Advertising is Dead has been running for almost 4 years now and has witnessed drastic changes in the world of Podcasting as well as Advertising, and a general world situation of Pandemics, trends, and Market fluctuations. In this episode, Varun is joined by Amit & Kavita of IVM Podcasts to revise the 4 years of running this podcast, and 8 years of running the company that produces the show along with many others. In this episode, they talk about how ads have become multi-channel, a lot more ...
Nov 22, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 190
Advertising is Dead has been running for almost 4 years now and has witnessed drastic changes in the world of Podcasting as well as Advertising, and a general world situation of Pandemics, trends, and Market fluctuations. In this episode, Varun is joined by Amit & Kavita of IVM Podcasts to revise the 4 years of running this podcast, and 8 years of running the company that produces the show along with many others. They talk about how Podcasts have evolved from being a passive-listening compan...
Nov 16, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 189
In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun is joined by Kaushik Mukherjee, Co-Founder & COO of SUGAR. He tells us the company's genesis, how it became a well-known, trusted, go-to makeup brand for India, conceptualizing products according to the consumer, educating the users via social media, and so much more. Find Kaushik on Instagram | Twitter | LinkedIn Check Out SUGAR on their Website & Instagram You can follow Varun Duggirala on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/varunduggi and on I...
Nov 02, 2022•36 min•Season 1Ep. 188
In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun is joined by Kartik Johari, VP – Marketing & Commerce - Friends, Nobel Hygiene. Kartik has been championing elder care comfort and raising awareness about incontinence for the last decade and has managed to create a successful brand-Friends (adult diapers) in the elder-care market that is known for its quality and consistency. With this complete made-in-India product, the young marketing head aims to raise the bar and add dignity and equality for...
Oct 18, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 187
This episode of Advertising Is Dead is a crossover with Think Fast and we have Varun Duggirala joined by Suchita Salwan, Co-Founder of LBB. They talk about founding companies, the journey and the story behind the business, scaling strategies, finding investors, and the role once it gets acquired. They also discuss Meta's new ad strategy which places businesses at an advantage, the recently concluded festive sales, Liquid Death's profits, and Cred enabling UPI payments to its users, among other t...
Oct 11, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 186
This episode of Advertising is Dead was recorded at the Meta creator's day event! Varun Duggirala is joined by Nicola Mendelsohn, VP, Global Business at Meta. They talk about the evolution of digital media, how people have been creating amazing content with their smartphones, how marketing in the present time is a mix of the traditional ways and the modern, Meta's algorithms, and how they are built taking into consideration their users, India as a lucrative and dynamic market for the organizatio...
Oct 04, 2022•25 min•Season 1Ep. 185
In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Karthik Srinivasan joins Varun Duggirala to discuss the communications space. Firstly they discuss newspaper ads especially how languages and regional ads are treated, further segueing into Amazon & Flipkart's massive sales days. One core part of this episode is that of Personal Branding- Karthik trains top executives in the same and has some great insights into it. And lastly, they touch upon some new age terms in the comms space and end with a little...
Sep 27, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 184
In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun is joined by Rishabh Sharma, Head- TwitterNext India. They discuss the latest India Twitter Trends report and the 3 main highlights: Finance going social and the rise of conversations around investments, a rise in subculture and Fandom based communities, and a growing discourse around AI & Entrepreneurship. Rishabh explains these trends in detail and takes us through the research process. Read the report here: ( https://marketing.twitter.com/en_a...
Sep 20, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 183
In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun talks to Azaan Feroz Sait- Founder & Chief Happiness Officer, The Hub, Bengaluru. They discuss the creator economy and how an offline space adds to an online activity's reach and connection. He takes us through his journey of being a young graduate with enthusiasm and ideas leading to the establishment of The Hub, becoming an agency that is creator-friendly and offers a space to work, connect, and host; learnings from the pandemic, and how conten...
Sep 13, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 182
As an entrepreneur, it's very important to understand and learn how to manage your finances so you can better plan for your as well as your business's future. In the very first episode of Investverse, an investor education initiative by HDFC Mutual Fund, our host, Anupam Gupta will be joined by Varun Duggirala, who is an entrepreneur at heart and the co-founder of The Glitch. They will discuss Varun’s learning as an entrepreneur on managing finances, creating contingency funds and so much more. ...
