The advertising industry has always loved a good buzzword. While some define an era, others capture shifts in technology or consumer behaviour. For the past few years, ‘disruption’ has dominated brainstorming sessions, creative decks, keynote speeches and boardroom presentations in advertising. However, the industry’s lexicon seems to be evolving yet again to make way for conversations around rapid technological development and changes shaping the advertising world today. At Goafest 2026, IMPACT asked industry veterans a pertinent question: which word today feels as omnipresent as ‘disruption’ and which buzzword they believe defines the festival this year.
Here is their take on what is shaping Indian advertising’s vocabulary in the modern world.
Shashi Sinha
Strategic Advisor, Omnicom Media India
“Right now, it is performance marketing. Everyone talks about performance but people forget that brands need to be built first. People need to know about brands; there needs to be some story that helps in initial bonding with the brand. Performance only comes after that.
Additionally, at Goafest, everyone is talking about AI. I don’t know how fast it is going to happen, but it (its effects) will be there.”
Rana Barua
Group CEO – India, South East Asia & North Asia (Japan & South Korea), Havas
“Everyone is talking about AI. While it is the most overused term, it is also a term everybody is concerned about. So, it is both good and also a little worrying.
I think it is also about survival of the fittest. One thing everyone is thinking is how fit I am as an organisation to move ahead. The whole conversation about growth is how fit I am and how I can move ahead in this future.”
Kartik Sharma
CEO, Omnicom Media India
“Currently, the most overused term in advertising is artificial intelligence or AI. I have heard so much about AI in the last few hours.”
Rohit Ohri
Founder, Ohriginal
“One of the things that everyone is talking about is what the industry needs to do again in light of the fact that there is so much change. It is about reimagining what the industry will look like, how the business will grow and brands will be built in the future. People are paying lip service to it.
The buzzword, or the most important thing, at Goafest this year is actually ‘reset’. What we are saying is reset is not just lip service to incremental change. It is about fundamentally rethinking how we do business and how we build brands.”
Praseed Prasad
President - Growth and Marketing, WPP Media - South Asia
“The word disruption has been there for so many years because every time something new comes out, we talk about it as disrupting the industry.
Right now, AI is another word. Whether it is right or wrong, it is the reality. AI is actually disrupting not only the advertising industry, but other industries as well. It is for us to determine how we leverage it in the best way, how we set the best narratives and how we prepare ourselves for what it is disrupting. As an agency or business, we should be able to inform, consult and educate our customers to help them leverage or ride this wave to solve their business problems.”
- Compiled by Antora Chakraborty
