MAM
Ramesh Narayan becomes IAA honorary lifetime member
NEW DELHI: Celebrated advertising professional and founder of Canco Advertising Ramesh Narayan has recently been conferred the IAA Inspire Award — honorary lifetime membership. The award presented by the International Advertising Association is to pay tribute to an individual who is retiring from business and/or who has given long and distinguished service to the association.
IAA immediate past chairman and world president Faris Abouhamad has also been honoured with the same.
Boasting of around two-and-a-half-decades of experience within the industry, Narayanan has been a past president of the IAA India Chapter and the VP marketing and communications for IAA Global.
He was also inducted into the IAA Hall of Fame in 2014 and is a recipient of the lifetime achievement award by the Advertising Agencies Association of India (2014). n 2015, he was named 'Global Champion' by the IAA at the inaugural Inspire Awards in London.
IAA had also recently announced the managing committee for India chapter 2020-21 under the leadership of newly appointed president Megha Tata who is also the managing director – south Asia at Discovery Communications India.
The Mancom members included: Laqshya Media Group MD Alok Jalan; The Advertising Club, Madras past president and independent communication consultant Anbuchezhiyan K; DAN CEO APAC and chairman India Ashish Bhasin; Intelligent Insights founder Venkatramani; Republic TV group president Bhaskar Das; Eenadu director I Venkat; India Today Group VC Kallie Purie; Mathrubhumi PTG & PBG MD MV Shreyams Kumar; Hungama Digital Media Entertainment MD and CEO Neeraj Roy; Viacom18 head – Hindi and kids TV Network Nina Elavia Jaipuria; The Advertising Club, Mumbai president Partho Dasgupta; 9x Media MD Pradeep Guha; Amar Ujala Publications president – marketing Rajiv Kental; Havas Group India CEO Rana Barua; Indira Television director Rani Reddy; Orient Electric business unit head – appliances Salil Kappoor; Madison Communications CMD Sam Balsara; Pantaloons (Aditya Birla Group) CEO Sangeeta Pendurkar; R K SWAMY BBDO CMD Srinivasan K Swamy; BARC India CEO Sunil Lulla’ Zee Entertainment Enterprise Tarun Katial; and Dailyhunt co-founder Umang Bedi, along with Ramesh Narayanan.
MAM
Backslash 2026 report: Why human presence now matters more
Six cultural shifts reveal why human presence is the new badge of value
NEW YORK: In a year when artificial intelligence has churned out oceans of content, cultural intelligence unit Backslash argues that what people now crave is something far less automated. Its 2026 Edges report lands with a clear thesis: culture is searching for proof of human.
Backslash, which serves the agencies of Omnicom Advertising, publishes the Edges report annually to spotlight global cultural shifts with enough staying power to shape brand futures. This year’s six new Edges suggest the pendulum is swinging away from frictionless perfection and back towards craft, provenance and visible effort.
After a flood of AI generated output, audiences have developed a sharper instinct for what feels synthetic and what feels real. The telltale signs of care, quirks and even flaws are becoming signals of value.
“We’re entering a moment where output is cheap, but meaning is not,” said Backslash director of cultural strategy and co author of the report Cecelia Girr. “Technology can do more than ever before. The harder question is whether we want it to. In this next chapter, humanity itself becomes the differentiator.”
The six edges for 2026
- Dark mode: As algorithms flatten taste and feed everyone the same stream, people are retreating into private corners and cultivating one of a kind identities. Meaning, it seems, lives in what does not scale.
- Digital friction: After decades spent polishing away every obstacle, culture is warming to technology that slows us down on purpose. Boundaries and built in limits are being reframed not as bugs, but as safeguards for being human.
- Discomfort zone: In a world engineered for ease, struggle and risk are staging a comeback. Discomfort is becoming aspirational because it signals growth and a more vivid sense of being alive.
- Awakened world: Exhausted by auto pilot living, people are seeking experiences that sharpen awareness and re enchant everyday life. Attention is the new luxury.
- Modern civility: After years of rule breaking and norm shredding, total freedom is starting to feel tiring. Shared codes of conduct are re emerging as a pathway to mutual respect and calmer discourse.
- Archive authority: As digital footprints stretch indefinitely, questions about ownership and memory are intensifying. Who controls what is preserved, what is deleted and who gets access to our collective history may be the next cultural battleground.
If 2025 was the year of machine made abundance, Backslash suggests 2026 will reward what feels unmistakably human. Not louder, not faster, but more intentional. In an age of infinite output, proof of presence could be the most powerful brand asset of all.
