Digital Agencies
Kantar to continue India investment, increase talent pool & improve tech after deal with Bain Capital
MUMBAI: Research agency Kantar is aspiring to invest more in its global delivery centres and further strengthen its core insight and consulting business in India post the 60 per cent stake sale to Bain Capital. The WPP-held company also emphasised on its India business.
Speaking to journalists worldwide via a conference call, Kantar chief executive officer Eric Salama said that India is one of the biggest and most important markets for Kantar and the association with Bain will not change anything in the way they do business here.
“India is important for us not only because it is a big market but also because we have got a lot of data centres there, which are playing a big role in the rest of the world. We also run our largest delivery systems out of Hyderabad, Gurgaon and Pune. We will continue to invest in the Indian market. There is a real desire to invest more in the delivery centres, as they are world-class, and as well as in the core insight and consulting business within India,” Salama noted.
He highlighted Kantar’s strategy post the changes in its ownership over the 40-minute long call. He said that with the new association with Bain, it is going to put more focus on ramping up its acquisition activities as well as becoming a tech and data-led firm that can deliver real-time data to clients.
Salama said, “We are focusing on becoming much more tech-led, faster, and a real-time predictive organisation. Being a part of Bain Capital, from a capability point of view and from a money point of view, would be enormously helpful in doing that.”
The firm is also looking to increase the length and breadth of its talent pool, Salama mentioned. “We think the world is becoming one where we need more and more specialists around certain areas and build capabilities around media ROI and engineering capacities. We are becoming a much more tech-centric company and adding more data scientists (to our talent pool). We have around 1500 of them around the world and we are going to scale that quite considerably. We are also going to add lots of consultants to deliver a greater client impact.”
He added that the firm is investing in real-time and predictive offers for its clients as well as machine learning and artificial intelligence. It will also be working more on its cross-media measurement techniques to deliver better cross-media management to its clients.
He elaborated on how Kantar is working towards incorporating more technologies and manpower in its business across various verticals like Trade Optimisation, World Panel, and the Kantar Marketplace to deliver more precise and timely data to its clients across the globe. “We are scaling our differentiated solutions. We have introduced a lot of innovation in the market over the last 18 months and now we have the focus on scaling those globally and consistently for all our clients.”
BENGALURU: For years, creative teams have learned to live with ambiguity. Vague comments, last-minute changes, feedback that arrives without context, clarity, or conviction. It became part of the job – something teams worked around rather than getting it solved.
But as we head into 2026, that tolerance is wearing thin.
Creative work today moves faster, scales wider, and involves more stakeholders than before. Teams are producing more content across more formats, often with distributed collaborators and tighter timelines. In this environment, guesswork is no longer a harmless inconvenience. It’s a cost – to time, to budgets, and to creative mindspace.
The real problem isn’t feedback, it’s how it’s given
Most creative professionals you see today will tell you they’re not against feedback. In fact, they rely on it. Good feedback sharpens ideas, strengthens execution, and pushes work forward. The problem is ‘unclear’ feedback. When someone says “this doesn’t feel right” without context, they aren’t just revising – they’re basically decoding. They’re guessing what the problem might be, trying different directions, and burning time in the process. Multiply that by a few stakeholders and a few rounds, and suddenly days disappear.
In 2026, when teams are expected to deliver faster without compromising quality, interpretation is a luxury most can’t afford.
Scale has changed rverything
Creative projects used to be smaller and simpler. A designer, a manager, maybe one client contact. Feedback loops were short, even if they weren’t perfect.
Today, the same project might involve internal marketing teams, agencies, freelancers, brand reviewers, and regional teams. Everyone has a say. Everyone leaves comments. And often, those comments don’t agree. More people reviewing work means alignment matters more than ever. Clear feedback isn’t just about being nice to creative teams, it’s about keeping projects moving when complexity increases.
Guesswork quietly wears teams down
One of the less talked-about impacts of unclear feedback is what it does to people.
When feedback is vague or contradictory, creatives second-guess their decisions. They hesitate. They overwork. They keep extra time buffers “just in case.” Over time, confidence drops. Ownership fades. Work becomes safer, not stronger. Creative energy gets spent on managing uncertainty instead of pushing ideas forward. And in an industry already grappling with burnout, unclear feedback adds unnecessary mental load.
Actionable feedback is a shared skill
Clear feedback doesn’t mean controlling creative decisions or dictating every detail. It means being specific enough that someone knows what to do next.
Actionable feedback answers three basic questions:
What exactly needs attention?
Why does it matter?
What outcome are we aiming for?
This applies whether you’re reviewing a video frame, a design layout, or a copy draft. The clearer the feedback, the fewer follow-ups it creates. In 2026, teams that treat feedback as a skill and not an afterthought, will move faster with less friction.
Tools shape behaviour (whether we admit it or not)
The way feedback is delivered is often dictated by the tools teams use. Comments buried in long email threads, messages split across chat apps, or notes detached from the actual work all contribute to confusion.
When feedback lives outside the work, context often gets lost. When it’s disconnected from versions and timelines, decisions get questioned. When it’s scattered, accountability disappears. More teams are starting to realise that feedback problems aren’t just communication issues, they’re workflow issues. How work moves between people matters just as much as the work itself.
From Opinions To Alignment
One of the biggest shifts happening in creative teams is a move away from purely opinion-driven feedback. Instead of “I like this” or “I don’t,” teams are asking better questions:
● Does this meet the brief?
● Does this solve the problem?
● Does this align with the goal?
This change reduces unnecessary back-and-forth and helps feedback feel less personal and more productive. It also makes decisions easier to explain and defend. As creative work becomes more strategic, feedback has to support that shift.
2026 Is About Fewer Loops, Not Faster Loops
There’s a misconception that speed means moving through feedback cycles faster. In reality, the most creative teams aren’t just accelerating loops, they’re reducing them. Clear, actionable feedback upfront leads to fewer revisions later. Clear approval stages prevent last-minute surprises. Clear decisions stop work from circling endlessly.
In 2026, efficiency won’t come from working harder or longer. It will come from designing workflows that respect creative time and attention.
Ending guesswork is a mindset change
Ultimately, ending creative guesswork isn’t just about better tools or processes. It’s about mindset. It’s about recognising that clarity is an act of respect – for the work, for the people doing it, for the time invested and for the mindspace used. It’s about moving from “figure it out” to “here’s what we’re aiming for.”
Creative teams that embrace this shift will find themselves not only delivering faster, but also enjoying the process more. And in an industry built on imagination, that might be the most valuable outcome of all.
