What defines marketing excellence in the new age? That was the central question at the SMARTIES Jury & Marketing Leaders’ Roundtable, hosted by MMA Global India ahead of the annual SMARTIES Jury Rendezvous.
Bringing together over a dozen leaders across global giants, challenger brands, startups, and media - including Ruchira Jaitly (CMO, Diageo & Jury Chair), Amrita Thapar (Regional Marketing Director, Microsoft), Neha Khullar (Marketing Head, Kenstar), Anupam Tripathi (Founder, Oren.fit), Damandeep Singh Soni (CBO, Astrotalk), Kanishk Gupta (Co-Founder, Sukoon Health) and more, the one-hour forum explored how creativity, effectiveness, and business impact converge to shape the future of marketing excellence. The discussion was seamlessly moderated by Suneil Chawla, Co-Founder, Social Beat.
What Marketing Leaders Agreed On
1. ROI Is Non-Negotiable
Leaders across categories agreed: if it doesn’t drive business, it doesn’t get funded. “No campaign today is approved without a clear line of sight to outcomes,” said Microsoft’s Amrita Thapar, stressing the death of vanity marketing.
2. Experimentation At Scale Is The New Muscle
Astrotalk revealed they test 30 new videos every day, highlighting how speed and iteration define performance in today’s multi-screen, multi-context world.
3. AI Is Moving From Predictive To Prescriptive
From personalisation in healthcare at Sukoon Health to Kenstar’s region-wise cooling campaigns, AI was seen as a driver of mass personalisation, cultural nuance, and prescriptive targeting that builds trust and conversion.
4. Don’t Lose The Magic Of Marketing
Several leaders cautioned against over-optimising the lower funnel. “Too much data can kill creativity. The magic comes from solving real consumer problems,” said Anupam Tripathi, recalling Lenskart’s learnings.
5. Storytelling Still Wins In Cluttered Markets
Kenstar shared examples from festive campaigns like Ganesh Chaturthi’s ‘Ashtavinayak Yatra microsite’, proving that cultural storytelling drives both brand love and measurable ROI.
6. Regional Media Is India’s Growth Engine
As challenger brands rise, regional nuance and local storytelling are beating global playbooks. From translation pitfalls (“newsreader Kannada”) to authentic scripting, leaders underscored the role of regional media in driving scale and depth.
7. Challenger Brands Are Outpacing Legacy Players
Speed, personalisation, and relevance are helping startups and homegrown brands outgrow multinational peers. Legacy players, however, bring consistency and scale - a dynamic interplay that SMARTIES continues to spotlight.
Marketing excellence isn’t about chasing hype, but about ideas that scale, campaigns that resonate, and innovations that deliver undeniable business impact. As the industry gears up for the festive season and beyond, the provocation was clear — marketers must decode excellence not just for today’s wins but for tomorrow’s growth.
