ADGEEK
Connected brands and the pricing problem of AI-assisted work
Babita Baruah examines brand experience, customer experience and commerce in India, asking how agencies can preserve human creativity and price value when AI accelerates execution.
The conversation
What happens to advertising when AI agents shop for us, Q-commerce becomes a media channel, and a team of five can do the work of twenty?
In this episode, Babita Baruah, CEO of VML India, talks about her 30 year journey in WPP, breaks down how BX, CX and commerce come together to build human-centric, connected brands in a Bharat-first, AI-fuelled market. We talk global brand guidelines vs local realities, the future of the big TV spot, talent in an AI world, value-based pricing and why creativity still has to stay stubbornly human.
📺 What happens when one of India's most enduring advertising leaders sits down to talk about everything the industry is too polite to say out loud? You get this episode.
📺 Going deep on the fault lines defining the industry right now: why friction in the purchase journey might be a feature, not a bug; and how AI is reshaping the agency P&L in ways most leaders won't say on record.
📺 They talk Q-commerce and the 6-inch shelf where decisions happen in under 10 seconds. They talk about what a creative director actually does when execution is a commodity. They debate whether the pure-play agency model can still deliver 10%+ growth year-on-year. And they go into the value-based pricing question that every agency CEO is quietly terrified of, how do you charge more for faster, AI-augmented output to procurement departments trained to count manhours?
📺 Babita also shares her view on what skill a 2026/27 graduate needs that simply didn't exist two years ago, where she'd place her bet on the Indian startup ecosystem by 2030, and, if she were building an agency from scratch today, whether it would look anything like the network model we have now.
Key Takeaways
- Tropicalization means expressing a global brand through local culture and behaviour, with client partnership to negotiate constraints; some accounts still require straightforward adaptation.
- AI should create room for premium thinking and better solutions. Baruah rejects predetermined staffing cuts as its starting objective while allowing that staffing changes may follow the solution.
- Value discussions require explaining the specialists behind an integrated solution. Baruah signals movement toward value creation and outcome models without revealing a completed pricing formula or confidential margins.
- A connected media approach keeps television’s scale where useful and extends storytelling through digital, CRM and commerce rather than ending at the campaign launch.
- Quick-commerce platforms are becoming content producers as well as sales channels; VML is testing collaborative models and treats the resulting practice as evolving.
- Microinfluencer selection should prioritise relevance and the creator’s existing voice over reach; the brand must fit the content without overwhelming it with guidelines.
- For conversational AI search, Baruah advocates clear product answers and useful factual content, while acknowledging that the industry is still learning how this works.
- Network agility must be demonstrated by the squad delivering the work. Projects and retainers can coexist, but very small assignments may fail the agency’s value-delivery economics.
Additional subjects
Editorial analysis
An editorial interpretation of the conversation, distinguishing the guest’s arguments from verified business outcomes.
Local relevance inside a global system
Babita Baruah describes VML India as a creative business combining brand experience, customer experience and commerce around human needs. The starting point remains consumer insight and storytelling; data and technology should enrich it, while some creative impact takes longer to measure. For global brands seeking local relevance, she argues for tropicalization: translating the brand’s essence into local culture, behaviour and retail realities rather than simply adapting assets. This requires a marketing partner willing to negotiate flexibility with global teams. She also acknowledges that some assignments remain adaptation work, where efficiency matters more.
AI and the meaning of an integrated fee
Her AI argument begins with value rather than a headcount target. Research agents and automated asset production can free time for better thinking, while human creatives must contribute understanding and original judgment beyond derivative outputs. She expects business and financial benefits from faster work, stronger solutions and a changing talent mix, but presents these as a roadmap rather than disclosing measured gains. Reducing staffing may follow a solution; it should not determine the starting brief. On pricing, she points to WPP’s direction toward outcome models and explains the specialist capabilities behind VML’s proposals, while withholding confidential commercial details.
Television, commerce and continuous storytelling
That broader offering also changes agency culture and delivery. Baruah describes ongoing capability training, opportunities across offices and a rotating Young Exco with both business and cultural responsibilities. She argues that television retains a role in reach and credibility in India, but campaigns need digital continuity across the funnel. Quick commerce brings platform consulting opportunities alongside collaboration with platforms that increasingly create content themselves. For regional microinfluencers, relevance and a natural place in the creator’s existing voice matter more than audience size; excessive brand control can undermine the reason people listen.
Choosing creators and protecting agency value
Looking ahead, she connects conversational AI search with clear, structured product answers that combine useful facts and emotion. She describes this as work still being learned, rather than a mastered formula for visibility. Agile squads and external specialists are her answer to concerns about network agency speed, with projects and retainers coexisting where the economics work. An unnamed corporate pitch illustrates her approach: identifying design and influencer needs beyond the campaign brief. Her hypothetical new agency would start with a core team and a wider ecosystem of creators and culture experts, a scenario she explicitly distinguishes from her experience running scaled agencies.
Questions & answers
How does Baruah define localisation without losing a global brand?
Tropicalization means expressing a global brand through local culture and behaviour, with client partnership to negotiate constraints; some accounts still require straightforward adaptation.
Why should AI discussions begin with value rather than staff reductions?
AI should create room for premium thinking and better solutions. Baruah rejects predetermined staffing cuts as its starting objective while allowing that staffing changes may follow the solution.
What makes the price of an integrated agency solution credible?
Value discussions require explaining the specialists behind an integrated solution. Baruah signals movement toward value creation and outcome models without revealing a completed pricing formula or confidential margins.
Does a connected approach make television irrelevant?
A connected media approach keeps television’s scale where useful and extends storytelling through digital, CRM and commerce rather than ending at the campaign launch.
What should determine a microinfluencer partnership?
Microinfluencer selection should prioritise relevance and the creator’s existing voice over reach; the brand must fit the content without overwhelming it with guidelines.
Sources & attribution
Original publisher audio (archived enclosure): Original publisher audio (archived enclosure).
Podcast episode on Spotify: Podcast episode on Spotify.
Podcast video on YouTube: Podcast video on YouTube.
Original publication: The Indian AdGeek, Episode 26, featuring Babita Baruah; original publisher date: 2026-05-24.
Method and attribution: This analysis and the five Q&As are editorial syntheses, not verbatim statements or substitutes for listening to the original conversation. Guest judgments, examples, forecasts and reported business metrics should not be confused with independently audited findings. Research timestamps do not represent podcast chapter timings.