Karnani’s IAA India term ends with AI, skills and industry conversation centre stage

MUMBAI: Abhishek Karnani steps down as president of the International Advertising Association India chapter after a two-year run that kept the industry focused on three clear priorities: AI, skilling and conversation.

He took over in September 2024 just as generative AI was leaving the lab and entering boardrooms. The chapter’s response was deliberate. Embrace the technology, but do not let it push human judgement, creativity or ethics to the side.

“What’s good is good for business, and communication can be a force for good,” Karnani noted while summing up the period.

IAA Conversations brought in heavyweight voices. Dr Sanjay Pradhan stressed ethical accountability. Google DeepMind’s Dr Manish Gupta explained frontier models. Futurist Adjiedj Bakas offered a wider lens. A LinkedIn CMO roundtable on “Winning in the AI Era” turned the discussion into concrete questions about decision-making, creativity and growth. The sessions were designed to move the industry past hype and into usable insight.

Talent work ran alongside. Snapchat helped run an augmented reality workshop that gave emerging creative talent direct experience of new formats. The Voice of Change programme, in partnership with Unicef and the Geena Davis Institute, walked into agencies such as Ogilvy, VML, BBDO and Madison. Josy Paul and Kainaz Karmakar led frank sessions on gender stereotypes. That effort fed directly into the India Advertising Midline Study, delivering hard data on bias and representation that agencies can no longer ignore.

The big stages stayed busy and sharper. The Leadership Awards featured a conversation with Dr Ram Charan and recognised Uday Kotak, Dilip Shanghvi and Prasoon Joshi. IndIAA Awards juries were chaired by Meta India’s Arun Srinivas and Amul’s Jayen Mehta, raising both the quality of entries and the depth of the judging process. Olive Crown Awards kept the sustainability focus and pushed further by aiming for net-zero operations, including tree planting to balance the carbon footprint of the event itself.

Links with ad:tech, MMA Global and the Indian Society of Advertisers were strengthened, creating more room for collaboration across the marketing ecosystem. Prasar Bharati chairman Navneet Kumar Sehgal spoke on modernising public broadcasting. A Sambad CEO Conclave in Bhubaneswar examined growth in Eastern India through skilling and technology, widening the chapter’s geographic reach.

Purpose campaigns stayed active throughout. The chapter used its creative and media muscle to flag early autism detection, eye donation and relief for Assam flood victims, showing that communication can still move people beyond commercial goals.
The term ends with a clearer platform and continued support for AdAsia 27, which is set to be held in India. Technology opened new routes. Skilling prepared the people. Conversation kept everyone honest.

The tools have changed. The need for judgement has not.