Everyone's winning, but is advertising losing?

As Goafest turned 20, India's ad industry gathered to celebrate its legacy, confront its challenges and reflect on its relevance and reinvention

- Gaurav Laghate

In the thick, humid air beneath Goa's monsoon clouds, where lanyards wilted and creative egos clashed in beachfront banter, India's advertising tribe came together once again. Marking its 20th edition and held at a brand-new venue, the country's most prominent advertising and media congregation served up its trademark cocktail of panels, parties, and the Abby Awards. But this time, the aftertaste wasn't just celebratory. Beneath the cheers and chilled beer, a sobering sentiment simmered: Is Goafest still the North Star of Indian advertising?

"We must count our blessings," said Dheeraj Sinha, group chief executive officer (CEO)—India and South Asia, FCB, and a key organizer. "We're back in Goa, the scale is bigger, participation is much higher than in Bombay... more agencies are winning... a lot of thought has gone into the programming."

Indeed, the numbers were up, a record 4,076 Abby entries were filed by 233 organizations. Attendance surpassed the previous year's Mumbai edition. There was a visibly wider spread of winners. Newer agencies and emerging voices were finding space.

The intermittent rains added a romantic, reflective mood to the fest, with delegates lingering in open courtyards for deeper conversations. But not all was well in paradise.

The celebrity sessions were packed, and the awards nights were electric. But the knowledge sessions, which were intended as the intellectual anchor of any serious industry event, struggled for footfall. "You can't just inject people into rooms; you have to attract them in," Sinha conceded. "There are questions around the show's format, the content, the awards...and our approach is to be extremely open."