There’s so much conversation around AI today, but I think we learn the most when we share what we’re actually doing with it.
Really glad we could share our experience, and I hope it gives fellow marketers some ideas and inspiration to explore how AI can make a difference in their own work.
We’re all learning as we go, and the more we share, the more we learn from each other!
Moneka and MMA India team are bringing important conversations around AI and marketing to the forefront. So much to learn from the work happening across the industry!
Our team spent the day at the #SMARTIES™ Unplugged 2026 Conference!
Across sessions on retail media, creative effectiveness and AI, one shift kept coming up: consumers now discover brands through AI agents, alongside creators and commerce platforms.
That’s the space we work in every day at OptimizeGEO. Here’s how the big ideas from the day connect to AI-led discovery:
Touchpoints driving the top 20% of consumer attention in India grew from 12 in 2018 to 21 in 2024 (WPP Media Touch Points India Study).
AI assistants like ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity are now part of that mix. When someone asks an AI which brand to buy, the answer shapes their shortlist before they visit a single website.
67% of marketers find it hard to connect the consumer journey through measurement (MMA India x WPP research).
AI search adds a new layer here. Brands need to know how often they appear in AI answers, which sources AI relies on, and how that visibility links to shopping and sales.
Around 6% of 15,000 branded creator assets analysed by Kantar went on to build the brand.
Consistency matters to people and to AI models alike. A brand that tells one clear story across its website, reviews, media coverage and creators is easier for AI to understand and recommend.
Intent carries more weight than reach. AI conversations are high-intent moments: the person is actively asking for a recommendation. Showing up there is one of the strongest signals a brand can earn.
AI is a growth lever. MMA India’s 101 AI in Marketing Use Cases library, launched by Moneka Khurana, Rohit Dadwal and Ranjana K., brings together real use cases from 30+ companies and 50+ brands, with measurement and customer journeys sitting right alongside content.
As discovery, media and commerce come together in the AI era, OptimizeGEO helps brands see and improve how they show up across AI search, from AI visibility (Generative Engine Optimization) to shopping and commerce data and LLM ad intelligence.
How is your brand tracking its presence in AI answers today?
That was the thread running through today's Leadership Dialogue at #SMARTIESIndia, "Beyond Efficiency: Where AI creates real growth, not just efficiencies," moderated by our President, Asia Pacific, Raman Kalra with Pavanjit S Bedi (CMO Foods, Hindustan Unilever) and Sunita Bangard (MMA India Board Member; CEO – Emerging Opportunities Novel Jewels, Aditya Birla Group).
Practical takeaways:
**Speed is a growth lever.** Bewakoof, from Aditya Birla's fashion portfolio, can deliver a custom t-shirt in 3 days. That's AI turning efficiency into a product people pay for.
**AI can help you find the next market.** HUL Foods used it to pivot from hot drinks to cold beverages to reach Gen Z.
**The bottleneck isn't the tech.** AI literacy is still low. Talent, culture and behaviour change decide how much ROI you actually get.
**Efficiency and growth aren't opposites.** Done right, efficiency lifts both the topline and the bottom line.
**The biggest boardroom myth is "AI will take away jobs."** The panel's view was that AI handles execution and humans own the rest, including great storytelling.
**For the next 12 months, treat AI like gymnastics.** Make small bets, fail fast, learn fast, and build the muscle.
The organisations that win won't be the ones with the most AI tools. They'll be the ones whose people know how to use them.
Thank you to Pavanjit, Sunita and Raman for a grounded, no-hype conversation.
“If the moment belongs to a machine, does contextual marketing die – or matter more than ever?”
That was the question we closed on at MMA IndiaSMARTIES Unplugged 2026 – and across 30 unfiltered minutes, the answer became clear: context is not what it used to be. It’s what AI finally made possible.
Hybrid India was proud to host 'Contextual Marketing in the AI Era' on the Unplugged stage – a panel built not to pitch contextual, but to pressure-test it.
What’s real. What’s hype. What’s working in Indian media plans today. And what marketers should actually ask for before they sign the next deck.
Ketan Deorankar rightly set the tone for the room. Today’s AI doesn’t just read what the page is about. It reads the image. It reads the sentiment. It reads the intent. It reads the moment the user is already in.
But that opens a sharper question for the buyer side – how do you tell the difference between real AI-driven contextual intelligence and marketing hype?
At Hybrid, this is the thesis we build on every day. #Attention is the real currency of digital advertising. Context is one of the sharpest tools we have to earn it. #VOX by Hybrid – our AI-Vision platform – exists to put brands where attention already lives: inside the content, inside the moment, inside the question the user is actively asking.
81% of Indian marketers prioritise reach, while 69% don’t use attention in media planning, finds Publicis Media India and MMA India’s Beyond Reach report.
More here: https://lnkd.in/gBPxVsKi
Amazon Ads, in collaboration with MMA Global India and WPP Media, has launched ‘From Fragmentation to One View’, a playbook designed to help Indian brands build connected and measurable advertising strategies across the consumer journey.
According to the findings, 82% of advertisers aspire to full-funnel marketing, but only 18% say they are very successful at it. Meanwhile, 67% identify the lack of unified cross-channel measurement as their biggest obstacle, while 69% say unified cross-channel attribution is the capability they need most.
The playbook highlights the growing complexity of consumer journeys, with the number of touchpoints required to drive 80% of purchase decisions nearly doubling from 12 in 2018 to 21 in 2024.
Great to collaborate with MMA India and Kantar on this meaningful dialogue. Conversations like these reinforce the importance of trust in driving creativity and marketing effectiveness.
Great meeting everyone - such an enriching conversation with an exemplary group of sharp leaders. Looking forward to staying in touch. And please feel free to reach out for anything.
