MAM
Hockey India names Digital Latte as its social media agency
Mumbai: Hockey India has announced the signing of Digital Latte as its new digital media agency for the management of its social media requirements.
Digital Latte, a full-service creative digital agency, will be working towards presenting fresh digital ideas to push for engaging content on all social media platforms, and will also be using consumer insights to connect with the hockey fans in India and abroad, said the statement.
“We are delighted to partner with Digital Latte as our new social media agency. In the growing digital world, it is important to connect with your audience digitally, and Digital Latte’s growing reputation over the past decade has convinced us that it is the ideal agency for us to work towards that goal,” stated Hockey India president Gyanendro Ningombam.
Following the success of the Indian Men and Women’s Hockey Teams at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 where the Indian Men ended a 41-year medal drought with their bronze medal feat and the Women team’s historic fourth-place finish, Hockey India believes it is the right time to seize the popularity of the sport and engage with global fans with right digital messaging and promotion of the players across teams.
“Particularly after the Olympic success, Indian Hockey is gaining popularity not just in India but across the world and the sport’s digital presence is of paramount importance. We see this as an opportunity to further build the Hockey India brand and explore commercial opportunities for the future development of the sport,” Ningombam further said.
Commenting on the new association, Digital Latte founder and director Chintan Vora said, “Hockey is a sport of intrinsic value to our cultural and national identity in India. It is a great opportunity for Digital Latte to associate so closely with an organisation of national importance such as Hockey India.”
MAM
Madison World to launch AI platform M BrAIn for media planning
Agency group invests about $1 million as it shifts to AI driven growth planning.
MUMBAI: If media planning once ran on spreadsheets and gut instinct, the next chapter may run on algorithms and curiosity. Madison World is preparing to roll out the first version of its proprietary artificial intelligence platform Madison M BrAIn in early April, as the independent agency group accelerates its transition toward AI driven planning and product led media services.
The platform, expected to involve an investment of around $1 million, is designed to reshape how the agency approaches strategy by combining internal knowledge, external data sources and advanced AI models into a single intelligence ecosystem.
According to Madison Media, OOH and Hiveminds partner and group CEO Ajit Varghese the initiative forms part of a larger structural rethink within the organisation. “Traditionally agencies built frameworks around media planning and allocation. We are redesigning that structure into what we call a Growth Planning System (GPS),” Varghese said.
The shift reflects a growing belief that effective media strategy must begin earlier in the decision making process. Instead of jumping directly to channel allocation, planners must first decode the market itself identifying consumer barriers, purchase triggers and the core challenges facing a brand.
Once those insights are mapped, agencies can build clearer growth agendas for clients and design media strategies that connect more closely with business outcomes.
To support that approach, Madison has built Madison M BrAIn as what it describes as a human AI cognitive ecosystem. Acting as a central intelligence hub, the platform aggregates proprietary insights alongside external data sources and large language models, enabling planners to access deeper market intelligence before building campaign strategies.
Varghese said one of the core objectives is to democratise knowledge across the organisation. “In the past, this level of understanding was largely available to senior leaders or experienced strategists. With Madison M BrAIn, even a junior planner should be able to access the same intelligence and approach clients with a far more informed perspective,” he said.
The agency has already implemented the new planning philosophy internally and completed three months of testing for the AI platform, with early trials showing encouraging results in terms of learning capability and system performance.
While the first version relied on global large language models, Madison is now developing its own proprietary Small Language Model (SLM) to serve as the core of the M BrAIn ecosystem.
“The SLM will be able to read global LLMs, but the LLMs cannot read the SLM,” Varghese explained. “That ensures all the intelligence we build remains within the Madison ecosystem and strengthens our proprietary knowledge base.”
The first version of Madison M BrAIn is expected to go live in early April, with a more refined version targeted by the end of June. Over time, the platform will integrate additional external data streams and APIs including consumer insight platforms, social listening tools and client datasets.
These integrations are expected to enhance the system’s learning capability and enable it to generate increasingly sophisticated strategic recommendations.
Although the platform is currently being deployed for internal use, Madison sees potential for it to evolve into a licensable product in the future.
“At the moment, our focus is to stabilise and strengthen M BrAIn internally. But over time there is potential for this to become a product that could be licensed externally,” Varghese said.
The AI platform is also part of a wider technology transformation underway at the agency group. Alongside M BrAIn, Madison is building a broader digital infrastructure called the Catalyst operating system, which aims to integrate operational processes, data and product platforms into a unified ecosystem.
This broader technology stack could require an additional $1 million to $1.5 million investment over time, though spending will be phased and reviewed regularly.
“We are evaluating progress every three months and prioritising the most critical capabilities first,” Varghese said.
Madison expects the full AI and operating ecosystem to be fully functional within 12 to 18 months, positioning the agency to combine human strategy with machine intelligence as the advertising industry enters its next data driven phase.
