On April 27, 2023, the India Chapter of the International Advertising Association (IAA) hosted its first-ever digital event, TechPulse, at the Taj Santacruz in Mumbai.

The event brought together industry veterans, thought leaders and innovators to discuss the latest advertising and marketing trends, emerging technologies, and best practices.

“Digital Transformation: Implications for Advertising and Marketers,” the event’s theme, provided insights into the opportunities and challenges presented by the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Neena Dasgupta, Chairperson, IAA TechPulse, and CEO & Founder of The Salt Inc Consulting, CEO of Aidem Ventures, said, “With TechPulse, we brought together some of the brightest minds in the advertising and market industry. Going forward, IAA TechPulse will provide a platform for industry professionals to learn, share, and collaborate on the latest developments in the field.”

TechPulse, an IAA India chapter, began with a minute of silence in memory of Siddharth Rao, Co-Founder WebChutney (acquired by Dentsu) and Punt Partners. Neena Dasgupta and Avinash Pandey, President of – the IAA India Chapter and CEO, of ABP Network, provided context for the event before an engaging discussion on the change in content delivery in linear and integrated contexts by Megha Tata, CEO Cosmos-Maya, and Anant Goenka, Chairperson, IAA TechPulse & Executive Director, The Indian Express Group.

The main event began with a thought-provoking session on the role of technology in India’s digital foundation and the opportunities it presents for maximizing efficiency by Neeraj Roy, Founder & CEO of Hungama Digital Media Entertainment Limited. Charulata Ravi Kumar, MD of Accenture, also spoke at the event about digital disruption and its impact on socioeconomic changes.

Karthi Marshan, Advisor at Kotak, emphasized the importance of adopting new developments with caution, particularly in the banking and finance sectors. Niraj Ruparel, Emerging Tech Lead at GroupM/WPP, presented some novel Generative AI applications. Tarun Katial, Founder & CEO of COTO App discussed the marketer’s dilemma in the conversational AI era and how to solve it.

A panel discussion on “Marketing Solutions in a Cookie-less World,” moderated by Nandini Dias, Former CEO, of Lodestar UM, was also part of TechPulse. Prasad Shejale, Founder & CEO of Logicserve Digital, Sanjay Sindhwani, CEO of Indian Express Digital, Siddharth Dhabade, Managing Director of MiQ, and Neil George, Managing Director of Nivea India, spoke on the panel about the challenges and opportunities of marketing in a cookie-less world.

Satya Raghavan, Director of Marketing Partners at Google India, highlighted Google’s progress in understanding consumer behavior in the face of emerging environmental and contextual constraints. Shilpa Sadana, Associate Director of Sales at Affinity Global Advertising, and Ritu Mittal, Head of Marketing and Digital at Bayer Consumer, each presented a case study emphasizing the importance of research insights in developing creatives for digital platforms.

Priya Choudhary, Director of Business Solutions & Insights at Google India, discussed the need for integrated media measurement and potential guidelines for it. This was followed by an informative panel discussion on the new world of cross-media measurement, moderated by Vivek Malhotra, Group CMO (India Today Group) and COO of Consumer Revenue. L V Krishnan, CEO of TAM Media Research, Anand Chakravarthy, Chief Growth Officer of Omnicom Media Group, Vishal Chinchankar, CEO of Madison Digital, Gowthaman Ragothaman, Founding CEO of Aqilliz, and Prasun Basu, Head of Growth and Digital Transformation at Kantar discussed the need for cross-media measurement and the challenges that come with it.

Amer Jaleel, former Group Chief Creative Officer and Chairman of MullenLowe Lintas Group delivered the final session on the importance of creativity in the world of technology, data, and methods.

The event also announced innovation awards to recognize the enterprises and the foresight of individuals to implement innovative thoughts into action.

The innovation awards were identified under four segments – Marketing, Media, Agency, and Platforms:

• Prasad Pimple, EVP and Head of Digital, Kotak Life was presented the innovation award for going deep into customer mindset segmentation and linking psychographic triggers to behaviors to unlock value across all digital activities.
• Niraj Ruparel, Emerging Tech – Lead at GroupM/WPP for diving deep into Conversational AI and Metaverse and bringing the two together to unlock and implement some of the best-experienced innovations.
• Neha Barjatya, Director of Marketing, Google India for combining the power of platforms and the ambition of empowering rural women to create sustained opportunities and strong communities.
• Vivek Malhotra, CMO of India Today Group and COO of Consumer Revenues for innovating on integration content, context, and audience behavior to grow the customer base exponentially.