India’s advertising industry is no longer debating Artificial Intelligence (AI), it is now deploying it. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, Firefly, and Meta AI are no longer fringe novelties, they are co-writers, co-designers, and co-strategists. The scale of adoption is striking. Global giants like Omnicom and Dentsu Creative Isobar are embedding AI deep into their systems, while homegrown powerhouses such as LS Digital, Grapes Worldwide, and NP Digital are building their own proprietary stacks. Even independents like mFilterIt, Frodoh, OktoBuzz, Almonds Ai, Azmarq, and ArtE Mediatech are joining the race. The ‘AI arms race,’ as insiders call it is no longer metaphorical, it is a contest where speed, scale, and personalisation are the ultimate creative superpowers.
Creative Collaboration
Walk into a brainstorming session today, and the scene looks different from just three years ago. Instead of whiteboards cluttered with scribbles, agencies are using dashboards, generative copilots, and AI-driven concept boards. Campaigns that once took weeks of iteration now move from idea to storyboard in hours. This evolution is not limited to small agencies experimenting from their corners, global holding companies are leading from the front.
Sahil Shah, President, Dentsu Creative Isobar says, “AI has become an extremely integral part of whatever we do. From a creative/content perspective we do a lot of referencing as well as pitches lead work using generative AI. While Gen AI overall is in the space of assisting, I think it does a pretty good job easing out creative blocks or helping imagine it better in visuals. From a media planning POV, because of the advent of AI into Google and Meta platforms the optimisation is now fully replaced by AI. This has given our talent more time to analyse data, derive insights and build deeper strategies.”
Nitin Naresh, Managing Director, Magnon Designory highlights, “Our holding company, Omnicom, has a deep focus and on-ground action towards incorporating AI into its routine functioning. There is a significant portfolio of tools, with custom instances for the network, that have been deployed for content creation and media planning. These are all governed by a detailed policy framework that ensures any client data is shielded from external training models and never repurposed for machine learning to safeguard our clients’ privacy and confidentiality. Our teams are increasingly using generative AI for ideation & drafting early-stage storyboards to using Generative Fill for assistance in production.”
Naresh points to Omnicom’s extensive toolkit, which includes TBWA’s Collective AI, ChatTBWA, Adobe Express with Firefly, RunwayML, Murf, and Rocketium. The breadth of these tools reflects how AI has moved from being a niche experiment to a system-wide standard.
Shradha Agarwal, Co-Founder and Global CEO, Grapes Worldwide explains, “From assistance in developing content to campaign planning and strengthening the core of our creative processes, we are taking advantage of this prime opportunity. Staying abreast of the latest developments, we employ generative AI to exercise seamless workflows and quick execution. Along similar lines, we have leveraged some of the ongoing trends, namely stamp-verse, action figures, and Ghibli art, for our clients across industries such as Bikano, Sujata, AcneStar, Dabur Gulabari, etc., to name a few.”
This is not just about efficiency; it is about redefining how ideas come alive. For agencies like Grapes, AI allows experimentation with cultural trends at scale, letting them build brand worlds that feel contemporary, nimble, and responsive.
Meanwhile, other agencies are turning AI into a lens for sharper measurement. Russhabh R Thakkar, Founder and CEO, Frodoh, says, “Our systems continuously learn from historical campaign data to refine targeting, measure brand lift more accurately, and improve overall performance. A big focus is on turning raw data into clarity, especially in post-campaign analysis, where AI helps us isolate what moved the needle and what didn’t. We’ve deliberately invested in this capability, not just to match industry standards but to stay ahead. On reporting, we’ve taken cues from tools like FusionCharts to present insights in a way that’s visual, simple, and client-friendly, especially important in a landscape dominated by Tableau and Google Data Studio. This makes our output not just informative but actual visual insights that help clients make faster decisions.”
Budgeting for Intelligence
The next frontier is financial. AI has moved from being a pilot project to a budget line item. Agencies are now committing anywhere from 5% to 25% of their digital budgets to AI tools, automation, and training.
