10 questions for advertising & marketing leaders

Indian advertising and marketing is not in a gradual transition. It is in a structural reset. Technology, media, agency models and marketing mandates are shifting at the same time. The separation between content, commerce and communication has weakened. AI has entered workflows. Performance scrutiny has tightened.

Dr Annurag Batra describes this moment as a Samudra Manthan — a churning in which inefficiencies and opportunities surface together. From that thought, and a vantage point that Dr Batra enjoys for the past 25 years, emerge ten fundamental questions for Advertising & Marketing leaders.

1. Media Has Converged. Have We?

Convergence is no longer a prediction. It is an operational reality across the ecosystem.

As Dr Batra notes: “Over the last two decades, we’ve often spoken about the convergence of Silicon Valley, Madison Avenue and Hollywood. That convergence has now truly and deeply happened over the last three to four years, fundamentally changing the industry.
Broadly, there are three parts within our ecosystem — the client side, the agency ecosystem and the media platforms. All three are changing at the same time, creating disruption across the entire value chain.

Samudra Manthan hota hai — usme se vish bhi nikalta hai aur amrit bhi. I believe the vish has already come out, and the amrit is now emerging.”

If platforms, agencies and marketers are all evolving simultaneously, the deeper question is whether organisational design has kept pace.

2. Are We Designing a System — or Just Spreading Budgets?

India remains an AND market. Today, Linear and digital coexist.

“YouTube is the biggest. Connected TVs are a reality, YouTube is a reality, the influencer ecosystem is reality Linear TV is being chipped at. But it is still very big in India. People talk about newspapers being dead. Look at the volume of advertising in newspapers. India is different. Newspapers and TV Channels are all building digital businesses. Look at the economy around gigs. Every medium has its unique quality, and advertisers come to it for that. The viewers or readers come to it for it.”

The media stack is layered, not sequential. The question is whether strategy reflects integration — or is an allocation by habit.

3. Are Multiple Agencies Strengthening Strategy — or Blurring Accountability?

The agency ecosystem is under visible pressure.

“WPP has seen a change in guard and structure. Publicis is growing taller and stronger through sustained acquisitions. Dentsu has been reportedly evaluating the hiving off its international operations.

At the same time, the economics of creativity and media services are changing dramatically.

Advertising agencies are under pressure from all sides. First, AI is repricing the work. Second, consulting firms are taking the top layer, the strategic layer. Specialist, boutique agencies are winning on speed and cost. Add to this a wave of young specialist agencies, the agencies, a PR agency, a performance marketing agency, an experiential agency, a programmatic agency. The CX Agency. You know, I could go on and on. The big conglomerates are now facing what I call the Nokia problem in advertising.”

Specialisation may improve expertise. It may also fragment accountability.

4. To What Extent Does Marketing Truly Own Growth?

Marketing’s mandate has expanded significantly.

“Marketing is not just about advertising and communication. Marketing is not even about marketing. Marketing is about growth. So the chief growth officer is the CMO because everything is becoming quantifiable. More opportunities for the CMO. Also more expectations from the CMO. More bang for the buck. So CMOs are under pressure to drive growth. Today, marketing is expected to drive business outcomes. Growth has quietly become marketing’s job. The question is whether organisations have structurally empowered marketing to deliver that mandate. So, I'd like to see more CMOs become CEOs. Now that will happen when they really do this growth role well”

If marketing owns growth, accountability and authority must reflect that ownership.

5. Are We Evaluating Channel Performance Beyond Channel Metrics?

Data is abundant. We don’t know ‘The Truth’

“I think we don't really want a good measurement. There are vested interests. In broadcasting they want a certain kind of system. On IRS for newspapers and magazines there has a stalemate on for years. Digital is another, monster huge monster. Each platform gives you its own metrics. Each dashboard shows efficiency. We have data. Not necessarily the truth. Without integration, optimisation happens in silos.”

The harder question is whether performance is evaluated at business level — not just platform level.

6. Do We Know Who Our ‘New’ Competition Really Is?

Digital access has democratised scale.

“The long tail is now the growth engine. Smaller brands and digital-first companies are scaling rapidly. They may not compete on mass media, but they compete on performance platforms and commerce ecosystems. Regional brands, Local brands can now compete nationally. So there is now competition in every category and for ALL types of brands in the category”

Competition is more distributed than ever before.

7. Do We Have a Clear AI Strategy — or Just a Toolkit?

AI is reshaping the core of creative production and media planning and buying

“Old agency models will not survive AI. Creative production is becoming more cost-efficient and time efficient. Processes and execution is being automated at scale. One of the things that will become big, is the emergence of GCCs. WPP for the last few years have a huge GCC in India. Huge, right? All the holding conglomerates will do the same because they will offer solutions for the world from India. The real question is how deeply AI is embedded into strategy.”

Using tools is not the same as redesigning systems.

8. Are Our Media Partners Delivering Growth — or Only Selling Inventory?

Media networks are fast evolving beyond traditional formats.

“Media companies are not in the business of newspapers, websites or television. They are in the business of brands and audiences. Media company of the future is one that owns retail, it owns a telco and it retains media company. That's what Mr. Ambani is building. Media networks must deliver brand growth. Reach alone is no longer sufficient.”

The currency conversation is shifting from impressions to outcomes.
The evaluation framework must evolve accordingly.

9. Do We Have a Plan to Bridge the Emerging Talent Gap?

Capability demands have changed.

The talent is preferring to go to a meta, is wanting to go to a Google, is wanting to go to tech platforms. So, I think it's a lot about the talent which is then dependent on the structure. Now this is what we know, but what is the solution to it? The solution to it is doing away with the non-core things in an agency. Billing is non-core. Many non-core tasks can be automated.  You save about three and half percent cost and deploy it in talent.”

Execution can be automated. But Leadership capability cannot be automated.
Structural capability requires redesign of talent models.

10. Is Performance Marketing Compounding Brand Power — or Quietly Depleting It?

Performance marketing vs brand building is a critical debate

“The nature of advertising is becoming such that you put an ad, you can also track whether it's leading to sales because of e-commerce, right? How do you get growth if you don't spend? That happens when you have a strong brand. Or the cost of acquisition is much lower. Smart founders, their investors, know that you get premiums for building a brand.”

The structural tension is whether performance is reinforcing brand power — or slowly drawing upon the equity it depends on.

In Conclusion

The ecosystem has already shifted to a whole new normal. Across media, agencies, platforms and marketing mandates. The shake up is begun. The questions leadership must answer are The structural responses will determine who emerges stronger from the churn.

The above insights are drawn from a 100-minute conversation with Dr Annurag Batra on the MatheMedia Podcast, curated and structured by Shripad Kulkarni.

Link to the full report - https://mathemedia.in/images/am-full-report-2026.pdf