Opinion

Marketers mistook being seen for being worth remembering. They optimised for presence, not for consequence.

This International Day of Play, Shashank Lanjekar, national strategy head, BBDO India, argues that making room for fun can unlock fresh ideas and true team spirit.

Snapchat's UK boss Jake Thomas argues that the future of live sport is not just broadcast; it is mobile, social and participatory.

As AI reshapes the communications function, the profession is hiding behind a word it has never had to prove.

Most media rebrands in India don't fail because of bad design. They fail because the organisation mistakes the packaging for the product.

Data can tell us what audiences clicked on yesterday. But it cannot explain why certain stories survived years and others disappeared in weeks.

Ferrari has built its brand on a very specific set of sensory cues. Could a deviation from those cues prove to be its smartest bet yet?

Performance marketing excels at capturing demand. But demand capture is not demand creation. The brands that endure are investing in something else entirely.

There is value in people who know how to make things work in the present.

SIGNALS: For years, the dominant logic held that visibility was the proxy for credibility. That no longer holds true, and brands need to adapt.

The idea of a unified green consumer is fading, forcing brands to rethink sustainability strategies in a fragmented market.

Campaigns still matter. But in a world of hundreds of touchpoints and millisecond decisions, the brands building durable equity are those with ownable design systems – not just a great creative.

The real barrier to intelligent customer engagement isn't talent, budget, or even technology. It's the plumbing.

How the transparency revolution became a trust exercise

Traditional segmentation was built for a slower world. By the time a pre-built segment fires, the moment it was designed for has often already moved.

Parts of the industry have started mistaking measurement for strategy, and the two aren't interchangeable, writes Ian Whittaker in his latest op-ed for Campaign.

Not only were businesses the most trusted institution in the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer, 81% of respondents believe businesses should play a role in addressing societal challenges.

Why the most critical phase of agency-building is neither the beginning nor the outcome, but the messy, uncertain middle.

Audemars Piguet is betting that proximity to the dream will recruit the next generation of dreamers rather than retiring them at an affordable price point. Will that bet rewrite the luxury brand playbook?

What started out as a way to “chat with your data” is now becoming something much bigger.

SIGNALS: Brand awareness without brand substance is a ceiling, not a foundation. You can spend your way to recognition, but not trust.

This distinction is where many organisations fundamentally misread the future of marketing transformation.

Global riots and store closures fuelled by a $400 pocket watch reveal the high cost of a brand strategy that prioritises spectacle over safety.

If AI search is compressing the web into a single answer, YouTube is compressing complexity into something you can see and follow, writes Piramal Finance's Arvind Iyer.

Rising CAC, declining ROAS, and low retention rates are forcing startups to rethink how they approach brand building.

With World Cup broadcast rights still unresolved in India and China, up to 2.8 billion fans could miss coverage—making the ROI for Asia’s FIFA sponsors harder than ever.

In a marketplace drowning in AI-generated content, the most radical thing a brand can do is to be undeniably, imperfectly human.

You can’t be a male ally if you’re not in the room.

Sabastian Sawe’s London Marathon win validated years of adidas engineering work, showing substance still matters more than spectacle-led branding.

Attention may start the conversation, but trust is what closes it, particularly in high consideration categories, says Saurabh Jain, CMO, The House of Abhinandan Lodha.

Vishaal Shah, founder, Moe's Art, argues that Martin Sorrell's recent critique confuses a narrow, outdated interpretation of the discipline with the function itself.

The conversation inside boardrooms is evolving from impressions and ROAS to blended acquisition cost, contribution margins, and repeat revenue ratios.

Modern marketers have become world-class trackers, but third-rate listeners. And the reason for this listening deficit isn’t a lack of tools or privacy regulations. It’s a culture problem, writes ButtonShift's Deepankar Das.

Audiences are actively seeking out branded content because they are willing to go to those platforms to watch something interesting.

SIGNALS: Communications agencies want a seat at the table, but earning that seat means agencies should be empowered with the full brand context, not just an invitation.

Unseen algorithms are quietly shaping the options we see. The difference is subtle, yet significant enough to change how decisions take form.

Used properly, AI doesn’t replace expertise, it amplifies it.

In the rush to look ‘fresh’, ‘premium’, or ‘Gen Z‑first’, some brands are editing the very foundations that made them strong.

Brands and agencies must move from output to outcome as the old agency model gives way to end-to-end ownership.

As consumers and employees become one audience, organisations must deliver authenticity and cultural alignment across every touchpoint.

Despite shortages and social chatter, loyalists aren’t switching brands. This highlights how habit, identity and cultural cachet now intersect.

Spending on social media platforms is funding harm inflicted on audiences.

For decades, aspiration was one of the central emotional contracts in Indian advertising. It worked because the underlying promise — defer now, receive later — held. That logic is now eroding.

Why ‘method branding’ and fan service defined the festival’s most-searched year yet.

There is a specific reason why this pattern keeps repeating, and it sits in a place most companies are reluctant to examine — the westernised template.

As sonic branding grows in India, so do questions of infringement, overlap, and legal clarity.

Omnicom doubled its cost-synergy target overnight and its share price jumped 13%. WPP has already cut 7,000 roles. Ian Whittaker writes on the financial logic that is quietly tearing the agency industry apart, and why Publicis is the only one that can say no.

Rushing the brief doesn’t save time; it just moves it to the most expensive part of the process, says Pieter-Paul von Weiler, co-founder of BetterBriefs.

In a world defined by craftsmanship and heritage, attention is shifting to the brands with the greatest culture equity.

Conventional digital wisdom says pick a niche and stay there. The legendary singer built a brand on defying that advice.