MMA India outlines 2026 priorities across finance, AI and measurement

New Delhi: The MMA India board’s first meeting of 2026 set out a set of priorities for the year ahead, with discussions centred on how marketers are expected to demonstrate business impact amid economic pressure, technology shifts and increased scrutiny around returns on investment.

The meeting brought together senior leaders from brands, agencies, platforms and the wider marketing ecosystem. The board aligned on six areas it considers central to marketing-led growth and enterprise value in the current environment.

Board members present included Amit Jain (chairman), Prasanth Kumar (co-chair), Moneka Khurana (MMA India), Sunita Bangard (Aditya Birla), Gunjan Khetan (Perfetti), Saugato Bhowmik (Meta), Anupriya Acharya (Publicis), Deepali Naair (Biocon), Arun Neelakantan (HUL), Anindita Veluri (Adobe), Deepak Bakshi (Accenture), Siddharth Shekhar (Google), Pulkit Trivedi (Snap), Vipul Kedia (Affle), Sundar Balasubramaniam (Myntra), Gulshan Verma (Amazon), Sanjay Trisal (AppsFlyer), Varun Sethuraman (Nestlé), Aaditya Pathak (BARC) and Anurita Chopra (Haleon).

Financial fluency and business linkage

The board stressed that marketers need to demonstrate stronger financial understanding and clearer links between marketing activity and business performance. This includes connecting decisions to profit and loss, cash flow and enterprise value. “Growth leadership starts when marketing speaks the language of business.”

Retail media and commerce convergence

Members discussed the increasing overlap between media, commerce, quick commerce and direct-to-consumer channels, identifying retail media as a significant area of growth that requires new approaches to planning and measurement. “The growth opportunity sits where media and transactions meet.”

AI and business outcomes

Artificial intelligence remained a key topic, with the board calling for clearer use cases that move beyond efficiency to show measurable impact on growth, workflows and measurement. “AI maturity will be judged by outcomes, not experimentation.”

Measurement and accountability

The board noted continued concerns around the credibility of marketing measurement and the need for stronger connections between activity and business results across platforms and timeframes. Econometric models and return-on-marketing-investment approaches were discussed as tools to strengthen accountability. “If impact can’t be demonstrated, confidence erodes.”

Capability development

With tools and workflows evolving, members highlighted the need for ongoing skill development alongside continued focus on core marketing fundamentals such as brand building and performance balance. “The future belongs to marketers who keep rebuilding themselves.”

Shared learning across organisations

The board also discussed the value of knowledge exchange between challenger brands and established organisations, citing the benefits of combining experimentation with scale and systems. “Growth accelerates when experience and experimentation come together.”

The meeting concluded with the board setting out its priorities for the year, focusing on financial accountability, capability development and clearer demonstration of marketing’s contribution to business outcomes.