Sep 08, 2022•17 min•Season 1Ep. 182
In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun is joined by Ketan Mavinkurve, CEO & Founder of Alpha Coach, a fitness app. He talks about the fitness industry in general and how he has been trying to blend fitness with Technology and build a product that can help people with their fitness journeys. Varun & Ketan also discuss the similarities and differences between the terms Health & Fitness; and how rewards are an old but impactful way of honoring and encouraging great results. Take ...
Sep 06, 2022•39 min•Season 1Ep. 181
Problem-solving often takes more than one person. The collective knowledge and individual perspective toward a problem help solve it and accelerate growth. On this episode of Advertising is Dead, Varun is joined by Abhishek Patil, Founder of GrowthX. He talks about how he built a community of individuals in charge of solving growth problems across domains, who come together to try and brainstorm solutions. Further, he tells us about establishing GrowthX- a course for mid to senior-level folks to...
Aug 30, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 180
Have you ever felt that you want to wear something trendy yet comfortable? And observed how Athleisure has caught on in the recent time? In this episode of Advertising is dead, our host Varun talks to BlissClub’s founder Minu Margaret and discusses her journey of building a community-centric brand. Being a young entrepreneur, she also talks about the challenges & strategies that she applies with respect to her business & content. All in all, BlissClub as a brand is all about Women & ...
Aug 23, 2022•40 min•Season 1Ep. 179
In this episode of Advertising is dead, Varun is joined by Anurakt Jain, the co-founder of KlubWorks who takes us on his entrepreneurial journey & his approach to revenue-based finance, start-ups & venture capital. He also talks about the traditional ways of business versus the western. Further, he also explains the correlation between revenue & revolution with an innovative mind that strives to enable fresh ideas & solve newer problems emerging in the reality of business. You ca...
Aug 16, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 178
Gone are the days when content creation was a fun pastime. It is a full-time job and takes a village to make things happen. In this episode, Varun Duggirala is joined by Shephali Bhatt, Senior Assistant Editor, Live Mint; to discuss the booming industry of content creation & how it impacts us. Shephali's expertise lies in Tech, Pop Culture, Internet Culture, Media & Entertainment. With vast knowledge in these fields, she brings forward a critical & sociological lens to how the conten...
Aug 09, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 177
In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun is joined by Arjun Vaidya, Founder, Dr. Vaidya's. He talks to us about building Dr. Vaidya's, trial and error with various strategies and approaches and in the process understanding the consumer, taking Ayurveda to urban Indians and beyond, and building for Bharat. Further, he deep dives into experimenting with D2C, how brands can leverage this piece of marketing to their advantage, and his experiences so far. You can connect with Arjun on LinkedIn |...
Aug 02, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 176
Events used to be a gathering of people, a place for networking, a platform for pitching your ideas and skills, and an opportunity to grow. But then the pandemic struck. Agreed, things are almost back to normal but with more and more people preferring to work and communicate remotely and multiple businesses shifting into the online space, how does one replicate the event experience with all its offerings in a virtual space? Enter Kestone: an integrated and experiential marketing agency that has ...
May 03, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 175
In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun is joined by Aayushman Sinha who takes us behind the scenes in a music manager's life. It's not all concerts and recordings but really a lot lot more. He also takes us through the life of a musician in the day and age of social media, brand integrations, experiential marketing initiatives, and the want for good original music. Further, he shares examples of how listener affinity is a huge factor giving us the Coke Studio example, and how NFTs are a b...
Apr 26, 2022•45 min•Season 1Ep. 174
At the end of a great workout, one would definitely prefer eating a healthy snack- something that replenishes lost nutrients, is tasty, and made from clean ingredients. Enter, Yoga Bar. A company that makes energy bars without any preservatives or Sugar, which makes for a snack minus any guilt. YogaBar is a nutrition-led food company, offering full transparency & honesty in our ingredients. The brand endeavors to offer innovative, healthy, and tasty snacking options for the health-conscious ...
Apr 19, 2022•37 min•Season 1Ep. 173
The world has moved beyond the term 'influencer'. It's 'Creator' now. Folks on the internet have been creating content for themselves, for brands; and creating opportunities as well. It's the age of the creator economy. Helping them scale is Manish Pandey- a content strategist, a wildlife photographer, and a consultant to multiple organizations. In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun and Manish talk about the rise of the Creator Economy, how brands are leveraging on the same, his journey ...
