creative Impact, especially in the last year or so, and one way we can really continue this upward journey is by having the right people around. This holds true even more so when it comes to the creative talent, since that is where the action finally boils down to. I think in Anupama and Akash we have two extremely talented, passionate and at the same time mature heads that will take us to where we intend to go.”
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.
