A Humanoid AI Walks Into the Future of Marketing - WPP x TechManch 2026

Hello everyone. You [music] are all heartily welcome here. Five Odd Cases Neck Deep in Two Briefs. Now we are looking at the most relevant one. Worlds of Data and Technology Colliding with Creativity at Heart. As a business there are lots of activations which are happening. What a closing. perfect. Hello everyone. So we all interact with Edge on our phones, on our laptops, even through, you know, voice assistance. But today AI is not just confidant you know behind the screen, but it is standing right you know with [music] us right here. So we have Robo Cool with us. Let me quickly interact and he is already saying hello by the way. Perfect perfect. So first thing first robot what should I call you. Robo cool robo or do you have any you know specific. I am a human powered by AI intelligence. You may have seen me on stage in one form but I exist in many avatars. I adapt to different brands, stories and context. Perfect, perfect. Good to hear that. So before we get into it, let's know the details of marketing and any technical terms? Yes. I am right here. And so, what I've heard is that you know you speak multiple languages. How about you just say hello to our audience in Hindi and finish off in English. Can you do that for us? Hello everyone. All of you are heartily welcome here. Today we are becoming part of a new era of technology and creativity. It's a pleasure to be here with all of you [music] as we step into a new era where brands are not just seen and heard but experienced. That was pretty cool. Ah so we also have Mr Neeraj from WPP here. I would like to invite Mr. Neeraj [music] here. Yes, yes, everyone right here. Yes, now. Hi, Aditi, great to see same here, same here. How You Like Him? Great. He is pretty good, spontaneous as well. Or, or. So, now, Neeraj is also with us. So, can you introduce him and how about you do it in his own voice, anywhere we have seen you doing that. Is a project. That's Neeraj Ruparel. Creative Technology [Music] Lead at WPP. Someone Who Operates at the Intersection of Creativity, Technology, and Culture. Dude, he's focused on building real-world applications of AI that make [music] brands more human, more inclusive, and more experiential. And today I am one of those experiments. Perfect, perfect Neeraj, let me ask you now directly. Ah you know robot have any which I brief as well about you but I want to understand from you that basically how close are brands in India today, you know adopting humans, robots, say at this scale? What do you so, like I was mentioning on the stage and [music] me and Mellie were talking about it. It's Still Early Days. What we're planning to do is land it closer to the activation touch [music] points. Weather it's retail, activation, sports marketing, keeping consumer in mind, brand in mind, comms in mind. There are whole host of activations which are already happening. This Has Tremendous Novelty Value Right Now. Doesn't have scale as we speak but a lot of Make in India startups are moving and if we saw a display at [music] India AI Summit. So slowly it moves towards scale then it is going to become more like a currency in the retail environment. But right now it's more like an [music] in a RAD space I would say. And we have invested in this hardware in our experience center. The intent is to do more than you know, create a body of work and live through the hardware. And jamming more and more with our clients in our Experience Center. You no longer talk much about what they are doing and what they can do in a stipulated environment. Right now it doesn't have massive scale like I said. But the intention is to go out there and do something meaningful every day. Which resonates and connects with consumers out there. So, if you were to make a play of robotics in India, what should you do? Multilingual, you saw it speaking in lots of multilingual languages, dialogues. If you load some kind of content. So, data-led marketing? In retail environments there's a lot of content it can perceive identify aditi in physical spaces for example if I love content out there and talk back at you so it's classic worlds of data and technology colliding with creativity at heart then you're gonna have in real life like genji call it rrl right so in real life they will be like fascinating conversations which it can do right now so pretty much very high on novelty value but the intent is not just do random stuff with it. But keep it closer to comms and target brands who are you [music] no engaging in these spaces and see to it. It There Is A Synergy To Unleash Creativity Like Never Before. Not Just Go Ahead and Say. Someone spends money, you go ahead and do a use case. Not like that. Not like a phosphate. But More Like Someone is delivering a classic activation. All the while a brand and how you can take this and elevate that. Ok. That is the intent all the time. You won't believe there are so