MAM
Alchemist launches specialist agency Clay to cater to real estate sector
MUMBAI: Marketing solutions company Alchemist has launched a specialist agency called Clay to solely cater to brands in the booming real estate sector.
Clay will be helmed by Farhan Khan as business head and COO, who was previously with Xeco Marketing as COO.
Along with Khan, Clay has also roped in communication specialists and associate managing consultants Anushree Murkute and Amy Mathew with their respective teams. Both Murkute and Mathew come from an advertising background.
With offices in Mumbai and Gurgaon, Clay started out with five retainer and three project based clients. The retainer clients include Disha Direct and Nirvana Reality, Rajasthan based ARG Group, Delhi basd Novell and real estate technology start-up Realty Redefined.
The Clay division will report in to Alchemist CEO Anujita Jain. “Clay is providing genuine strategic advice and execution together, a never before complete solution from under one roof. It will be giving through the line services to the currently pressured Real Estate segment. These include brand and communication strategy, advertising, direct marketing, CRM, events and activations, lead generation and management, digital and social activation, velebrity endorsements and more.”
Alchemist director and magicbricks.com founding member Rajkumar Remalli added, “Clay is about creating brands in the real estate world, which was hitherto ruled just by project launches, successes and failures. No more will investments made in one product be non-cumulative to others by the same corporate brand.”
Clay also has its own creative, digital, CRM and events and activation support teams. The agency will draw on Alchemist’s strengths in outdoor advertising and celebrity management combined with new skills and ideas.
Khan said, “I have seen clients yearning for true strategic advice and the commitment of the same advisors to walk the talk and talk. Clay is meant to do exactly that. We have already done invaluable value addition and created IPs for our clients in this little time we have been operational. Establishment of World Broker’s Day is one such proud achievement.”
The company has also initiated the celebration of World Broker’s Day on 9 June every year. This is an insight driven strategy for the real estate brokers, for recognising their thankless services they provide to the customers. The campaign climaxed with a packed audience convention on WBD in Mumbai. Apart from benchmark ideas, Clay is navigating clients through the current challenges and pressures and has several projects line up like Wollywood, City of Music, ARG One, Maple Leaf, Reso’villa, R Square, Agent Search, etc.
Disha Direct MD Santosh Naik said, “In Alchemist and Clay we find partners who do what they say. They walk towards results and go beyond the brief. They provide business strategy and not just marketing. They execute for results, not applauses. I am glad we connected and are working together.”
Alchemist MD Manish Porwal added, “Brand Clay is the first of many specialized communication solutions that you will now hear from Alchemist. The next quarter for Alchemist is full of preparations for future that will change a bit of the communication landscape. We are excited and so are our clients.”
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.
