AAAI Launches INDIE Council for Independent Agencies

Published on: October 29, 2026

The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) has established the INDIE Council for Independent Advertising Agencies, led by Tanya Goyal of Everest Advertising. The council will focus on addressing the key business and creative challenges faced by independent agencies compared with large global advertising networks, while supporting their growth and strengthening their position in India’s advertising industry.

The charter of the Indie Council includes:

• Championing Regional Diversity: Providing platforms and formal institutional frameworks tailored for talent outside major metros, ensuring regional insights shape national standards.
• Cross-Disciplinary Collaborations: Facilitating experiments and knowledge exchange by bridging the gap between indie ad practitioners and outside experts (filmmakers, tech innovators, designers, and social scientists).
• Intergenerational Mentorship: Building structured programs where emerging indie creators are mentored by seasoned industry icons to accelerate professional development.
• Democratizing Emerging Tech: Securing subsidized training, access, and enterprise licenses for AI tools, MarTech, and advanced data analytics platforms that are otherwise cost-prohibitive for smaller agencies.
• Building a Magnet for Youth: Addressing the modern talent crisis by working toward competitive compensation baselines, mental health standards, and structural recognition to attract young professionals to the indie space.

“The INDIE Council is designed to give small and medium agencies a voice and a platform to grow,” said Ms. Tanya Goyal. The Council will kick off with an AI Boot Camp scheduled for right after Diwali. “We will start with basics in prompt engineering, and help build more fluent usage of emerging technologies,” said Jaydeep Gandhi, Vice President of the AAAI, who will head the AAAI Academy which will plan and coordinate learning and skilling initiatives, going forward and work closely with the INDIE Council.

“Independents are the backbone of our industry, and the INDIE Council is a vital step to ensure they have the support they need,” said Dr. Sandeep Goyal, President, AAAI. “With Tanya leading this effort and with Jaydeep Gandhi’s guidance, we are committed to building capability and creating opportunities for this critical segment.”

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