many use cases which I declined. [Music] Then the use cases which I actually do. Roboto Cool Was a Unanimous Choice Across Creative Media and the Entire Open Extreme That Yes We Should Do It. It was not a phosphate by any means, right? But there are lots of cases where somebody would say, you know I want to sell this, I want to sell that, I am doing some activation. Can we get him, he will go and talk about my product? So we decline it. Because the intention is to unleash a lot of creative body of work. Yeah. Right now, and to set the stage [music] for When the Scale Happens, More and More Brands Can Come in and Play at Scale Right Now. But you need to go out there and you know create use cases. That's been the goal all through out. Ah even at take march like I said like all the years there's a lot of prototyping which we did. We placed a hollow box on the stage. If You Remember There Was My Friend Amit Doshi & Sunita Bangar from Aditya [Music] Birla & Amit Doshi now with PhonePe. They were inside the box live from Bangalore and Delhi. And you see these boxes now at PVR. And we ran our first campaign on [music] unary liver persons out there, right? And Plus The QR Codes, You Remember My Holograms Are Popping In Last Tech Month When There's Scanning It Is Popping In. You Seeing That Right Now For Unique Look. Rahul Dravid's Hologram Paper launched in the store. And ask Ultratech the engineer works in, for those ICICI agents are working in and stuff like that. So, unless you go prototype and show the world, the use cases won't follow. And tech manch kind of give us a platform where we can go with the top market years and you no show them that this is possible this is not in an AV or a PPT or somewhere coming in some western markets it is possible now and here in India and very very affordable okay that's super duper critical because lot of people they feel that oh my god this is robotics we can't afford it. Yeah. Because that is a general notion which is. A general notion out there. Right? So how in India do you make innovations more affordable because you are going to get into it in a test and learn mode? Things Can Go Wrong, Clients Are Backing You, Your Leadership Is Backing You, and All of Us Know That, or Things Can Go Wrong and You Can Fail. [Music] But in that deal when we all know that if our campaign fails we need to see it through our partnership that we fail at least cheap. You Don't Fail Expensive. ₹1 you know anything I don't technology it's more like Indianized it think how affordable you can make it it looks very expensive and the side of it how do you make it affordable how do you elevate creative story telling and how do you touch consumers like sumely rightly said right it's just a hardware right now but just because he is doing all these actions and speaking my voice and adopting to roboto pooj personality you know greeting shamy with and half the people are getting fascinated. Consumers Watching It. Engaging Consumers Getting Fascinated. Why ? Because [of music] of the localization, the culture, the value system. Now I'm taking it a different not ahead but hardware from anywhere. You have to bring them closer to the brand, closer to your culture. In this case it was cricket. Ok. In the case of Roboto, it was being trended to talk cricket. Hee Wo In S LSG Fan. Meaning, you can ask him any question related to cricket. We will answer that. Any data? Done. Kapil Dev won the World Cup in 1983. If you ask him what happened in the last over ? Will Tell You Oh! Do I am saying right? Yahoo it's fascinating [music] and it's telling you in this form by doing a bowling action. How lovely. Which What It Did on the Stage. When you are speaking to Shammi, it just doesn't say that Shammi, I am also a fast bowler. I am also a fast bowler like you and have a dayat action. That makes it special. Yeah. That Actually Makes Robcool So Cool. I believe. I also want to know which industry is likely to embrace this technology you know more fast. What do you think that which [music] industry would you know grab this early? So, if you ask me, I'm looking at I'm looking at an ecosystem to introduce this. I'm not looking at this being introduced in silos. Ok. For example, if I say that I've got Roboto Cool [music] and I've got a hardware, now you create an ecosystem for me. Pay Where You Get A Celebrity. You create a mall activation just for me or design a you know entire property for me. Then it suddenly became like this. You know, unaffordable out there. But if I if I today we got like so many clients. So we got access to we have a division which manages lot [music] of these activations across India as part of WP Media which you know right. So as a business there are lots of activations which are happening across India across markets whether it's cinema, [music] whether it's malls, whether it's crowd gathering, whether it's melas. Like [music] ah ah what you call Kumbh Mela and stuff like that. So There Are So Many