Sudhir Nair, Founder & CEO, 21N78E Creative Labs, notes, “Within 21n78e, close to one-fifth of our annual investment is now directed towards AI spanning toolkits, proprietary builds like our AI stack, NoAltTab, and training. But we don’t see it as a ‘budget head’; it’s part of how we future-proof ourselves. On the brand side, we’re seeing 5-10% of digital budgets now being channelled into AI-specific initiatives. The adoption curve isn’t uniform: BFSI, telecom, and e-commerce are already allocating meaningful spends, while legacy categories are now catching up and scaling rapidly, specifically FMCG. But this unevenness feels familiar - it’s exactly how Digital unfolded more than a decade ago. First came pilots, then ring-fenced ‘innovation spends,’ and eventually digital became the default. AI is on the same curve, and we expect in two to three years it will stop being a separate line item altogether.”
Venugopal Ganganna, Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer, LS Digital, echoes this with scale, “Our investments in AI have been substantial. Over the last 3-4 years, we have allocated a few crores to build the right marketing AI stack. This investment ensures that we have the best tools and technologies to support our clients’ needs. McKinsey’s research indicates that companies are planning to increase their AI investments, with 92% of companies intending to do so over the next three years.”
Some approach the budget with pragmatism, others with philosophy. Bala Kumaran, Founder & Director, BrandStory says, “Where most hoard their budgets for ego-stroking campaigns, we invest where real power lies. Seventy percent of our innovation budget fuels AI not as an expense, but as a weapon. Elsewhere in the org, AI does what it does best, that is eliminate waste. It’s not saving costs, it’s saving time, and time is influence.”
Imteyaz Ansari, Founder at Azmarq Technovation Pvt. Ltd. says, “Artificial intelligence and automation now represent a significant portion of digital budgets, not just for our internal processes but also for client plans. The average spend on AI-powered tools, automation platforms, and smart media buying solutions across overall digital expenditure is 10–25%. This spend is consistently growing each quarter as companies start to appreciate the real ROI from these efforts. From real-time optimization and advanced targeting to better customer experiences, AI is proving its worth through the marketing funnel. Consequently, brands are likely to increase their AI budgets as they see it as a strategic growth driver as opposed to simply being a tech cost.”
Hemal Majithia, Founder & Chief OktoMind, OktoBuzz, further highlights, “Internally, around 8-12% of our budgets are going into AI tools, training, and infrastructure. But we’ve seen some clients, especially those building custom AI solutions, allocate much more. Early adopters like those in D2C, BFSI, and entertainment are setting aside 5-15% of their digital budgets purely for AI-led experimentation across generative content, CRM, and media. In fact, we’re also helping some brands now develop their internal AI frameworks and policies. AI is no longer a support function, it’s starting to sit at the core.”
Investments are flowing not just into third-party tools, but also into building proprietary AI systems, setting up content studios driven by generative engines, and designing internal governance frameworks. This shift reflects a broader understanding that AI is not just a cost, it’s a force multiplier for scale, consistency, and strategic depth.
“We’ve allocated separate budgets towards improving our AI capabilities, including product development, AI training, API integrations, and internal models. On the brand side, we’re seeing progressive clients earmark 5–15% of their digital budgets for AI-led initiatives, with higher adoption in content-heavy and performance-driven sectors. Clients are increasingly investing in AI-powered content operations predictive analytics, chatbot CX, and real-time creative optimization. It’s no longer a test but a strategic imperative and core investment area that will likely yield a multiplier ROI for early adopters,” Rubeena Singh, MD, NP Digital highlights.
Brainstorming Reimagined
One of the most celebrated benefits of AI inside agencies is its ability to eliminate the dreaded ‘blank page’ syndrome. Writers and designers no longer face an empty screen; instead, they start with AI-generated prompts, routes, and visual variations.
