A new year brings fresh momentum, along with sharper questions about how brands connect, create, and stay relevant in a rapidly shifting landscape in the coming year and beyond.
As part of our annual Three Trends series, we asked industry leaders to share their key takeaways.
Next, we speak with Babita Baruah, CEO at VML India, to get her take on what to look for in the year ahead, as well as her thoughts on the year just passed.
Babita reflects on the rise of culturally fluent AI, the collapse of boundaries between content and commerce, and a growing shift toward radically authentic branding built on participation, not polish.
Looking Ahead:
What are three trends to look for in the coming year?
1. The Hyper-Local AI
In 2026, I feel that the real magic will be in its cultural fluency. I’m talking about AI that not only understands India’s linguistic diversity but can also catch the nuance in a regional joke or a local narrative metaphor.
The brands that win will use AI as a creative partner that has high cultural sensitivity and knows the difference between a Poila Boishakh and Baishakhi greetings. The goal is to create genuine resonance, making every interaction feel less like an algorithm and more like a conversation.
This isn’t about replacing human creativity; it’s about supercharging it, allowing our teams to focus on the big, bold ideas.
2. Commerce Everywhere, Instantly
The line between content and commerce will effectively disappear. The journey from seeing a product in a reel to having it in your cart will shrink to a single tap. With a digital payment infrastructure in place, everything becomes a potential point of sale.
The goal is to create genuine resonance, making every interaction feel less like an algorithm and more like a conversation.
For brands, this means making every piece of content shoppable and every interaction seamless. The new marketing funnel is no longer a funnel; it’s a direct flight.
3. Radically Authentic Branding
Audiences are tired of crafted communication and are craving genuine connection. The bravest brands will embrace imperfection and participate in culture instead of just broadcasting to it. This means leveraging unfiltered behind-the-scenes content, real consumer voices, founder-led narratives, and directly addressing customer feedback along with the brand storytelling narrative- as a healthy mix.
It’s a strategic shift from building an image to building a reputation.
Looking Back
Favourite or least favourite trend of 2025:
My favorite was the explosion of high-quality vernacular content, finally giving regional creativity the main stage it deserves.
My least favorite? The slightly unsettling trend of AI-generated faces in ads that all look too perfect to be real.
If you could sum up 2025 in one emoji:
🎢
It was a thrilling ride with incredible highs and a few stomach-lurching turns. Wouldn’t have missed it.
One of your favorite brand campaigns of 2025:
It’s hard to pick just one, but if I must be biased, I was incredibly proud of the work for Coke Studio Bharat on The Girl Who Played the Tutari campaign. It was a beautiful example of blending cultural insight with digital craft.
What was your 2025 New Year’s Resolution, and did you keep it?
My resolution was to achieve ‘inbox zero.’ I’m proud to say I did. For about seven glorious minutes on January 2nd. After that, well, there’s always next year.
