AAAI Creative Council can become a catalyst in expanding creative landscape: Josy Paul

Indian advertising has never been short of trophies, award nights or panel discussions on the state of creativity. What it has lacked, at least institutionally, is a room built for creativity itself. That changed in October, when the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI), the apex body of the country’s ad agencies, set up its first-ever Creative Council under its 2026-27 agenda and handed the reins to Josy Paul, Chairman and Group Chief Creative Officer of BBDO Group India.

The question doing the rounds in agency corridors is a fair one: Is this another well-meaning committee, or the start of something that actually moves the needle?

A seat at the top table
On paper, the remit is wide. The Council is meant to nurture emerging talent, back regional creativity, champion independent agencies and raise creative standards, using debates, demonstrations, readings, film screenings and conversations between generations of creatives. It sits within AAAI’s restructured board, which has also added regional chapters for North, South and East India, a sign that the association wants to look beyond the usual metro bubble. AAAI President Dr Sandeep Goyal has been clear on the intent. “For the first time in our history, we are bringing creativity to the absolute forefront of our institutional framework,” he said.

The choice of Paul is telling. He has more than 25 Cannes Lions to his name, including a Grand Prix and multiple Golds, and his Ariel ‘Share The Load’ campaign was ranked by WARC, the global marketing effectiveness research body, as the world’s most effective campaign for two years running. He also leads a network agency, which makes him an interesting captain for a council meant to back the indie and regional underdog. Whether that proves a bridge or a contradiction will depend on what the Council does next.

The access problem, in numbers
India’s ad business is not short of money. The Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2026 puts the market at ₹1,55,105 crore in 2025 under its expanded definition, a 12% jump over 2024. The harder question is who gets a slice of the creative opportunity that money throws up. Briefs can gravitate towards the usual suspects, pitch lists can look suspiciously familiar, and the metro agency with a glossy showreel often gets the call before the sharp shop in a smaller city does.

The awards circuit is not making it easier. India closed Cannes Lions 2026 with five Lions, two Silver and three Bronze, against a record 32 in 2025 that included a Grand Prix and nine Golds. Entries fell 31.2% to 676 from 982, a sharper drop than the 25.5% fall in global submissions, which suggests agencies are rationing award budgets. When entry fees and case-film costs come under the scanner, smaller and regional shops are usually the first to sit out, so recognition risks pooling further in a handful of big networks.

Paul locates the problem less in talent and more in reach. “India is bursting with extraordinary creative talent. Some of the freshest perspectives and most exciting cultural expressions are emerging from places and people that the industry doesn’t always get to meet,” he told e4m. In other words, the Bandra-to-Bhopal gap is one of introductions, not ideas.

That is why access sits at the centre of his diagnosis. “The biggest barrier is a shortage of access, exposure and opportunity,” he said. The Council, he is quick to add, is no magic wand. “Not overnight, and certainly not by itself. But it can become a powerful catalyst.”

Redefining what counts as creative
Awards have long been the industry’s default yardstick, but even Cannes seems to be moving the goalposts. Winning work at this year’s festival was less about a well-told story and more about solving real problems, creating new experiences or changing consumer behaviour. That sits neatly with Paul’s push for a wider definition of creativity. “We need to expand our definition of creativity. It lives in music, cinema, design, technology, science, literature, popular culture, communities and everyday human behaviour,” he said.

It is a useful provocation for an industry that can be fond of its own echo chamber. Work shaped by a musician’s ear, a designer’s eye or a technologist’s toolkit is more likely to surprise than yet another film from the same mood board, which is the spirit of Paul’s call to let these worlds collide. His yardstick is impact, not hardware. “We must celebrate ideas that move people, change behaviour, challenge conventions, solve real problems and make a difference to society and business. Ideas that are born from a deep understanding of people, their conditioning, their cultures and their dreams.” For regional and independent agencies that live close to local culture, that definition is home turf.

From intent to scoreboard
Intent is easy and scoreboards are hard. If the Council wants to be judged on more than good conversations, it will need yardsticks the industry can actually track. Think of how many live briefs reach independent and regional agencies, how many mentees from smaller cities land real jobs or projects, how many shops from outside the metros turn up on pitch lists, juries and stages, and whether a year-end report card is published for everyone to see. These are suggestions, not announced targets, but they map to the levers Paul himself names. “It can connect people, create platforms, open doors to briefs, and build mentorship opportunities.”

The catch is that AAAI can open doors but cannot write the cheques. Briefs come from marketers, which means CMOs and client-side teams have to buy in for any of the numbers to move. Paul’s first-year wish list is framed around people. “We want more young people to see advertising as a place where they can do extraordinary things,” he said, adding that the Council will “actively encourage and create opportunities for emerging talent to work on meaningful briefs, build mentorship relationships with creative leaders, and develop platforms that showcase work and ideas from across India.”

Paul ends on an invitation rather than a promise. “We want India to become an even greater source of creative inspiration for the world. We need more believers and collaborators.” Whether the Council becomes a catalyst or just another committee will be decided by who turns up and what gets counted. After a lean Cannes, a fatter pipeline of fresh talent would be a very good problem to have.