Hemal Majithia has seen this shift first-hand, “One of the biggest wins for us has been how AI completely eliminates the dreaded blank page syndrome. Whether it’s copywriters, designers, or account managers, no one is staring at an empty screen anymore. Tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Wonder Dynamics, Perplexity, and others help speed up ideation and visual exploration, getting us to sharper thinking faster. We’ve also successfully created videos that are entirely made using generative AI.”
His agency has gone a step further by building OktoGPT, an internal tool trained on past projects and agency data, “It’s drastically reducing our pitch timelines and upping the visual and strategic depth of our decks. Especially when you’re selling creative quality time, AI gives us the edge. We’re also working on launching a calling agent that can answer any query from potential clients and even fix meetings with the right growth consultants. It’s like scaling client servicing without compromising on quality.”
For some, AI’s role is even more ambitious. Abhik Santara, Director & CEO, ^atom, describes their proprietary engine, saying, “Our internally designed AI-led creative engine, AURA, uses all of these tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, Meta AI and more. Our offering is not just limited to content creation, but in content planning as well. While the world debated AI and used it only to make one-off content at smaller budgets, we went much further ahead in designing the purchase funnel and creating content at scale. AURA brings intelligence to content planning itself - understanding consumer journeys that are now more complex, fluid, and fast-moving than ever. AURA identifies triggers, maps barriers, builds segment-specific funnels, and creates content tailored to every point along the purchase journey.”
This is the kind of work that once took armies of planners, researchers, and creatives are now executed in minutes by AI-driven pipelines.
The Double-Edged Sword
Yet, for all its promise, AI carries serious risks. Alongside efficiency, agencies must contend with issues like synthetic traffic, deepfakes, and fake reviews, risks that can compromise both brand trust and consumer safety.
As Amit Relan, Co-Founder and CEO, mFilterIt, puts it, “AI is fundamentally transforming digital marketing — not just in how brands engage consumers, but also in how threats evolve. While it unlocks hyper-efficiency in targeting and content delivery, it’s also being used to fuel synthetic traffic, fake reviews, and manipulated media. We are implementing AI in automating our marketing and sales/pre-sales efforts to automate the mundane processes of competitive research, curating specific insights, creating pitch-decks, etc.”
Relan’s warning underscores a key point: the arms race is not only about who can deploy AI faster, but who can govern it responsibly.
Reshaping Agency Teams
As AI enters the mainstream, it is redrawing agency org charts. New hybrid roles are appearing: prompt engineers, AI strategists, creative technologists, and data storytellers.
Bala Kumaran says, “The age of divided empires is over. Silos are a weakness. We have created AI-human hybrids, prompt engineers fluent in Python and profiting. Media planners now co-pilot with machines, rather than going to war against them. Our recruits? Not marketers but data alchemists. They decode AI outputs into narratives that command attention and loyalty.”
Other agencies are more systematic. Harikrishnan Pillai, CEO and Co-Founder, TheSmallBigIdea, explains, “We began by identifying and hiring talent already working with AI and forming an internal AI Council to lead the transition. This team developed clear SOPs, best-practice guides, and a one to three year vision aligning storytelling, technology, and performance. From content creation to data analysis, AI now plays a key role across our agency workflows. We’ve introduced strategic roles like AI Prompt Engineers, Automation Leads, and Data Storytellers while upskilling our existing teams to embed AI into their workflows.”
Rubeena points out that hiring priorities are changing fast, “We’re evolving from function-first to an overlap of function & AI skills while hiring new talent. We’re actively hiring for people with skills in AI-integrated content production, data modeling for marketing, and performance optimization using LLMs. Also, our content strategists, media planners, designers, and data analysts all have been trained to optimize for AI usage in their respective deliveries, and ensure quality while maintaining the distinctive brand voice. We’ve reduced production time by (5-7%) while increasing client satisfaction scores.”
The Human Equation
Despite the numbers, technology is not the endgame. Agencies repeatedly stress that AI is a co-pilot, not a replacement for human insight.
