Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
As a strategist with the heart of a storyteller, I love the whole grand human drama and all the trappings of it. My passion lies in crafting comprehensive analysis and then seamlessly transitioning to imaginative lateral flights of fancy. I believe that the most impactful advertising and marketing ideas are the ones that shatter cultural orthodoxies. Hence am always keen to interpret and reinterpret life, people, stories, technology, culture, past, future, contradictions and everything in between. I am on a perpetual quest for ideas and insights that can unravel and set the windmills of the human mind in motion. In a career spanning 23 years, bridging roles at leading advertising and marketing organisations such as Lintas and Unilever, I have honed a holistic approach to brand building. My forte lies in creating winning brand strategies and marketing solutions, grounded in the convergence of commerce, culture and content. Writing is how I explore and express my musings. Many of these are published in renowned business magazines. To celebrate and get inspired by excellence in advertising and marketing, I serve on the jury of prestigious awards like Effies and AME.
Was heading the strategy team for Lowe's biggest client; Unilever. Led the strategic thinking for Glow & Lovely, Pepsodent, Close Up, Surf Excel, Vim, Lifebuoy and new innovations. Steered and won multiple new business acquisitions.
Founder member of Mullen Lintas since its launch in 2015. Led the strategic thinking, helped shape the agency ambition and its energy-fuelled culture. This new age, young agency ranked in top 10 in Brand Equity annual survey in less than two years. Steered the new business pitches, a growth engine for any young company. Crafted brand building strategies that led to big wins like Saffola, Too Yumm, Sbi Life, Tata Cliq etc for the company. Led the brand strategy team for many power brands like Tata Tea, Dabur Real, Hajmola, Vatika, Bajaj Avenger etc.
Partnered brands to identify the purpose they can serve in their consumers life through digital mediums. My primary role was to create connections and worlds where the brand story integrates with the consumer story. Clients/brands handled: Unilever (Lux, Paddle Pop, Lifebuoy), Eu Yan Sang, MetLife. Key highlights: • Created the strategy and conceptualization of the new ‘House Of Lux’ digital platform • Defined the multi-channel engagement strategy to target the new generation kids for Paddle Pop • Crafted the content strategy for Continental Australia based on mom’s needs and behavior • Led a segmentation based study to help identify the brand identity for MetLife Hong Kong • Unlocked technology led opportunities for new business acquisitions like Eu Yan Sang
Created strategies for 3 new business pitches in this short period. Iris won 2 of the 3 pitches. One of these was strategy for the HIV-Be positive campaign for Singapore Health Promotion Board which won the Gold Appie and Effies awards.