Announcing The CMO Code: Insights And Strategies From Marketing Leaders Shaping India's Boldest Brands In 2025

When did elders start snapping a square of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk abashedly?

Recount the ‘Kuchh Meetha Ho Jaye’ campaign of the early 2000s. That’s when adults stopped hiding their luscious fantasies for what was known for ages as a kids’ delight.

Thanks to a marketing genius, a simple campaign helped the brand pivot from a snack for children to a shorthand for friendship, love, and small wins.

Two decades on, a similar campaign has set off a storm. Get INR 1 Lakh if you’re willing to sleep for nine hours a day for 100 nights – believe it or not, that’s what is on offer from Wakefit, a Bengaluru-based startup selling mattresses.

Sounds too good to be true? The ‘sleep internship’ campaign has positioned Wakefit as a brand that takes customer feedback seriously. The campaign notched over 1.5 Lakh applicationsor, to be true, a goldmine of quality leads.

What lies behind the two campaigns that redefined the brand positioning and derived top-of-the-mind recall? It is the same DNA: Storytelling with a cultural currency and underlying a massive shift in how marketing works.

Once an arena ruled by multinational giants, marketing has become the playing field of startups, as they unbox unique ideas and unfold unmatched campaigns. From newspaper ads to pamphlets and billboards, marketing campaigns have turned screen-first, led by social media algorithms, Google search rankings and digital ad click-through rates.

Some brands are taking it to the next level. Instead of chasing performance marketing, they are investing in brand marketing to build deeper, more memorable brand experiences that result in long-term loyalty and emotional connection with customers.

No wonder India’s digital advertising market is on course to scale $32.33 Bn by 2030, averaging a 15.3% annual growth in revenue. This makes the marketing brains more critical than ever.

“Whether it’s a 10-minute delivery quick commerce or a D2C brand, these leaders understand that in India’s diverse market, you don’t just market to consumers – you educate, build habits, and create trust – all at once. The best ones are obsessed with unit economics and consumer psychology in equal measure,” said Nitya Sharma, cofounder & CEO, Simpl.

The field for marketing leaders has expanded beyond external messaging to encompass influencing product features, leveraging analytics, shaping go-to-market strategies, driving funnel conversions, and building the brand as an employer. They no longer operate in silos; instead, they work closely with nearly every function across the organisation and participate equally in boardroom meetings.

As the role of marketing leaders has evolved, so have their titles — the chief marketing officer (CMO) is now often the chief growth officer, chief brand officer, or chief digital officer. As core drivers of business outcomes, today’s marketing leaders are expected to speak the language of product, technology, and finance, while owning the brand’s narrative.

The CMO Code by Inc42 and Simpl was conceived in this backdrop, with the aim of amplifying the voices of India’s sharpest marketing minds from the startup world.

Be it viral campaigns or culture-driving content or full-funnel strategy or brand-tech integration – the CMO series will go deep into how the modern-day marketers from the world’s third-largest startup economy are shaping consumer behaviour and building trust at scale.

From Zepto’s chief brand & culture officer, Chandan Mendiratta, who is an Instagram sensation himself, decoding the startup’s viral marketing campaigns to Curefit’s head of brand marketing, Siva Kumar Pedhapati, breaking down user retention strategy in a category where customer loyalty is a scarce – the series will unleash personal insights, curated case studies and smarter suggestions for marketing campaigns to be cracking.

Decoding The Brand Blueprints

Marketing has moved on from being a ‘nice-to-have function’ and evolved into a long-term investment for a company. “The CMOs who win are those who view every marketing dollar as an investment in long-term customer relationships, not just short-term acquisition metrics,” said Simpl’s Sharma.

As we try to dig into the minds of the marketing mavericks, let’s take a glimpse of what’s in the offing!

Redefining Skincare With Pep Brands

Vaishali Gupta, cofounder and chief growth officer at Pep Brands, will decode the company’s proprietary 6P growth framework and take us through the blend of product, platform and packaging that powered the zero-to-one journey for mCaffeine and Hyphen.

Gupta will dive into the brand’s approach to comprehend and evaluate the product-market fit, spot white spaces, and dwell on the making of a D2C brand on a daily household ritual.

Peeping Into Zepto’s User Cart

Zepto’s chief brand and culture officer Chandan Mendiratta will give us a glance at how the quick commerce unicorn tackles the twin challenges of user acquisition and retention.

Mendiratta will break down Zepto’s high-velocity branding strategy, building full-fledged campaigns in just a day to running an entirely in-house creative engine. He will also shed light on how Zepto is integrating AI into its brand and content workflows to be more agile.

Cracking Curefit’s Brand Loyalty Code

Siva Kumar Pedhapati, head of brand marketing at Curefit, will decode how the fitness-tech brand is defying the odds in a sector where customer retention is a never-ending challenge.

With over 34% user retention, a rare feat in the health and wellness space, Curefit’s strategy is framed around building a lasting brand affinity. The piece will analyse how the company leverages technology, community, product design and a house-of-brands approach to turn fleeting interest into long-term loyalty.

Understanding Chaayos’ Unique Marketing Playbook

At a time when performance marketing and influencer-led campaigns dominate the playbook, Chaayos has taken a different route. Since 2019-20, the brand has reworked its marketing strategy and, over the past year, has operated without any spending on conventional marketing channels.

Ankit Kumar, vice-president of brand and marketing, will explain how the company is building immersive brand experiences with in-house creative, tech-led efficiencies and hyper-personalised store touchpoints to drive growth.

Reading 1mg’s Prescription To Woo Users

After more than a decade with Tata 1mg, Senior VP & e-pharmacy business and product head Prateek Verma will bring in a rare, 360-degree perspective to the brand’s evolution from the ground up, and the strategies it has used over the years to acquire and retain users.

Verma will delve into the company’s strategy to shape its brand narrative in India’s increasingly competitive digital health landscape.

When The Best Marketing Brains Speak At The CMO Code

A great marketing leader in this age of evolving business paradigm is part psychologist, part data scientist, and part storyteller – one who understands that marketing isn’t just about driving transactions, but about reshaping how merchants and consumers perceive financial relationships.

This series will decode how top marketing minds are approaching AI, data, customer psychology and business strategy – not as siloed functions, but as interconnected levers of growth.

So, if you’re a new-age entrepreneur or a brand looking to answer the big marketing questions, follow Inc42’s CMO Code series and learn from those who’ve mastered the art of marketing in India’s fast-moving business domain.

The post Announcing The CMO Code: Insights And Strategies From Marketing Leaders Shaping India’s Boldest Brands In 2025 appeared first on Inc42 Media.