Rohit Sakunia, Founder, ArtE Mediatech, a Creative & Media agency, says, “At ArtE, we use AI tools as force multipliers. This means the first draft is quick and the team can explore more creatively. More content routes can be thought of providing more references and ideas to the client. As far as media planning is concerned, tools help in audience insights and performance prediction. However, all final calls are still human. We look at AI as an enabler. There is a mix of Jasper, GPT and some custom dashboards built on top of Meta and Google’s APIs that we use. These tools help us break down audience behaviour, content performance, and buying patterns in real-time.”
For younger creatives, the thrill lies in how AI collapses time and effort. Vidushi Gupta, Senior Graphic Designer, BC Web Wise, a digital marketing agency, explains, “Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Meta AI have slowly become a part of our everyday work. From research to exploring design or copy directions, they help reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks. Of course, the core ideas and concepts still come from us; the tools make the execution smoother and support our skills. We also use some AI tools to study client data and build better marketing strategies. Storyboarding, concept visualisation, and even converting images into videos, things that once required a full team and a lot of time, can now be done much faster. Of course, there are risks too.”
Finally, for some agencies, the promise lies in data storytelling. Abhinav Jain, Co-Founder and CEO, Almonds Ai, says, “We actively use AI-powered tools to craft and execute personalised marketing strategies at scale, especially in B2B and distribution-led ecosystems. Some that we’ve found genuinely useful or that we know many in the ecosystem swear by are like Seventh Sense, Clearbit, Salesforce Einstein.”
The Indian advertising industry is no longer asking whether AI belongs in marketing. The question now is how deeply it should be woven into culture, process, and client delivery. The brief has changed. It is no longer about being just creative. It is about being intelligently creative at scale, in real time, and always with the irreplaceable depth of human insight.
Agency: TheSmallBigIdea
1. What verticals/platforms are you using that have unique efficiency in AI?
Our Image and Video verticals have heavily benefitted by using AI for prototyping and conceptualising ideas. Even our HR-related queries are resolved by implementing an HR bot, which has 95% accuracy.
2. Are there any proprietary AI platforms that you deploy for your existing work?
We have trained our team to use various LLMs for specific needs, the key here is prompt engineering. To name a few tools: Image - Freepix, ChatGPT, NanoBanana, etc., and for Video - Veo, Higgsfield, Runway, and many more. A good prompt with an average tool can generate a more accurate image, but the reverse does not hold true.
3. Are there any new efficiencies that have been unlocked by the deployment of AI tools?
Most of the work we were able to accomplish with existing skillset, this year we have ventured into 3D gaming by using Unity Engine.
4. Have you integrated any AI models into your existing software to support daily workflow?
We developed an in-house product for the entire workflow management, it helps us in taking crucial decisions.
5. What external tools do you use?
We use text-to-text generation for ideation, text-to-image/video/sound generation AI tools, whichever generates more accurate results and which matches the quality standards defined by our organisation.
Agency: Azmarq Technovation
1. What verticals/platforms are you using that have unique efficiency in AI?
WhatsApp Business API + SMS + RCS combined with our fallback AI and auto-optimizer engine.
2. Are there any proprietary AI platforms that you deploy for your existing work?
Baynix.ai – our Smart Omni Platform streamlining campaigns, responses, and analytics.
3. Are there any new efficiencies that have been unlocked by the deployment of AI tools?
AI-driven Flow Builder and Real-Time Campaign Decision Engine.
4. Have you integrated any AI models into your existing software to support daily workflow?
AI-assisted Message Delivery Predictor and Channel Optimizer embedded into Baynix.ai.
5. What external tools do you use?
OpenAI, Google Cloud AI, Meta AI integrations, and WhatsApp Cloud API
Agency: 21N78E Creative Labs
1. What verticals/platforms are you using that have unique efficiency in AI?
Majority of the existing available tools tend to work in silos. We are building our proprietary AI stack, which will be integrated with our workflow platform (NoAltTab).
2. Are there any proprietary AI platforms that you deploy for your existing work?
We have built our stack which is currently in a pilot phase.
