Applications
Brands navigate trust, AI and culture to thrive in today’s media landscape
MUMBAI: If marketing is war, then the battlefield is shifting from loud campaigns to sharper trust-building, from chasing clicks to curating culture. That was the resounding theme at the session “Driving Performance and Brand Reputation in a Dynamic Media Landscape” at the 3rd India Brand Summit 2025, where five marketing heavyweights unpacked what it takes to stay relevant when algorithms, attention spans, and authenticity collide.
On stage were Harshita Hemnani (Bharti AXA Life Insurance), Argho Bhattacharya (Payu), Sayantani Das (Jumboking Burgers), Ritu Mittal (Bayer South Asia), and Anita Subramanian (JLL), with Abhishek Pujar of IAS steering the discussion.
The conversation quickly zoomed in on artificial intelligence not as a futuristic buzzword but as an everyday reality. Mittal argued, “AI-generated content is a broad term not all of it is bad. If brands use AI to scale authentic storytelling and create contextual variations, it’s a powerful ally. But when AI content becomes clutter or poor quality, that’s when reputations get dented.”
Das agreed that authenticity must rule over noise. “The brand will win not by shouting the loudest, but by being contextual and authentic,” she said, pointing out how creative variations and asymmetric segmentation now matter more than ever in cutting through digital saturation.
Culture, too, emerged as a defining battleground. “You can’t drop a generic festive message and expect it to resonate,” said Hemnani. “Brands need to mirror the cultural mood whether it’s Diwali, Pongal or Christmas and be seen in environments reflecting joy, togetherness, and Indianness.”
For Subramanian, real estate marketing offers lessons in nuance: “Trust is everything. Technology can scale, but human-led experiences are irreplaceable. That’s where AI works best augmenting, not replacing, authenticity.” She highlighted how launches today are often creator-led, citing international examples where communities turn content into commerce.
Bhattacharya, from PayU, brought in the customer lens. “Consumers don’t care about brands, they care about what you can do for them. Value is the keyword, whether it’s price, quality, or convenience. Festivals amplify this tendency to spend, but the trick is to stay transparent, relevant, and valuable.”
When the debate turned to balancing short-term performance with long-term reputation, the panel agreed there’s no either/or. “It’s not performance versus brand anymore, it’s about balance,” said Mittal. “Whether that’s 70-30 or 50-50 depends on your category and consumer priorities, but both are critical for sustainable growth.”
Looking ahead, panellists predicted disruption from agentic AI, niche AI tools for smaller cohorts, and experience-driven marketing that fuses data with human insight. As Mittal summed up: “Responsible AI, trust, and personalisation will define the winners. In the long run, transparency and authenticity will separate brands that thrive from those that fade.”
With over 300 delegates in attendance, the session reinforced a striking truth: in an era where algorithms increasingly decide visibility, the ultimate differentiator remains deeply human trust, culture, and value.
Applications
Inshorts Group chief Deepit Purkayastha joins IAB video council for Southeast Asia and India
The co-founder and chief executive of the short-form content platform has been inducted into the IAB SEA+India Video Council, giving India a stronger voice in shaping digital video frameworks
NOIDA: India has long been the world’s most chaotic, multilingual and mobile-first digital market. Now, one of its most prominent short-video executives is getting a seat at the table where the rules are written.
Deepit Purkayastha, co-founder and chief executive of Inshorts Group, has been selected as a member of the IAB SEA+India Video Council for 2026. Run by the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the council brings together senior leaders from Southeast Asia and India to shape standards, best practices and measurement frameworks for the fast-evolving video and digital advertising ecosystem.
The timing is pointed. According to the IAMAI-Kantar Internet in India Report 2025, over 588 million Indians are now consuming short-video content, with growth increasingly driven by rural and non-metro audiences. India’s active internet user base has crossed 950 million, with 57 per cent of users now coming from rural markets. Yet the frameworks that govern how video consumption is measured and monetised were largely designed for single-language, Western markets and have struggled to keep pace with the scale, diversity and complexity of India’s digital landscape.
Purkayastha is no stranger to these debates. He already serves on the AI Council at Marketing and Media Alliance India and as co-chair of the Digital Entertainment Committee at the Internet and Mobile Association of India. His induction into the IAB SEA+India Video Council extends that influence into the global video standards arena.
Inshorts Group sits squarely at the intersection of these forces. Its flagship product, Inshorts, India’s highest-rated short news app, reaches 12 million active users with 60-word news summaries. Its sister platform, Public App, reaches 80 million monthly active users across more than 700 districts and 12 languages, serving communities that most global platforms barely register.
Purkayastha said the opportunity was about building something more representative. “India today sits at the centre of the global video ecosystem, but the frameworks that define how value is created and measured have not always kept pace with the realities of our market,” he said. “Being part of the IAB SEA+India Video Council is an opportunity to contribute to a more representative and future-ready approach, one that accounts for diversity in language, context, and user intent.”
As a council member, Purkayastha will contribute to shaping regional standards across video advertising, measurement and platform governance, with a focus on frameworks that are native to India’s multilingual, mobile-first ecosystem rather than imported from global benchmarks designed elsewhere.
For years, India has been content to play by rules written for other markets. Purkayastha’s induction is a signal that it is done waiting to be consulted and ready to start writing them.
