DMASL Digital Summit 2025 in July to position Sri Lanka as region’s leading digital hub

By Uma Chandrasiri

South Asia’s visionaries, digital creators and change-makers will converge with their Sri Lankan counterparts to foster collaboration, innovation and the expansion of knowledge as the DMASL (Digital Marketing Association of Sri Lanka) Summit 2025 kicks off for the third consecutive year from 24 to 25 July at Water’s Edge Colombo.

DMASL 2025 Project Chair and Vice President Gayathri Seneviretne said: “For the first time since the summit’s inception, DMASL is actively inviting and seeking the participation of international delegates to establish Sri Lanka as a digital hub in the region and a meeting point for innovation and collaboration. Delegates from Australia to Mauritius and the sub-continent are expected to participate this year.” 

According to Seneviretne, the key highlight of this year’s summit, tipped to be the largest digital marketing summit in South Asia, is the national level endorsement secured by the association. Official endorsements from the Ministry of Digital Economy and the Ministry of Tourism, together with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotional Bureau and the Sri Lanka Convention Bureau, promise to be a catalyst for future DMASL endeavours. “We are proud to be able to bring recognition to Sri Lanka and to showcase to the region and the world that we have the necessary infrastructure, skills, and talent in the market.”

DMASL President Arjun Jeger stated that the association was created in 2021 by approximately 15 like-minded individuals dedicated to the advancement of digital marketing in Sri Lanka, and it has progressed to over 1000 members today. 

 “A key objective of DMASL 2025 under the theme ‘Rise of Digital Asia’ is to enrich the right kind of partnerships and to promote our exceptional digital marketing services to the world. Due to global summits such as Cannes and ADFEST being inaccessible to many, we aimed to create similar platforms locally to generate hitherto unexplored opportunities in our country,” he added.

DMASL 2025 Project Chair Shalendra Mendis said: “DMASL 2024 was the marketing event of the year, bringing in unprecedented social media attention, and this year we plan to take it a notch higher.” 

DMASL 2025 has already secured collaboration from over 29 partners, while over 25 international and above 10 local speakers will share their insights and expertise with the delegates. Keynote speakers, including ADFEST Festival Director Ken Suraphongchai, D&AD Global CEO Dara Lynch, LIA Chinese Creativity’s Asian representative and partner Gordon Tang, and Kimberly-Clark Global Marketing Director Shalini Seneviratne, will take centre stage. Among numerous first-time speakers is the Head of Business at BYTEDANCE/ TikTok Turkiye and Central and Southern Asia, Baris Aldanmaz. 

“Currently, there is no other industry-specific regional event that is conducted on this scale, and we are proactively marketing Sri Lanka to be the platform for regional digital minds to come together,” Mendis added.

Unilever Sri Lanka is the title sponsor of DMASL 2025, and its Head of Media Activation, Chaminda Samarakoon, stated that the transformative journey of digital marketing and digitisation has become extremely important globally as well as locally. “For Unilever, the main objective of the association with DMASL 2025 is the opportunity to drive excellence within the community and to create partnerships.”

DMASL Secretary Udara Dharmasena said: “The advancement of digital marketing in Sri Lanka is imperative as approximately 60% to 65% of our population, or 14 to 15 million Sri Lankans, use the internet today, and its use is not only confined to cities.

“This year, we are introducing a special delegate ticket with our official airline sponsor, SriLankan Airlines, offering special fares and a premium pass where sessions can be accessed on demand. Yet another addition this year to the standard General Admission pass and the Summit Social Pass is the Student Pass, offering discounted rates for university students.”

Keells, Revello, Coca-Cola, ALEPH, Anchor, and Munchee are the co-sponsors. 

The category sponsors are HNB (official banking partner), Xtra (youth lozenge partner), ROAR AdX/3p (official Meta/Google advertising partners), Hutch (official connectivity partner), and Miami (official knowledge partner).

The summit’s travel partner is Aitken Spencer Travels, hospitality partner Radisson Colombo, electronic media partner MTV/Sirasa/YES FM, and newspaper partner, Daily FT. Registration for DMASL 2025 is now officially open, with exclusive early-bird discounts available for a limited duration. Tickets to the event will be available on the official DMASL 2025 site, dmaslsummit.com.

Pix by Shehan Gunasekera