Agencies that don’t own outcomes will be irrelevant: Social Beat’s Vikas Chawla

At the e4m-iDAC Summit 2025, Vikas Chawla, Co-Founder of Social Beat, spoke about the need for agencies to evolve in an era dominated by artificial intelligence, automation, and changing consumer behaviour. He urged agencies to shift from being execution partners to becoming outcome owners.

Chawla pointed out that while globally, digital accounts for nearly 72% of total advertising, India still stands at about 44%. “It’s still far away from the global average, but the shift will continue,” he said. However, he warned that automation and AI have significantly reduced brand control. “Almost 50% of the content that users see is not based on what brands decide—it’s what AI decides, based on user interests. That number is only going to increase.”

He added that consumer journeys have also transformed. “Earlier, we assumed there was a funnel—awareness, consideration, purchase. But today, discovery and commerce can happen within minutes on QuickCommerce platforms. Sometimes, commerce happens first, discovery later.”

Chawla referred to Kantar research that showed aggregate attention is what drives impact in the modern digital space. “Earlier, a 30% reach and four to five frequency worked. Today, that doesn’t cut it. You need to be real and consistent on platforms,” he said. “Over time, aggregate attention creates far more impact for brands.”

Calling on agencies to redefine their value proposition, he warned, “Brands are asking—can we do it ourselves using AI? That’s why we as agencies need to move beyond being platform or brand experts to owning the outcome. Because if you’re not owning the outcome, we will be irrelevant.”

“We started Social Beat in 2012, and today we look at the intersection of media, creative and technology—how you really use that to drive business outcomes for brands,” he said.

Chawla said that nearly 45% of Social Beat’s clients now have performance-linked engagements tied to mutually agreed outcomes. He also explained his IDAC framework—anchored in AI integration, data-driven creativity, measurement, and agility—as a blueprint for future-proofing agencies.

“If Meta, Google, and Amazon are taking away the options we used to offer, and AI can create business-as-usual creatives instantly, our value must come from strategy, measurement, and integration,” he said.