The Indian AdGeek

Inside Creative Tech at Publicis feat. Laurent Thevenet (Head of Creative Tech APAC, Publicis Groupe)

On Episode 27 of The Indian AdGeek, Vishal Mehra sits down with Laurent Thevenet, Head of Creative Technology APAC, Publicis Groupe. What does creative tech actually look like inside a large agency network? Laurent talks about how AI is being used in day-to-day creative work, where it adds the most value, what still needs to stay “technologically inefficient", and why the real moat is not just tools but culture, structure, and taste.  Also, APAC’s most underrated innovation pockets, the rise of India as a creative-tech force, & the technologies that may matter even more than AI in the years ahead. 📺 Why AI is a foundational utility rather than a differentiating competitive moat 📺 How Le Pub and Le Collective are discarding traditional agency models to make tech an organic reflex rather than a final layer 📺 Centralising tech capability in Singapore without losing the hyper-local cultural nuances of markets like India, Vietnam, and Indonesia. (Plus, a shoutout to the incredible work coming out of Leo Burnett Mumbai!) 📺 Why advertising is currently underestimating the physical web (Apple Glasses) and why quantum computing, not AI - will be the next massive technological leap 📺 Laurent's top creative tech bets and hiring advice for independent agency founders looking to survive the next 12 to 24 months The Indian AdGeek streams on all podcast apps.

Veni, Vidi, VML feat. Babita Baruah (CEO, VML India)

What happens to advertising when AI agents shop for us, Q-commerce becomes a media channel, and a team of five can do the work of twenty? In this episode, Babita Baruah, CEO of VML India, talks about her 30 year journey in WPP, breaks down how BX, CX and commerce come together to build human-centric, connected brands in a Bharat-first, AI-fuelled market. We talk global brand guidelines vs local realities, the future of the big TV spot, talent in an AI world, value-based pricing and why creativity still has to stay stubbornly human. 📺 What happens when one of India's most enduring advertising leaders sits down to talk about everything the industry is too polite to say out loud? You get this episode. 📺 Going deep on the fault lines defining the industry right now: why friction in the purchase journey might be a feature, not a bug; and how AI is reshaping the agency P&L in ways most leaders won't say on record. 📺 They talk Q-commerce and the 6-inch shelf where decisions happen in under 10 seconds. They talk about what a creative director actually does when execution is a commodity. They debate whether the pure-play agency model can still deliver 10%+ growth year-on-year. And they go into the value-based pricing question that every agency CEO is quietly terrified of, how do you charge more for faster, AI-augmented output to procurement departments trained to count manhours? 📺 Babita also shares her view on what skill a 2026/27 graduate needs that simply didn't exist two years ago, where she'd place her bet on the Indian startup ecosystem by 2030, and, if she were building an agency from scratch today, whether it would look anything like the network model we have now. The Indian AdGeek streams on all major podcast apps. Vishal on X [https://x.com/vishal1mehra]

Kulfi-dential: Building the Collective feat. Advait Gupt (Co-Founder & CEO, Kulfi Collective)

Episode 25 What happens when an agency refuses to call itself an agency? In our silver jubilee episode, Vishal sits down with Advait Gupt, Co-Founder & CEO of Kulfi Collective, the Mumbai-based creative powerhouse behind Supari Studios and brand work for Spotify, Netflix, Crocs, Nothing, LEGO, Red Bull, and CRED. Advait unpacks how Kulfi stayed bootstrapped while peers chased eye-watering valuations, what changes now that Divya Karani has joined as chairperson, and why the company sits in the awkward, beautiful space between branded content, original IP, and immersive experiences. The conversation goes deep on the commercial model behind a collective, the procurement problem that's quietly reshaping Indian advertising, the rise of dark social and creator-led communities, the q-commerce squeeze on creative canvases, owned-IP economics, the so-called “independence tax" of the AI era, and what brand building looks like in 2027 when consumers never see an ad. Plus: how a frozen dessert became the name of one of India's most exciting creative companies. The Indian AdGeek streams on all major podcast apps. Vishal on X [https://x.com/vishal1mehra]

Outdoor vs. The Algorithm feat. Ranga Somanathan (Global Chief Strategy Officer, billups)

Episode 24 What does a Global Chief Strategy Officer at one of the world's most sophisticated out-of-home companies actually think about the state of media? Quite a lot, and almost none of it is comfortable. In this episode of The Indian AdGeek, Vishal Mehra sits down with Ranganathan Somanathan, Global CSO at billups and former CEO of both Publicis Media and Omnicom Media Group across Southeast Asia. Ranga has spent over two decades running some of the most complex media operations in the APAC region, and he's arrived at some sharp conclusions. They cover the holding company model's quiet unravelling, why outcome-based pricing remains a zombie idea despite years of industry consensus, whether programmatic DOOH is solving the right problem or destroying what made OOH powerful in the first place, and what Zepto and Blinkit's rise actually means for outdoor media's next brief. They also go deep on India's pitch culture dysfunction, the real margin story inside media agencies, and why the seniority trap in advertising is more structural than anyone admits. Plus: the role of AI in media planning, what a young media professional should genuinely bet on, and what being named in Campaign's 50-over-50 really felt like for someone who's wrestled with self-doubt. The Indian AdGeek streams on all major podcast apps. Vishal on X [https://x.com/vishal1mehra] What Next? by Rishad Tobaccowala [https://open.spotify.com/episode/3wUmflNM9wtOLmvJcJFLPt?si=edbca8df792f4ecb]

Is Every Agency a Social Agency? feat. Toby Southgate (Global CEO, We Are Social)

In Episode 23 of The Indian AdGeek, we sit down with Toby Southgate, Global CEO of We Are Social, to dissect the fundamental evolution of the agency model. Toby has navigated every corner of the advertising world, from the upstream consulting of Brand Union and the global scale of McCann Worldgroup to the creative independence of Forsman & Bodenfors. We dive into: 📺 How to build a timeless brand identity in a world of 24 hour trend cycles and algorithmic fragmentation 📺 The shift from influencers to makers and what it means for agency P&Ls 📺 How to justify strategic investment in unmeasurable communities like Reddit, WhatsApp & Discord 📺 Identifying the un-houseable value proposition that prevents clients from doing it all themselves 📺 Why the “Plus Company” partnership model is leaving traditional holding company baggage behind This is a wide-ranging, no-filler conversation that covers the structural future of social agencies. The Indian AdGeek streams on all major podcast apps. Vishal Mehra - ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@vis⁠hal1mehra⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