Goafest Chronicles: Inside India's biggest creative playground

Goafest’s 18th edition wasn’t just another industry event. It was a one-of-a-kind phenomenon. After two long years, Goafest returned to its rightful home: the vibrant, monsoon-drenched shores of Goa. 

For those in advertising and marketing, Goafest has never been just about the sessions or awards.

It’s an emotion, a whirlwind of bold ideas, chance encounters, and the electric joy of being surrounded by people who speak the same language of creativity and strategy. It’s a celebration of ideas. It’s where the adland’s heart beats louder, friends are made, and insights are shared in panels, parties, in line for meals, over cups of coffee and during beachside strolls. (Some bags even return with an extra element — trophies!)

It’s three whirlwind days of creative highs, award show heartbreaks, and networking that starts with “So, where are you working now?” and ends at the bar, over coffee, or during a beach stroll—where ideas are exchanged faster than business cards. All wrapped in the hot and humid weather of Goa. This year, though, it felt different, thanks to the early monsoon!

Beyond the sessions and conversations, our greater purpose lies in curating and chronicling the festival for those both present and absent—for the teams holding fort in the office, chasing deadlines, following the action from afar, and secretly wishing they were in Goa. Our goal is to distil the insights, reflections, and trends emerging from the event into an accessible narrative that informs, inspires, and endures.

In that spirit, The Pulse Magazine proudly presents Goafest Chronicles, a special edition capturing the essence, energy, and emotion of the festival through conversations with first-time attendees, an exploration of AI’s footprint at the event, and a deep dive into the ideas that shaped this year’s discourse.

The edition features inputs from Ashish Chakravarty, Executive Director and India Head of Creative at McCann WorldGroup, Chandni Shah, COO at FCB Kinnect, Ashish Khazanchi, Managing Partner at Enormous Brands, Niraj Ruparel, Creative Technology Lead at WPP & GroupM India, Ajay Gupte, CEO - South Asia, Wavemaker, Umma Saini, Executive Creative Director at Schbang, Abhik Santara, Director & CEO ^ a t o m & Founding Partner @ by The Network and Prathap Suthan, Managing Partner & Chief Creative Officer, Bang In The Middle.

Further, the Grand Prix winners stood out for being clever and thoughtful at this year’s ABBY Awards. From a railway campaign that turned tickets into tiny moments of hope, to a sign language-led IPL ad that made cricket more inclusive, each idea found a simple way to connect with people. We dissect five Grand Prix-winning ideas to understand how they worked, why they connected, and what they reveal about the changing language of Indian advertising.

This isn’t just another event wrap-up. It’s a time capsule of what the industry felt, discussed, debated, and celebrated. It’s for the ones who were there, the ones holding fort back home, and the ones tracking every update with FOMO-fuelled curiosity.

What’s Inside?

• Why agencies still bet big on the ABBYs
• A spotlight on AI and how it’s redefining creativity
• Stories from first-time attendees who saw Goafest with fresh eyes
• The big ideas that stirred the adland conscience
• And yes, a few behind-the-scenes gems too

Here’s to the craft, the community, and the celebration that make Goafest what it is.

Download the Goafest Chronicles e-book now: