Hogarth India’s Karthik Nagarajan on the content industry reinventing itself around AI

AgencyCon, The great Indian Agency Festival 2024 witnessed a series of discussions and insights, beckoning forth the curious minds shaping the advertising, media and marketing landscape. The event was a melting pot of ideas, offering a roadmap through the twists and turns of technology, client relationships, and specialisation. With over 30 agency leaders sharing their experiences, the summit was filled with knowledge and glaring insights.

The session with Karthik Nagarajan, CEO, Hogarth India titled ‘Breaking & building - How the content industry is reinventing itself around AI’ saw some interesting words of wisdom being shared by the thought-leader. 

The CEO shared that we are at a stage where research itself is the product. Explaining further, he said that there used to be a phase in product development after research which was called beta phase–before the product went live. The advent of AI has altered the way research is done, leading to it being an important aspect of itself.

Talking about transforming with AI, Nagarajan believes that a major pitfall of building or transforming an organisation around a particular tool or technology is that it–the tool/tech–runs the risk of being defunct or changed drastically. Thus, he added that he, as part of the leadership at Hogarth India, believes in building around the philosophy of AI rather than the technology itself. 

“What we don’t realise is that using AI for creativity is a very small industry, and it's also cannibalising an existing industry,” Nagarajan said. “There is an extraordinary amount of money to be made and saved for AI in automation. And I find it fascinating, more exciting than AI for creativity,” the CEO added.   

Talking about AI shaping jobs in the future, he believes, “AI will completely change the job description of existing job profiles.” He shared an optimistic view on AI’s impact on jobs. 

When asked about AI revolutionising creativity he had an interesting take, “I don’t know if AI will change creativity but it will absolutely revolutionise creative operations beyond recognition.” 

One prominent use of AI in advertising has been personalisation, with brands trying to connect with audiences on a deeper level. Nagarajan believes that personalisation has become a run-of-the-mill element in the current climate. He said, “Personalisation has become a hygiene nowadays. When we did the Shah Rukh Khan AI campaign for Mondelez as part of WPP, it was probably a little ahead of the curve.” He adds that currently personalisation is a given and how you stand out ultimately boils down to how well you can do it and the level of engagement you can incorporate. 

Expounding on how Hogarth India is focusing on AI right now, he stated, “We are looking at AI at Hogarth India in a very non-anxious manner. I can’t recall the last time we had so much fun playing around and tinkering with tech.” He further added, “Earlier when we were experimenting with technology such AR and VR, we knew that those were niche things–that we would not be able to apply those to the entire market or make them mainstream. That has changed significantly with AI.” 

Answering the rapid-fire questions round, Nagarajan gave the following responses: 

One AI tool that you think is overrated? 

“Midjourney.” 

A campaign that you would like to reimagine with AI?

“The Coca-Cola Hilltop ad”

AI podcasts that you would recommend? 

“I like Tanmay Bhat’s Overpowered AI podcast. A lot of people might not know about Nvidia's AI podcast, but I would definitely recommend it.” 

Your advice for young A&M professionals?

Nagarajan used the phrase ‘Always in beta’ and explained that it means you are open to innovations, working on something disruptive, and embracing new ideas. 

We'd like to thank all our partners for supporting this endeavour: 

• Checkout Partner - Simpl
• Live Streaming Partner - 24Frames
• Beverage Partner - Sonnets by Tata Coffee  
• Beauty Partner - Just Herbs 
• Entertainment Partner - Times Prime