Indian Startup Times has published The AI 100, a list of senior agency leaders across India who are putting artificial intelligence at the centre of brand building. It is less a ranking and more a map of where AI now sits inside the modern marketing organisation.
The list spans major agency networks and several independent shops: WPP, Publicis Groupe, Dentsu India, Ogilvy India, VML, GroupM, Wavemaker, EssenceMediacom, Leo Burnett, Mindshare, Cheil India, Techmagnate, Hashtag Orange, GOZOOP Group, #ARM Worldwide and Grey India all appear.
What the list actually says
The profiles describe a structural shift. AI is no longer an experimental technology owned by a small data team. It is becoming part of client leadership, media planning, creative production, performance marketing, influencer management and online reputation.
That shift is visible in the roles included. Manvi Shah at Mindshare works where client needs, media strategy and agency delivery meet. Hemant Kshirsagar at Dentsu India runs the financial services and technology practice, focused on data-led customer growth. Shekhar Khanna at VML is Chief Strategy Officer, working where consumer insight, creative judgement and business change overlap.
Three capability clusters stand out
- Client and strategy leadership: leaders who connect emerging AI capabilities to business objectives, rather than treating AI as a separate workstream.
- Performance and data leadership: profiles such as Prashant Shukla at Techmagnate and Ramanpreet Chopra at #ARM Worldwide focus on data-led growth, lead generation, search and performance marketing.
- Creative-tech and production: leaders like Vaishali Mange at Ogilvy India work in creative technology and have campaign credits on Cadbury 5 Star’s AI-focused work, while WPP Production and influence roles show AI entering content and creator workflows.
For our readers, the list doubles as a snapshot of which agency disciplines are being redefined first. Performance, creative and media operations are being pulled into the AI conversation at roughly the same time, which means teams need shared vocabulary, not siloed adoption.
Why this matters for our readers
For digital marketers, D2C founders and growth teams, The AI 100 is a useful signal about agency selection and hiring. If AI is now a leadership mandate, your agency account leads should be able to explain how AI connects to your growth targets and not just to operational efficiency.
It also matters for in-house teams. AI fluency can no longer be confined to an analytics or performance function. The list shows agencies building AI into the brief, the creative idea, the media plan, the production process and the measurement layer.
What to do about it
Use the list as a capability checklist, not a directory. Audit where AI actually lives in your agency or internal team. Then make a named senior person accountable for AI-led strategy, delivery and operations.
Ask your partners one practical question: who owns AI at the leadership level, and how does that person connect AI to business results? If the answer is unclear, execution will stall.
Source: Indian Startup Times
