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Publicis Groupe launches PubHub, Rajesh Ghatge named chief growth officer
Delhi : Publicis Groupe on Wednesday announced the launch of PubHub, a comprehensive ecosystem that will create bespoke marketing transformation solutions at scale ,through the integration of specialised capabilities across data, content, technology, production, and commerce.
PubHub will tap into PG India’s established model that provides services to some of the top global clients across multiple markets.
The model has demonstrated success in connecting people, processes, systems and data needed to fuel marketing transformation in all aspects of design and delivery. It is built to be open source, connecting with tech partners and clients’ partner agencies alike to deliver on client goals better, faster and efficiently, said the agency.
PubHub will be led by Indigo Consulting CEO Rajesh Ghatge, who now additionally takes on the role of chief growth officer, Publicis Groupe India. Ghatge is already leading the implementation of Global Hub for GSK.
Last year Publicis won the global production mandate of Circle in partnership with Tag. It is a first ever model set up to deliver marketing transformation, using data, content , technology and production capabilities and will be servicing close to 90+ brands across 90+ markets.
Ghatge has been with the Groupe for close to four and a half years and has close to three decades of experience across marketing and technology. Previously he has launched and built organisations in the space of travel, training and brand activation . Before joining Publicis, he also led a technology-enabled social enterprise which trained and certified school drop-outs to become certified elder care workers.
Publicis Groupe, South Asia, CEO Anupriya Acharya says, “Today, the demand for scaled marketing transformation solutions is growing exponentially– on the back of accelerated adoption of digital and tech. For Publicis Groupe , India has emerged as a massive capability centre for digital and tech-led deep expertise across contemporary and innovative marketing and business transformation solutions. Large mandates across global and national brands are being managed across the Groupe in India. The launch of PubHub is timely and apt. With an intrinsic model to scale fast, it has been designed to be agile and responsive while leveraging our proficiency and vast experience across the creative, technology and media competencies.”
Rajesh Ghatge said, “As a client organisation, the choices of agency partners, consulting partners , tools and technologies are immense. These choices are giving rise to one big challenge – that of being able to weave together the right components of creative , data and technology to effectively win in the platform world. Moreover, reclaiming growth has become the number one priority for most enterprises in a dramatically changed world. In this added mandate , I am looking forward to leverage our diverse capabilities and experience to create repeatable and scalable solutions for our clients via PubHub, and fuel significant growth for them.”
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.
