Campaign India has named Shekar Khosla, vice president – marketing, Google India as jury chair for the inaugural Campaign India AI Awards, an initiative designed to celebrate and draw inspiration from the innovative work of organizations and individuals who are setting thoughtful, human-centric standards for artificial intelligence (AI) adoption in advertising and marketing.
Khosla’s appointment comes as AI adoption across India’s marketing ecosystem accelerates, signaling a growing collective focus on establishing the benchmarks for effectiveness, governance, and creative accountability that will define the industry's future.
According to Grand View Research, India’s market for artificial intelligence in marketing is projected to reach revenue of $ 4,378.6 million by 2030, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 28.5% between 2024 and 2030.
At the same time, MMA Global India’s inaugural ‘State of AI in Marketing’ report points to an industry still navigating the operational realities of adoption. While 73% of respondents said AI would significantly enhance marketing capabilities without replacing human creativity and expertise, 69% identified skilling and training as one of the biggest barriers to implementation. The study also found that 42% of organisations remain in the experimentation phase of AI adoption, while 54% believe AI’s role in marketing is still not effectively understood internally.
Against that backdrop, the Campaign India AI Awards has been conceived to recognize brands and individuals who are setting new standards through human-led AI creativity and measurable business outcomes, rather than AI experimentation in isolation.
The Awards will recognise work spanning creativity, data and artificial intelligence, with a focus on campaigns and systems where human strategy, creative judgement and responsible implementation shape AI-enabled outcomes.
As jury chair, Khosla will work alongside the jury panel and Campaign India’s team to help define the evaluation framework for the awards, including parameters around effectiveness, strategic thinking, creative integrity and responsible AI deployment.
Khosla joined Google India in 2023 from Kellogg’s Singapore HQ, where he served as the Chief Commercial Officer for the Asia Pacific, Africa & Middle East regions and Board member of Kellogg’s JVs. He spearheaded the commercial organization and digital transformation of sales, marketing, revenue management, media, insights, and data analytics. His extensive experience also includes over 20 years of senior sales and marketing positions at Unilever. Additionally, he has previously served as the chair of judges for the WARC Asia Strategy Awards.
Commenting on the role of AI in advertising and marketing, Khosla said, “The technology to elevate the craft is ready; the challenge is no longer about adopting AI, but thriving within it. True maturity isn't achieved by bolting tools onto legacy workflows - it requires shifting our cultures from AI anxiety to AI empowerment. As an industry, the path forward must be bold, responsible, and together. This means being bold in our creative ambition, responsible in our implementation, and scaling innovation with integrity as we work on this together as an ecosystem.”
He added that the industry’s next phase will depend less on access to tools and more on how businesses combine AI with human judgement. “Becoming an AI-first organization demands that we remain fiercely people-first. In a market as diverse and vibrant as India, one-size-fits-all marketing has never worked. True impact happens when teams move past generic automation and use AI-powered intelligence to capture micro-moments—fusing technological capability with deep social and creative acumen to deliver resonant marketing at the speed of culture.” he said.
On joining the Campaign India AI Awards as jury chair, Khosla said the initiative arrives at a critical point for the industry. “We are witnessing a massive ecosystem reset across India’s digital economy. As AI transitions from an experimental novelty into an operational reality, we cannot afford to work in silos. We need industry-wide benchmarks that recognize bold, responsible innovation—where human empathy and strategic judgment guide the technology. These Campaign India AI awards will establish a framework for work that balances business outcomes with creative integrity.” he said.
The awards are structured around three core pillars: intelligence over hype, effectiveness at scale, and human-tech collaboration. Entries will be evaluated on how AI contributed to measurable outcomes while remaining grounded in strategic clarity, creativity and responsible execution.
Campaign India AI Awards is open to advertising, creative, media, PR and digital agencies; in-house brand, growth and innovation teams; martech, adtech and AI platforms; consultancies; analytics and transformation firms; start-ups and specialist teams working on AI-led marketing solutions.
As adoption accelerates, the awards aim to document how agencies, brands and technology partners are moving beyond AI experimentation towards systems capable of delivering scalable commercial and creative impact.
Details about Campaign India AI Awards can be found here.
