Asia-Pacific may contribute a fraction of global advertising revenues compared to the United States, but according to OMD's leadership, it is increasingly shaping how the future of marketing is being built.
Speaking with Neeta Nair, Editor, IMPACT Magazine, at Cannes Lions 2026, Ellen Griffin, Global Brand President, OMD Worldwide, and Charlotte Lee, President, OMD APAC, argued that some of the industry's most important innovations are emerging from markets such as India and China. From connected commerce and agentic marketing to technology solutions that are later scaled globally, the region is no longer simply adapting ideas from elsewhere. "The flow is now no longer just one way, it's actually two ways," said Lee.
The observation came in response to a broader question about whether global marketers are genuinely interested in learning from Asia-Pacific markets today. For Lee, the answer is unequivocally yes. Markets such as India and China have evolved into innovation hubs in their own right, creating culturally resonant solutions, platforms and consumer experiences that other regions increasingly look to for inspiration. "If you look at India, for example, the digital infrastructure is creating a more connected population than ever before," she said. Combined with what she described as an "incredibly entrepreneurial ecosystem", this is helping create entirely new models for marketing, commerce and consumer engagement.
Watch the full conversation here:
The influence extends well beyond campaigns. Griffin revealed that some of the technologies now being deployed across OMD's global network originated from challenges that surfaced first in India. "The challenge was actually seen sooner in India than it was seen globally," she said, describing how local teams built technology to solve an investment challenge before it became a wider issue elsewhere. That solution was subsequently adapted and scaled as part of OMD's global investment technology stack.
For Griffin, that is precisely how a modern global network should function. "What we need to do, is make sure that the ‘brilliance’ that's happening in countries like India is actually scaling fast," she said. "It's not about taking things from headquarters and pushing them down. It's about taking the brilliance of what's happening in some of our most sophisticated and emerging countries and scaling those simply and easily across."
The ability to identify ideas early and scale them globally stems from a mindset that OMD has worked hard to preserve despite its size. While the network has grown into one of the world's largest media agencies, Griffin believes it must continue to operate like a challenger brand. "At the core, one of the things that we want to hold on to is the fact that we want to be a challenger brand," she said. "It's much easier to take a smaller brand and help them grow. It's very difficult to take the biggest brands in the world and to keep them number one."
With the challenger mindset being preserved, ambition is something they will continue to build. "One of the most brilliant things that's happening in APAC is that there's not necessarily a recipe that works," Griffin said. "The landscape is evolving so quickly that we actually have more of that ambition." She pointed to areas such as agentic marketing, connected commerce and integrated content-media solutions as examples of capabilities that are often developing faster in APAC than elsewhere. In fact, she noted that many briefs arriving from APAC clients already integrate content and media in ways that remain less common in markets such as the United States.
India's growing importance within that ecosystem has also been reflected in leadership. Asked about expectations from Anisha Iyer, CEO, OMD India, both executives were full of praise. "Anisha is doing a fantastic job," said Lee, adding that Omnicom's acquisition of IPG has further strengthened the group's offering in India. The focus now is to continue building on that momentum and ensure OMD remains at the forefront of the market. Griffin highlighted Iyer's ability to ensure that innovations emerging from India receive visibility across regional and global leadership teams.
"It's very easy to think that everyone knows what's happening," she said. "What Anisha does such a brilliant job of is ensuring that we have visibility into not only the brilliance that we're delivering locally, but also what's needed to push Charlotte from a regional perspective, me from a global perspective, to make sure we're also showing up and delivering for her."
The discussion also touched on Omnicom's ongoing transformation following its acquisition of IPG and its decision to replace traditional global agency CEOs with Brand Presidents. According to Griffin, the move reflects what clients increasingly expect from agency partners. "They don't need us to deliver better media," she said. "They need us to deliver better connected consumer experiences." Rather than focusing solely on managing media operations, Griffin described her role as connecting capabilities across the wider Omnicom ecosystem, bringing together media, data, technology and creativity to solve broader business challenges.
However, Large agency groups are often criticised for creating sameness across markets, but Griffin argues the real role of headquarters is to remove complexity rather than impose uniformity. She described OMD's approach as a balance between ‘raising the floor’ and ‘raising the ceiling.’ Taking operational burdens such as taxonomy and standardisation off local teams while giving them access to resources that help them focus on innovation and future-facing opportunities. "It's not about sameness. It's about scalability and it's about reducing complexity," she said.
The same balance is evident in OMD's technology platform, Omni. When asked how a global platform can function across a region as diverse as APAC, where marketers operate within ecosystems such as WeChat and Douyin in China, Grab in Southeast Asia and market-specific regulations across Japan, Korea and India, Lee said Omni was never designed as a one-size-fits-all solution.
Instead, she described it as a modular platform that provides consistency where needed while preserving local flexibility. "We keep things like investment approaches, planning, insights, taxonomy and governance consistent," she explained. "But data partnerships, platform integrations, creator economies and commerce signals are localised." That balance between global consistency and local innovation, she argued, is what allows OMD to operate effectively across one of the world's most diverse regions.
The conversation then turned to one of the industry's biggest concerns: whether artificial intelligence and automation are turning media buying into a commodity. Lee acknowledged that AI is fundamentally changing how media is bought and optimised, but argued that strategy remains the key differentiator. "Media strategy only really becomes commoditised when it is reduced down to execution," she said.
While technologies such as Omni can help agencies better understand audiences and automate insights, she believes the real value comes from how those insights are interpreted and applied. "It becomes a matter of technology automating the insights, but it's really that human perspective and human judgment that is driving the value for our clients."
The discussion naturally led to APAC's growing influence within the global business. Despite Asia-Pacific accounting for roughly 10% of OMD's revenues compared to approximately 60% from the United States, both executives argued that the region contributes disproportionately to innovation. Lee pointed to India's leadership in connected commerce, fuelled by the rapid rise of quick commerce and increasingly interconnected consumer ecosystems. "It really is shaping how brands are driving outcomes in that market and for the rest of the world," she said.
She also highlighted APAC's operating models and talent strategy, citing India's ability to combine experienced leadership with emerging capabilities and new talent. The result, she said, is a culture that remains agile, adaptive and capable of delivering strong client retention, talent retention and business growth.
As the conversation drew to a close, attention shifted to Cannes Lions itself and whether industry consolidation has overshadowed the celebration of creativity. For Griffin, Cannes remains an important moment, but not because of the awards alone. "It's a moment to celebrate success, to be inspired, to connect," she said. Yet she was equally quick to point out that the real work begins once the festival ends.
"There are so many brilliant people that aren't here, that is the reason we're here," Griffin added. "It's a great moment, but we don't take lightly the fact that we're here representing the most brilliant marketers in the world," Griffin concluded.