Apr 12, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 172
Gone are the days when furniture was an heirloom, passed on from one generation to the either, treated like a family member, preserved for years until it went Vintage. In the present time, it's all about moving homes and leaving behind old stuff, and preferring variety corresponding to the present. The current consumer likes choices and one particular company has been offering a wide range with reference to furniture for all kinds of settings and that is Pepperfry. In this episode of Advertising...
Apr 05, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 171
Fill out the IVM Survey: https://ivmpodcasts.com/survey In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun is joined by Shashank Mehta, Founder & CEO of The Whole Truth Foods. He takes us through his journey of going from being unhealthy, eating junk, & fluctuating weight to acknowledging his unfit lifestyle and taking steps to better it. He then tells us how food is unfairly marketed with processed images and we are being sold chemicals in the name of fat-free and sugar-free stuff, and how h...
Mar 29, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 170
The world did not stop when the Lockdown was mandated. Instead, it just went online. And businesses too saw an opportunity and decided to go digital. Aiding this ambition and move was Meta- the company that has most social media under its wing including Facebook, Instagram & Whatsapp. And because everyone juggled between these 3 apps, many Small & Medium Enterprises decided to use them to connect with customers. In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun talks to two entrepreneurs- Pa...
Mar 22, 2022•57 min•Season 1Ep. 169
In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun Duggirala is joined by Malini Agarwal, Founder & Creative Director MissMalini Entertainment, Girl Tribe & Co-Founder of Good Creator Co. She takes us through the journey of establishing Miss Malini, how it began as a blog and eventually became an empire consisting of multiple offsets that aim at helping creators with tips to make great content, create a safe space for women, and give all the news from the glam world. Further, she also talks a...
Mar 15, 2022•35 min•Season 1Ep. 168
In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun Duggirala is joined by Pooja Chhabria (APAC Head of Creator Management, LinkedIn) and Pooja Dhingra (Pastry Chef, Founder- Le15 Patisserie) to talk about LinkedIn's Creator Accelerator Programme. Creation on LinkedIn is about the opportunities that can happen when our members connect with each other. Acknowledging the growing space, LinkedIn is launching the Creator Accelerator Program in India - a new initiative designed to support creators on Linke...
Mar 08, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 167
In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Chef Saransh Goila joins Varun Duggirala to tell us about his latest venture 'Bambai Meal Rolls'. He also tells us how he became a Chef- from failing Biotechnology to acing Hotel Management exams, working as a Chef in a Hotel, a Food channel, a Food Show, and now a Foodpreneur. He shares his inspirations on the way, how the Indian palette is super varied and dynamic and one can never fully cover every flavor that arises from the nooks and corners of the co...
Mar 01, 2022•1 hr 4 min•Season 1Ep. 166
This week on Advertising Is Dead, Varun is joined by Anupam Gurani, the Chief Marketing Officer of LEAD- India’s foremost player in the School EdTech category. It currently empowers 3000+ affordable private schools catering to 12 lakh+ students in tier 2+ cities and is solving the problem at the core education level by encouraging schools to transform and smoothly fit into the new normal by implementing SchoolEdTech. Be it in assessments, teacher training, or students’ learning, LEAD integrates ...
Feb 22, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 165
In this episode of Advertising is Dead, Varun is joined by Hitesh Dhingra, Founder of the Man Company. He has an interesting story of how the idea of starting a man's grooming and wellness products company happened. He tells us about the present consumers, shares some interesting insights about how the product was received initially and how it is now. He also discusses the concept of being a gentleman and how it came to be an important trait of his organization. All this and much more. Find Hite...
Feb 15, 2022•47 min•Season 1Ep. 164
Fill out our brand recall survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/6HP2RVB In this episode of Advertising Is Dead, Varun is joined by Vedant Lamba, founder of The Mainstreet Marketplace, a company that has been redefining the sneaker culture in India by making exclusive kicks accessible to the niche yet prevalent market of sneakerheads. Vedant talks about subcultures, and how a vlogging routine and his love for sneakers eventually led him to set up shop in Pune and eventually expand across Metros....
Feb 08, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 163
In this episode, Varun is in conversation with Aneesh Bhasin who is one of the co-founders of Svami drinks that makes progressive drinks and mixers. He takes us through the company's genesis, the experiments they conducted with reference to the product and its marketing, responses from a diverse market like India, and probable future trends and plans. Aneesh is on Instagram and Twitter @aneeshb Check out Svami drinks on their Instagram , Twitter and Website Talk to Varun Duggirala on Twitter and...
Feb 01, 2022•43 min•Season 1Ep. 162
