Goafest 2026's top creative honors went to Mountain Dew's Darescore (QR-coded bottles grading mountain difficulty), Kansai Nerolac's Barefoot Journey (heat-reflective temple walkways cooling surfaces by ~15°C), and Perfetti's Center Fruit GenAI voice campaign in Indian dialects—signaling tech-led brand storytelling as the new creative benchmark.

Financial Express · BrandWagon · 5/26/2026, 5:22:50 PM

At Goafest 2026, Nikhil Sharma argued marketers — not creators — bear final responsibility for influencer content, pushing back on outsourced brand stewardship. He also flagged AI as a useful but still limited tool for nuanced creative work in FMCG marketing.

Financial Express · BrandWagon · 5/21/2026, 3:55:16 AM

Prasoon Joshi, Rajiv Kumar and Perfetti Van Melle India MD Nikhil Sharma told Goafest 2026 that India's consumer goods sector is trapped in affordability and volume plays, with weak incubation blocking premium, globally competitive brand building.

ET Brand Equity · 5/20/2026, 7:15:17 PM

Prasoon Joshi, Rajiv Kumar and Perfetti's Nikhil Sharma pushed Indian marketers beyond low-cost FMCG playbooks toward premium innovation and global brand-building. LinkedIn flagged India's rising professional 'prosumer' as the next high-value target cohort.

Financial Express · BrandWagon · 5/20/2026, 6:55:27 PM