Goafest 2025: Amitesh Rao Highlights AI Opportunities Within India’s Misunderstood Media Landscape

Leo South Asia has been on an admirable creative streak in recent years, earning the prestigious title of the world’s best creative agency in the 2025 WARC Creative 100 rankings.

Part of this success is rooted in a deep understanding of India's often misunderstood media landscape.

“It is easy to assume that rural India has less digital penetration and relies on outdoor, TV, and radio, but that’s not true," Leo South Asia CEO Amitesh Rao says.

"India has some of the deepest internet penetration in the world. You have people whose annual income is $2,000 but they are transacting on their phones. If you go deep into India, you can buy an orange worth three cents using a QR code and a phone.”

He adds, “From a media and advertising perspective, platforms like YouTube, Instagram and local ones have massive content consumption because data is cheaper here than anywhere else in the world.”

The media fragmentation in India also presents a real challenge, but equally an opportunity. “Even before digital, there were 432 television channels across different languages. Media planners have always dealt with this fragmentation but now it’s ten times more fragmented because of digital. The opportunity is to manifest a strong, transformational idea in many ways, not just a 30-second ad.

"If you know how to take one idea and express it in a hundred ways, that idea is much more powerful. But it is hard because you have to understand media and tech, many touchpoints are tech-driven.”

Leo’s work with sanitary pad brand Whisper, for instance, demonstrates a diversity of thinking that goes beyond just advertising. “India is a uniquely diverse market, and when you travel beyond big cities, every state feels like a different country,” says Amitesh.

“When you go to small-town India, it's a completely different culture and a different mindset and different food. Practically everything is different. But here’s one problem you see across all states: young girls in school were dropping out because when they had their periods, they had no knowledge of what was happening to their bodies. The superstition and taboo around periods combined with the lack of knowledge was causing them to drop out of school. We were losing that many young women from our education system, from our workforce, from a lot of stuff.

“Whisper walked in to say, of course, we’re a sanitary pad brand, but first we’re going to try and solve this problem. For many years now, we’ve been running a programme called ‘Keep Girls in School’. We’ve introduced a chapter in the national education system about period education. We’ve created songs for young children to learn what periods are. We’ve run programmes for mothers in small towns and rural India who don’t know enough to teach their children. There are 15 different aspects to this campaign but they all focus on one thing: how do I create enough education, knowledge, and awareness about the fact that periods are a healthy, normal part of growing up so that girls stay in school? It doesn’t matter what language you speak, what God you pray to, or what your cultural system is, because this is unifiable.”

Amitesh stresses that this is not just a communication solution but an integrated approach. “Yes, communication is an important part of it, but Whisper creates sanitary pads of smaller sizes for young girls. It’s a product solution. It’s a distribution solution. It’s an activation solution at schools. It’s a school programme that’s running. It’s not just an ad.”

With a view to the future, Amitesh sees emerging tech like AI playing a big role in Leo’s approach. “I have a strong belief that AI is a force multiplier for creativity. It is a partner and a collaborator, not a threat. It is already transforming the way we do business, but not in an unhealthy or threatening way if you know how to adopt it.”

He breaks AI’s capabilities into two buckets: “First, it optimises efficiency through speed and reducing cost. This is low-hanging fruit and table stakes. Everyone will get there eventually. The real differentiator is using AI to fuel creative thinking.”

In addition, Amitesh sees it as a force to uncover more precise, granular insights. “It allows me to see not one audience base of 200 million people but 200 audience bases of smaller cohorts, each with unique mindsets. I can identify and target those cohorts with personalised messaging. One idea needs to be expressed differently for 200 different groups, which cannot be done by a human workforce alone but can be done when augmented with AI.”

He also points out how AI accelerates market research. “10 or 15 years ago, we’d do quant and qual research with 2,000 people and market visits. That was limited in scale. AI now gives me a much faster, deeper read on what’s in consumers’ minds, providing a richer springboard for strategic and creative thinking. The magic still has to come from human imagination. AI is just a better take-off point.”

On advice for young people wanting to enter the industry, Amitesh is clear, “Just do what you love. It sounds clichéd but it is the truth. Too many older generations did things for money or growth or social boxes, not because they loved it. The beauty today is you can make money doing what you love. If you don’t know what you love, find it. You can’t be a 20-year-old who doesn’t know. Find yourself.”

On what advertising is like as a profession, he laughs, “I think it’s missing a blueprint. It’s a collection of misfits who have stumbled into it. We have aerospace engineers, lawyers, dentists, creative thinkers who may not have creative craft but love what they do. The problem is convincing your parents that staying up till two am making an ad is serious work."