3. Have you integrated any AI models into your existing software to support daily workflow?
We have our proprietary workflow tool – NoAltTab. It is a product in itself, our AI Stack will be a bolt-on.
4. What external tools do you use?
ChatGPT, RunwayML, Leonardo, Kling, Veo 3, Fireworks, etc amongst all the others that have GenAI capabilities. We have experimented and evaluated more than 200 tools for building our AI Stack.
Agency: ^a t o m
1. What verticals/platforms are you using that have unique efficiency in AI?
Our AI-led creative engine Aura is built to scale performance marketing at speed, ensuring every asset, static, video, or UGC, lands with precision and consistency. With the source of a single png of the product and the brand guidelines, it churns out content in hours. In order to ensure additional check, we have implemented a system of human check with random sampling.
2. Are there any proprietary AI platforms that you deploy for your existing work?
The model also helps in refining as well as developing on specific creative inputs, where the output is more controlled, but executional is automated. For e.g. Developing mood boards, or AI generated films. These are a bit more time consuming, but saves quite a bit of classical production hassles.
3. Are there any new efficiencies that have been unlocked by the deployment of AI tools?
A brief can now evolve into a complete funnel of creatives in less than an hour, a leap from what traditional setups allowed. So the go-to-market time is significantly reduced. This is particularly helpful for brands which operate in the service led categories. (Telecom, FinServ, etc).
4. What external tools do you use?
Behind Aura is a curated blend of multiple AI tools Midjourney, Runway, Kling, Veo 3, and ElevenLabs, and the list is constantly evolving, combined in ways that deliver the right output for the right brief, efficiency without compromise.
Agency: Almonds Ai
1. What verticals/platforms are you using that have unique efficiency in AI?
Almonds Ai’s Channelverse™ platform uniquely blends AI-driven personalization, fraud detection, gamified engagement, and sustainability in the B2B loyalty ecosystem, delivering unprecedented efficiency in channel engagement.
2. Are there any proprietary AI platforms that you deploy for your existing work?
Our new zero-cost ‘Kounter’ platform empowers retailers with instant loyalty and engagement features, seamlessly elevating the impact of every loyalty program and scheme.
3. Are there any new efficiencies that have been unlocked by the deployment of AI tools?
Channelverse™ enables automated, gamified education and real-time engagement across millions of partners so a task never scalable by traditional agencies before.
4. Have you integrated any AI models into your existing software to support daily workflow?
Channelverse™ deeply integrates with existing enterprise software, bringing AI-powered analytics and personalized communication to day-to-day business workflows.
5. What external tools do you use?
We leverage trusted external tools like Roboflow for advanced AI vision tasks, along with secure cloud and integration partners for omnichannel delivery.
Agency: OktoBuzz
1. What verticals/platforms are you using that have unique efficiency in AI?
AI is embedded across all verticals, from Zappyhire for HR, to LLMs, Veo3, RunwayML and Wonder Dynamics for content creation, to OktoGPT for business development, and NotebookLLM that empowers account management teams.
2. Are there any proprietary AI platforms that you deploy for your existing work?
OktoGPT, built to speed up proposals by auto-drafting accurate, context-rich, and approach-ready documents in minutes.
3. Are there any new efficiencies that have been unlocked by the deployment of AI tools?
An audio version of OktoGPT, built with VAPI, powers Buzz, our AI voice agent. Buzz converses in natural, distinctly Indian-toned language that is almost indistinguishable from human speech. Already live in-house, it now answers client calls, handles queries, and even schedules appointments automatically.
4. Have you integrated any AI models into your existing software to support daily workflow?
Zappyhire is an agentic AI recruitment automation platform that plugs into our HR system, instantly scoring applicants as soon as CVs are uploaded and streamlining the entire hiring and evaluation process.
5. What external tools do you use?
ChatGPT, MidJourney, Perplexity, Veo3, VAPI, Llama, Wonder Dynamics, Loveable, NotebookLLM, and the list is endless.
