AD Agencies
Abbys 2022 onboards five more jury chairs
Mumbai: The jury chair at Abbys 2022 has roped in five more eminent jury chairs on Thursday. It is being assembled gloriously with stalwarts of the advertising industry, both national and global. The five new Jury chairs will be judging the awards along with international judges.The jury comprises:
Ayappa KM
Early Man Films director and partner Ayappa is an accomplished writer and director of commercials, documentaries and television series. His work has been highly awarded at both Indian and international festivals including Cannes and D&AD. Ayappa is known for his offbeat directing style and unusual casting. Other awards won by Ayappa include Spikes, AdFest, Abbys and Kyoorius.
Devika Prabhu
Disney Star business head, kids & infotainment Devika is also onboarded. She oversees the content and communications initiatives across the bouquet of six kids and infotainment channels- Disney Channel, Hungama TV, Super Hungama, Disney Junior, Disney International HD, National Geographic, Nat Geo Wild and Fox Life. She is responsible for shaping the overall creative vision and driving the content and communications strategy.
ALSO READ: Abbys 2022 onboards six adland executives as jury chairs
Geet Rathi
TBWA design & creative director Geet heads design duties for TBWA Design By Disruption. She is Campaign Brief 2020 Asia’s eighth most awarded creative in India. Geet has been on the jury at One Show Design in 2021 and the Cannes Young Lions & Clio Health and Cannes Lions Jury in 2019. Geet is the founder of Blink To Speak TBWA India Design Lab.
Megha Tata
Discover South Asia-Warner Bros managing director Megha spearheads several marquee brands for the Discovery network in India including the country’s largest aggregated real-life infotainment OTT platform. In 2020, Discovery India retained its position as the ‘Most Trusted Real-Life Entertainment Brand’ by TRA Research Pvt Ltd for the 10th year in a row. Megha is also the second woman ever to become the president of the India Chapter of the International Advertising Association.
Raj Kamble
Famous Innovation founder and chief creative officer Raj Kamble who is one of the most awarded and globally recognised Indians in advertising. He has over 150 awards including several Cannes and One Show Golds. Famous holds the title of seven-time winner of South Asia Independent Agency of the Year in a row. Raj is a frequent lecturer at the Kellogg Institute of Management and Columbia University. He is also the director of Miami Ad School in India.
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:Â 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.