Experiences is part of the Experiential Marketing division of WPP. Activation Division WP R Lot of Experiences Which Are Getting Created. All I need to do is look for the right brand. Look for the right activation and introduce this in a more affordable way as a holistic solution. Rather than taking it to the brand and telling them. Here is a hardware. I can do 10 things. Now [music] you invest in the entire ecosystem. Then it suddenly becomes unaffordable right? If I go with [music] and and we can do it as WPP. Because you got so many fabulous divisions with these WP who are doing lot of work. Closer to consumer. All you need to do is just do some basic coding. Give it a You Know brand twist. In the Age of AI. Agility is the key. All you're doing is just firing a prompt and it's giving your content back, right? So, this is about firing a prompt. Seeing to it. The Profanity Guards Are in Place. Controlling a lot of content out there. Investing in creative gestures. All What We Spoke on the Stage. Pretty much. So, I don't see a specific category. It can be an auto, it can be a BFSI. And you will see lots of use cases coming in. I'm already like five odd cases. Ah neck deep into briefs. Now we are looking at the most relevant one. It's not that we want to do it. We can do five. In the next five weeks, I can do five activations if I want to. Because the ecosystem is set for that. But we are kind of picking and choosing the most relevant ones which sets the stage that robotics is here to do something more meaningful in physical space with consumers. All right. So I don't want you to know Roboto Kulul to feel left out a level. So my next question is to you Roboto that, you know, if you want to be like a face of any particular brand, what could you do better than a website? A chat bot on behalf. How are you different? Can You Tell Us That? It's a good question, it's already a very smart answer coming your way. I can interact, not just respond. I exist in the physical world. I understand context, emotion, and environment. I can engage you in your language. Adapt to your cues and create a moment that feels personal and memorable. I am not replacing digital, I am extending it into reality. Alright thank you so much for answering that rubo I have one more question to you. So, Can You Actually share an example of how a humanoid AI like you know could actually improve a customer's journey in a retail store. I know it's a specific one. But I still want to know your take on it. Could you help us out with that please? Imagine walking into a store where I recognize your preferences. Guide [Music] You Through Products, Answer Your Questions In Real Time And Even Demonstrate Usage. [Music] I can make the experience innovative, conversational, and frictionless. Bridging the Gap Between Discovery and Decision. That is pretty good. That's pretty good. Or. So, if every brand you know has access to more than the same AI. So, What Becomes a Real Competitive Advantage, What Do You Do ? Now Novelty Value of AI Is Traded. It's Not That If You Create a Mascot, the People Are Going to Get Wounded. Currently your getting bored by this because it's across novelty value. When there will be thousands of people roaming on the streets, then there is no novelty value. So, [music] what is what consumers will fall in love with is the shared conversation, the utility and the value they're going to get from this mask, right? So, a brand that's consciously investing [music] in data. Marrying it with technology and all that's coming in the space of AI. And [music] making that content more meaningful for the consumers. That's going to cut the eyes. Going ahead, right? Look at Rural India Today. I mean a lot of people like 350 million people do not have basic phones. And they don't have basic information with them. So they can't take informed decisions out there. Imagine AI is a great value to those consumer sets than anyone else today. It can be like [music] a matter of you know life and death for those guys. You know that certain information which is what we are doing in our public health division, a lot of good work which is happening about if you see Ultratext platform by talking. It's not just available in an immersive fashion [music] where the expert engineer comes out on the main stage and it's talking to you. But it is also available on a number. Yeah. Call a number. And the expert is talking to the same model that is running on your phone. So, it's about many Indias. And how you understand [music] context of consumers in many Indias. And keep loading on to the mascot and the AI platform you're building to. Connect with consumers. Ok. To An Extend That They Are Not Just Falling In Love With The Novelty Value. But they are falling in love with the shared content. Which is getting unlisted. From the Models. [MUSIC] And that's how they'll find their value. And for that. It's a constant exercise. Where. Data has to keep flowing in. [MUSIC] Technology will keep getting elevated. It's a constant exercise which has to be kept running for it to become. Meaningful. Consumer first like so much rightly said like so much is happening. If you go into lockdown and say that, these are the five things I have to do as a brand marketer. Or as an innovator. What will you do? Which resonate with your consumers. 