AD Agencies
Brands take centre stage at Mipcom Cannes 2025
PARIS: Brand money is flooding into television. At Mipcom Cannes this month, the world’s largest TV market is rolling out the red carpet for corporate storytellers with the first international edition of BrandStorytelling, a summit that has spent a decade building its reputation at Sundance.
The two half-day event on 13 and 14 October brings together an unlikely crowd: global brands like Ancestry and Indeed, creative agencies including Dentsu and McCann, and heavyweight studios such as Banijay, Fremantle and BBC StoryWorks. Their mission is to turn corporate cash into compelling content—and to do deals that make it happen.
Rick Parkhill, the producer and media entrepreneur who founded BrandStorytelling, reckons the sector has come of age. “Brands are increasingly behind some of the biggest stories on our screens globally,” he says. The event’s expansion from Park City to the French Riviera suggests he’s onto something.
Among the speakers are Doug Scott, founder of Unxnown and an alumnus of Endeavour and Ogilvy, and Kim Miller Olko, global chief marketing officer at Toys”R”Us and president of its in-house studio. Representatives from over 20 organisations will take the stage, from the Branded Content Marketing Association to entertainment giants like UTA.
Mipcom Cannes director Lucy Smith says the “overwhelming response” from the industry confirmed the appetite for a dedicated brand-content forum. The summit promises to unlock new funding streams and co-production opportunities at a time when traditional television budgets are under pressure and brands are hunting for more sophisticated ways to reach audiences.
The event, sponsored by Fell + Co., Storybones Media and IPG Mediabrands Entertainment is part of Mipcom’s broader embrace of the creator economy. Last year’s market drew over 10,500 delegates from more than 100 countries—a captive audience for anyone peddling the promise of brand-funded programming.
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.
