Asci's new Chairman Partha Sinha wants to expand the council's footprint

Sinha wants to deploy AI to monitor errant advertising, and ensure that creativity and responsibility coexist

The Advertising Standards Council of India (Asci) on Wednesday appointed Partha Sinha as its new Chairman for 2024-25. Sinha is the President and Chief Brand Officer of Bennett Coleman & Company Limited.

Sinha, who has worked with companies like Ogilvy, Publicis, BBH, McCann, and Citibank, will take over from Saugata Gupta, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Marico Limited.

“We need to increase the footprint of membership. As of now all the significant players are members but eventually we need to come to a place where all the new advertisers and digital agencies become a part of this,” Sinha told Business Standard over a phone call.

“Because at the end of the day, the best way to manage consumer interest is self-regulation.” he added.

Currently, the Council has around 350 members. Sinha said that he wants to take it to a “four-digit number at least”.

Sinha said more and more people (advertisers) should embrace self-regulation. “That will be my number one priority.”

Asci is a voluntary, self-regulatory organisation of the advertising industry in India. It advocates for fair advertising and ensures it is compliant with its Code for Self-Regulation.
 

Sinha also said that he would focus more on thought leadership and increasing tech and Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption in advertising.

“Deploying technology and AI to monitor errant advertising as well as putting our might behind preventive measures will be our focus in the days to come,” he said.
 

“This will ensure that creativity and responsibility coexist, creating an ecosystem that values consumers and encourages innovation,” Sinha added.

Sinha also said that this year, Asci would focus on taking its “Asci Academy” to as many members as possible. The academy was launched in August last year to train and educate the stakeholders.

“Asci’s role is not to stop advertisements. Its role is to encourage people to do the right advertisement. That is the fundamental premise of Asci. The Academy is a very significant step in that,” he said.

At the launch of the Academy last year, Manisha Kapoor, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary General of Asci had said that it would aim to train 100,000 “current and emerging professionals” over the next three years.