AD Agencies
iMark PR debuts with Dubai’s department of tourism and commerce marketing account
Mumbai, January 6, 2006—iMARK Public Relations, with specialization in travel and tourism PR, investment promotion and destination marketing has made its debut with the prestigious Government of Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) account. iMARK also bagged the prestigious Dubai Shopping Festival 2006 travel trade promotions project within the first week of its operations.
iMARK is headed by Rajiv Desai as its Chairman & CEO with Carl Vaz as the Chief Operating Officer. The company has commenced operations with offices in Delhi and Mumbai and has ambitious plans to become India’s leading travel & destination marketing practice.
Both Vaz and Desai have been associated with DTCM interests in India for the past eight years. “We started 2005 with Comma Consulting and now we formally launch iMARK. Together these two companies will cater to the new and emerging PR needs in India. While iMARK will provide specialized communications for the travel & tourism, investment promotion and destination marketing sectors, Comma will continue to provide high-level consulting services in media relations, development communications, public affairs and the management of corporate communications” said Desai.
“In Carl, we have the right experience and expertise that is required for a specialized PR company like iMARK. His experience of 14 years in sales, marketing, advertising and the PR industry, deep understanding of destination marketing and promotional management business will be very useful for iMARK’s clients. We expect the travel and tourism segments to grow rapidly in the years to come and iMARK will be at the leading edge in helping clients with their global and Indian marketing plans,” Desai added.
“Our mission is to provide clients in the tourism, aviation and hospitality industry with the highest standards of service through our knowledge pool that include media relations and marketing communications counsel. Destinations targeting the ever growing Indian outbound market will find iMARK’s in-depth travel trade relation management programmes and marketing counsel a critical component of their marketing strategies for India” added Vaz.
iMARK and Comma Consulting are subsidiaries of Rajiv Desai and Associates Private Limited.
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For further information please contact:
Carl Vaz (iMARK – Mumbai)
Mob: 09821095523
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: 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.
