I walked into SMARTIES Unplugged India 2026 with a notebook, a lot of curiosity, and the excitement of getting to learn from people whose work we often study in classrooms.
I walked out with new perspectives, questions, and a lot to think about. As a PGDM student in PR & Corporate Communications at XIC, Mumbai, the opportunity to attend this global industry platform and unofficially represent my institute meant a lot to me. A few moments and conversations stayed with me:
Rohit Dadwal spoke about marketing excellence through creativity, media, and impact. It reminded me that a campaign's visibility means little if it doesn't create meaningful business outcomes.
Hephzibah Pathak showed how brands can become part of culture rather than simply advertise to it. Campaigns like Vaseline’s #VerifiedTrends and Dove’s #TurnYourBack made this idea tangible.
Ankan Sarkar and Shreya Roychowdhury from Toluna offered a glimpse into how juries evaluate campaigns. One takeaway stuck with me: Proof beats promise.
Prashant Gutch from Google explored changing festive consumer journeys, while Deepit Purkayastha of Inshorts and Gaurav Jain challenged how we think about affluence, influence and premium audiences.
Moneka Khurana, helped bring the day’s conversations on marketing effectiveness and excellence together and launched the marketing full funnel playbook, adding to the event’s focus on actionable industry insights.
Across sessions on consumer behaviour, retail media, contextual advertising and AI, one idea kept returning to me: reach isn't always impact, a click doesn't always mean intent, and technology is only useful when it solves a real problem.
What made the experience special wasn't just the presentations. It was getting a glimpse into how people in the industry think, question, and make decisions.
I'm grateful to MMA India, the speakers, and everyone I had the opportunity to learn from.
To learn more about my experiences & key learnings, do read my medium blog: https://lnkd.in/d9rtS8mj
I'm still figuring out the kind of communications professional I want to become. But I know I want to look beyond what worked and understand why it worked.
MMA India Board Member; MD & Chief Client Officer - South Asia; Creative Council Co-Founding Member
Kantar
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Marketing has already become engineering. The danger is that we turn it into surveillance.
That thought stayed with me through an energising end to the week at MMA Smarties, among some of the sharpest marketers and agencies in the country.
Launched the Creative Effectiveness Council with Bhaskar and Sunder, and spoke about why creative coherence belongs at the centre of business decisions.
Then a phenomenal session with Manisha (ASCII) and Moneka on trust and creative effectiveness. I look forward to staying close to the Round Table.
I flew home on the same flight as the arrests. You may have seen the videos. I was in the seat behind. The cabin was split down the middle. People sitting next to each other, living in different worlds.
Algorithms have built that echo chamber in our political world. And now marketers are being advised to build the same thing in our commercial world?
A strong idea does not need a thousand versions. It can move millions of people at once. At its best, creative gives people something in common. Coherence gives content power to travel.
Yes, make your content machine readable. But remember the machine will repeat what you tell it, to millions of people, as fact. So be honest about who you are and what you offer. Then make people feel, because a machine cannot find the feeling that many people share. That is still our job.
Back from a MMA India#SMARTIESUNPLUGGED2026 CMO roundtable on CTV+ Linear TV , on the future of TV in India, and still working through few questions.
India has about 193M TV homes. About 65M are connected (FICCI-EY 2026), and roughly 52M of those stream through a smart TV’s own apps. That’s the base CTV planning works with today.
What I’m learning is how platforms work out which of those homes already saw a brand’s TV ad, so CTV can reach new households instead of repeat ones. Smart-TV data helps, but it covers some TVs, not all.
Three things I’ll now look at in any CTV plan:
1. How much of the CTV audience the data can see
2. Cost per new household, not just CPM
3. A test that shows what CTV added in sales
Attended #SMARTIESUnplugged2026 and walked away with one thought: technology may level the playing field, but ideas create the difference.
One of the sessions that particularly stood out was by Hephzibah Pathak, Creative CEO, WPP India and Executive Chairperson, Ogilvy India, on “Creating Magic in the Multiverse.”
Technology gives every brand access to the same tools. AI, platforms, creators, data and emerging technologies are increasingly democratizing what brands can do.
So, where does distinction come from? It comes from the brand itself and from the intersections where magic happens:
• Creators × Culture
• Platforms × Communities
• Purpose × Technology
• Product × Personalization
• Commerce × Connection
When brands genuinely work these intersections, they stop being sponsors and start becoming participants in culture.
And amidst all the AI, automation and emerging technology, one thing remains unchanged: The real competitive advantage is still human insight + a great idea. Because technology can help you create faster.
