MAM
IAA India chapter summit: Focus is on ‘Voice of Change!: Gender Portrayal from 30 seconds to 3 hours’
Mumbai: Aiming to bring a change in the industry, the International Advertising Association India Chapter held a change summit titled ‘Voice of Change: Gender Portrayal from 30 seconds to 3 hours.’
The summit incorporated the much-needed conversation on gender parity, as seen in the media, and was brought forth in a day of discussions, debates, and research findings.
IAA started the journey last year with a research study in partnership with UNICEF, conducted by the Geena Davis Institute, on gender representation in advertising.
Taking their cue from the facts presented in the study, the industry body decided to initiate tangible change through the dialogue required to bring about gender sensitivity amongst the people at the helm of content creation and marketing in India.
The summit was felicitated by the presence of various industry experts who presented their thoughts on the subject.
IAA Women Empowerment Committee chairperson and Viacom18 head – Hindi mass entertainment and kids TV network Nina Elavia Jaipuria said, “‘Voice of Change’ harkens the need for a more sensitised and inclusive narrative in content and all the creative minds present here-content creators, brand custodians, and students-are the powerhouses behind creating and marketing that content now and in the years to come. The IAA has stepped up and brought all this learning and more out into the public eye and today, through this summit, takes on the critical role of not only educating and informing but also empowering effective change.”
Taking the event ahead, chief guest MP for North Central Mumbai, Poonam Mahajan told the full house her story and her journey, where at every step she, very organically, broke stereotypes and stands where she is today. From being a pilot to being a member of parliament, she has taken on challenges head on and proven her mettle.
The first segment of the day culminated in felicitating Gender Warriors—an advertising legend popularly known as Shambhu V Sista, a luminary from the world of filmmaking, Guneet Monga, and decorated veteran of the advertising industry, Ramesh Narayan.
The day powered on to a session by Advertising Standard Council of India (ASCI) CEO and secretary general Manisha Kapoor, who dove into the GenderNext report titled ‘Follow Her Lead – GenderNext: A Study on Portrayal of Women in Advertising with Knowledge Partners ASCI.’
Following that was an interesting talk by Futurebrands Consulting MD Santosh Desai, who spoke about the cultural perspective of gender portrayal.
Furthermore, the day also included panel discussions and sessions on critical topics related to gender equality in the industry.
As the day of learning, thought-provoking perspectives, and notable conversations came to an end, the takeaways were an understanding of where the industry stands, where the bottlenecks are, and what needs to be done to achieve a truly fair and equal representation of gender in media, whether it be in a 30 second TVC or a 3 hour film or anything in between.
Watch full summit here
Brands
Google says Gemini AI cuts irrelevant ads by 40 percent
AI driven search and ad tools boost relevance and results for brands.
MUMBAI: In the never ending hunt for the right ad at the right moment, artificial intelligence may finally be sharpening the aim. Google says the integration of its multimodal AI models, Gemini, has reduced irrelevant advertisements across its platforms by 40 percent, as improved query understanding allows ads to match user intent more closely.
Speaking at a roundtable on Thursday, Google vice president of Global Ads Dan Taylor said the company has been steadily deploying Gemini powered upgrades to interpret complex search queries more accurately. “We have been making Gemini based improvements to query understanding at a rate of almost one launch per month over the last two years. As the models improve and our ability to deploy them improves, ad quality continues to get better,” Taylor said.
The improvements come as Google leans deeper into AI driven advertising tools. According to the company, 2025 saw a threefold increase in Gemini generated creative assets produced by advertisers using its AI powered ad solutions.
The company also highlighted how these tools are influencing marketing performance for brands in India.
Insurance marketplace Policybazaar recorded a 28 percent rise in health insurance sales while reducing cost per sale by 23 percent after adopting AI Max, a tool that interprets natural language search queries to improve ad targeting.
Meanwhile, hospitality platform OYO reported 50 percent higher return on ad spend (ROAS) and a 25 percent reduction in cost per acquisition after combining its existing search campaigns with Google’s Performance Max (PMax) advertising campaigns.
Taylor noted that evolving consumer behaviour is also reshaping how brands approach digital advertising. According to Google’s data, 86 percent of shoppers in India using Google Search said they were open to trying new brands or products, suggesting that AI driven discovery tools could increasingly influence purchase decisions.
Beyond advertising, Google is also investing in what it calls agentic commerce, an emerging model where AI agents autonomously assist users in discovering, comparing and purchasing products online.
“Our goal with agentic commerce is twofold, first, to remove the grunt work of shopping so consumers can focus on the fun parts; and second, to work hand in hand with the industry to build the foundations needed to make agentic commerce seamless and secure across the web,” Taylor said.
The push into AI enhanced advertising and commerce comes as Google’s core ads business continues to grow. The company recently reported $82.28 billion in advertising revenue, marking a 13.5 percent year on year increase.
For advertisers navigating an increasingly crowded digital landscape, Google is betting that smarter algorithms and sharper intent signals will make ads feel less like interruptions and more like timely suggestions.
