First ever Digital Summit Asia by DMASL kicks off in Colombo

DMASL President Arjun Jegar with Chief Guest Digital Economy Deputy Minister Eng. Eranga Weeraratne 

The first ever two-day Digital Summit Asia organised by the Digital Marketing Association of Sri Lanka (DMASL) kicked off at the Waters’ Edge, drawing over 600 participants keen to learn from an expert panel of speakers from the region and locally.

DMASL has held Digital Summit for the past three years but 2026 edition was the first to take the shape of Asia Summit.

The Summit represents the next chapter of the DMASL Summit, which across its first three editions has brought together more than 3,000 participants and over 90 local and international speakers from across digital, marketing, technology, creativity, media, innovation and business.

DMASL officials said the 2026 edition powered by Visa is part of its long-term ambition to develop Digital Summit Asia into a regional platform anchored in Sri Lanka, bringing international and regional knowledge, expertise and industry leaders into the country while creating greater visibility and opportunities for Sri Lankan talent and capability internationally.

Chief Guest Digital Economy Deputy Minister Eng. Eranga Weeraratne having commended DMASL President Arjun Jegar expressed his delight that the Summit was on the path of becoming a much regional summit and said the theme “The epicentre of what’s next” was apt as the Government was transforming Sri Lanka in a dynamic region of Asia.

He recalled how Sri Lanka used to be an epicentre in the past being part of the famous Silk Route among other achievements.  

“To become an epicentre in this connected world, the geography doesn’t really matter. What it matters is what the country does, creativity, and also trust the other nationals can put on the work that’s getting delivered out of Sri Lanka,” the Deputy Minister said.

He said that following several crises, Sri Lanka has recovered, and is now in a development phase. “We have the potential of becoming an epicentre in the digital space, and that’s why the Government and the Ministry is pursuing an ambitious plan.”

“We are looking at how we can utilise Sri Lanka’s location to become a data centre for the region or for the world. Similarly, we are looking at AI, artificial intelligence. How artificial intelligence can be adapted in Sri Lanka on one side, to change our public service as well as the industries, and on the other side, how Sri Lanka becomes an innovation hub in artificial intelligence to the world,” Weeraratne pointed out.

Similarly, the Deputy Minister said, the Government is also keen to see how marketing also can play a big central role in Sri Lanka. “You have two clear roles. On one side, we are changing our traditional way of working in the public service as well as industry, getting converted to a digital, truly digital economy. On the other side, we have a very talented pool of engineers, digital ICT engineers and companies who are building key innovative solutions that need to reach the world stage,” he told the Summit participants.

He added that the focus of the Government is to move towards a production-based economy and there is a growing need for good marketing abilities to get our products and services to international customers. In this regard, he said digital marketing plays a key role.

Summit Co-Chairs and DMASL Vice Presidents Gayathri Seneviratne and Shalendra Mendis explained the resourceful line up of the Summit including many thought leaderships, interactive and breakout sessions and a unique first ever Night Summit.

“The digital marketing industry is very special, We are capable of achieving greater heights together. We are very confident we can take on anyone in the world if we align in the right ways,” Gayathri and Shalendra said adding “Our intention is to grow this into a level where it becomes the go-to marketing conference in the region.”

The learning sessions was kicked off by MullenLowe MENA Region’s award winning Executive Creative Director Prerna Mehra who delivered the opening keynote titled :You are in a toix relationship.”

This was followed by YELL Worldwide Founder and CEO and creator of Thailand’s first advertising agency network Ohm Dissara Udomdej who spoke on “From local to global: Expanding your local business worldwide.” Session three was titled “From watch it to want it: The Tiktok effect” by TikTok (ByteDance) Client Partner, CSAA: Consumer Business Farah Mehdi followed by “Making people care: What your brain does before you decide” by Casual Director of Narrative Strategy Oliver Atkinson and “Stop answering briefs, start answering consumers’ by Mktgstak Co-founders Varun Khiatani and Namrata Chawla.

The first day post-lunch included breakout sessions dealing with multiple subjects followed by two sessions titled “The thinking performance marketer: The way to be relevant in the AI age by Senator We Run Ads Found Ovais Ahamed; “Why so serious? Humour in advertising communication by Swiggy AVP Marketing Creative Head Prateek Suri and “From creator activity to creator infrastructure: Why brands need an operating system, not another influencer campaign: by Voxy Media Southeast Asia Business Head Naved Qureshi.

Day 2 will see opening keynote titled “Before brands, there was trust” by Visa Head of Marketing, India and South Asia Gaurav Ramdev whilst followed by sessions such as “Dont wait for 2030 by DEPT International Digital Agency Partner and CEO Asia Pacific Vishnu Mohan; “Beyond logo: Building immersive brand worlds by Landor India Managing Director Geet Nazir and RLandor India Executive Client Director and Asia Pacific Healthcare Practice Lead Ronita Mukerjee; What does creativity mean when almost anything can be made by  Publicis Groupe Asia Pacific Head of Creative Tech Laurent Thevenet; How to provide the ROI of brand marketing by Marketing Science Advsior and former Head of Global Brand and International Marketing Science at Uber Sundar Swaminathan, Who gets to innovate by Leo Burnett India Executive Director Innovation Himanish Ashar as well as breakout sessions.

-Pix by Lasantha Kumara