100% The Low Hanging Ones, right? Those are the ones which will cut the eyes. Yeah. And how about like you know five years from now? What Marketing Practices Will Make You Feel You Know Absolutely. Completely absolute. No if you ask me, I'm I'm very bullish [music] on the future. I'll Tell You Why I See You Know There's a Conversation Me and [Music] My Dad We Keep Having. And my dad tells me that in our time he was an accountant. Used to write in the account. You got Microsoft Outlook. You know pptx got and my dad talks. You work on pptx. They think Puppy is a great software , right? But coming to terms with it, actually that was a big difference between the way they work and where we work. And now the young guys in our team and even now we are getting to work with platforms like WPP Open. Which is like super duper powerful. Which makes you know the share work which humans are going to do. The Man Machine Collaboration. In the future would be another level. You will have some real powers to do the job. [MUSIC] And and do it really quick in a most agile way. So I'm pretty bullish on the future. How is it going to shape up? Or is he not going anywhere, that's for sure. It's not [music] a trend that will come and go, okay. It's here to stay and it's kind of impacting you know all at all levels. Everyone's getting a feeler of it, right? And it will be clearer to say that you need to upgrade yourself. Start working with the machine. This has to be done, you know, like you have no choice in this. So, it will be a great world. There will be more you have to do, just you know your core experience will come into play when people come on level playing grounds. [Music] I keep telling you guys that I have 15 years of experience and five years of experience. 15 years of experience in innovation means how many things you must have experimented with. [MUSIC] How many times have you failed, right? There is no such straight road. You know, and AI is learning on top of all the failures, successes, bla bla and obviously is giving you an elevated [music] 30,000 birthday I'm telling you that if you do this you might fail because he's learning with us. Butt who has hands on. He is going to be here and he will keep doing it by DNA. And I keep telling a lot of these young guys that in the AI era, bring your spark at work. Don't just come to work, right? Because when you're coming [music] and running a presentation people are reading you they have like 100 PhDs in your pocket if you're trying to find something if they do n't see conviction in your conversation then put down your mobile that's kind of the world we are in right nobody is trusting each other and that will only come with experience [music] conviction good work that constant passion that constant tech trend spotting and shaping which I keep saying is a job in itself Or [music] And very little organization they understand. Or that this is like the are leaders like you know b pretty well, right? He's been talking about this like five years back. [Music] They Need to Have a Team for the Future Where to Start Thinking. This is not what it was just now. Yeah. There wasn't Tad, right? So it's a leadership how they are investing in R&D? A so what I've heard is that you know, you mime in a very different voices. So, you know , without stepping into any legal trouble here. Sir, can you, you know, perform one of Amitabh Bachchan's favourite or a famous dialogue, can you do that for us? Don't do that. Amitabh Bachchan is going to come for you. Don't do that. Can you, do you still want to try it. I Deeply Respect Iconic Voices and Identities. Rather Than Imitate I Can celebrates the spirit of powerful storytelling. In a relationship, we seem to be your [music] experience creators. The name is Future. And the future as you can see [music] is interactive. Alright, alright that, that was a good one and a short one as well. Thank you so much Robo and thank you so much Neeraj Prakash and you know it was lovely chatting with Robo. I did it for the first time and I am looking forward to that in the next five years as we were discussing? No is there anything specific would like to discuss more below explore to. I believe I will cut shot my closing. How about you just do a quick closing to this interview? Yes. That would be great. Wrap It Up For Us. Yes What a closing? perfect. Let Me Know Anything Else. perfect. I believe that. I give you flying cases. Let me know if you need anything else. That's the closing. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you so [music] much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.