I Watched a Humanoid Robot Built for Advertising at CII Big Picture. Offline Activations May Never Be the Same

Every so often you watch something and you know, quietly, that you are looking at a turning point. That happened to me in Mumbai, at the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Big Picture Media & Entertainment event. I happened to witness a demo by Niraj Ruparel, Creative Technology Lead at WPP in India, of a humanoid robot built for advertising and marketing.

To me, it felt like an inflection point in the history of offline activations.

Why this one stayed with me

Offline activations have always been about presence. A stall at a mall, a pop-up at a festival, a promoter handing you a sample and starting a conversation. The format has evolved, but the basic idea has stayed the same for decades: put a person in front of a person.

What I saw suggested a new layer. With physical AI entering the world of brands, outreach and activations, the machine is no longer behind the screen. It is in the room, with a body, ready to engage. That is a very different proposition from a chatbot or a digital billboard. Screens wait for you to look at them. A humanoid can turn towards you.

The session itself

The robot was part of a wider session. In Niraj's own account of the day, it moved "from an interactive jam with CII leaders and industry colleagues to humanoid robotics and AI-led inclusion." That combination matters. The robot was the headline, but the framing around it was about participation and access, not spectacle for its own sake.

Build for India, then for the world

What struck me most was the thinking behind the technology. Niraj summed up WPP Media's approach as building "for India, from India" and taking those innovations to the globe, while ensuring technology creates opportunities "for more people, not just a privileged few."

I find that compelling, because India is exactly the market where a technology like this will be tested hardest. Our activations happen in malls and in mandis, at concerts and at kirana counters, in dozens of languages. A brand experience that works across that range has genuinely earned its place on the global stage.

What happens next

I do not want to overstate where we are. This was a demo, not a nationwide rollout, and brands will have real questions about cost, scale and how audiences respond.

But direction matters more than distance. When physical AI starts showing up in brand outreach, every assumption about what an "on-ground" campaign can be is open again. Events, retail, sampling, experiential marketing: all of it can be reimagined. As Niraj put it, the future of media and entertainment "won't just be about what technology can do. It will be about what we can do with it when human imagination leads the way."

I left the room with one thought. The future of activations looks infinite. About the author: Sundeep Narwani is CEO of Narrative Research Lab.

For more on why real-world brand experiences are making such a strong comeback, read our essay on why the future of marketing is analog, and our look at the rise of IRL influencers.

Frequently asked questions

What was demonstrated at the WPP session at CII Big Picture?

Niraj Ruparel, Creative Technology Lead at WPP India, demonstrated a humanoid robot designed for advertising and marketing, as part of a session that also included an interactive jam and a focus on AI-led inclusion.

What is physical AI in marketing?

Physical AI refers to artificial intelligence that operates in the real world through machines such as robots. In marketing, it points to brand activations where AI-driven machines interact with people in physical spaces.

Why could humanoid robots matter for offline activations?

They bring the adaptability of AI into physical brand experiences such as events, retail and outreach, which could change how brands engage audiences in person.