$200M+ in LinkedIn ad spend. 14 years on one channel. Here's the playbook AJ Wilcox swears by.

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, we spoke to AJ Wilcox - Founder of B2Linked, host of The LinkedIn Ads Show, and author of LinkedIn Ads Demystified. AJ is widely regarded as the world's most concentrated authority on LinkedIn Ads, having managed over $200M in spend across some of LinkedIn's largest accounts globally, including 5 of LinkedIn's top 10 spending advertisers.

In this masterclass, AJ unpacks his complete LinkedIn Ads playbook - from the 3 default settings silently killing your budget, to why he's pulling clients off Conversation Ads, to the 3-stage retargeting funnel that actually converts B2B buyers. If you run LinkedIn ads, this is the deepest tactical hour you'll spend this year.

🎯 Key Topics Covered:

00:00 – 02:35 — AJ's journey: From SEO to founding the world's first LinkedIn-only ad agency

02:35 – 07:54 — Conversation Ads vs Message Ads + when Thought Leader Ads actually win

07:54 – 10:33 — Why AJ bet his entire agency on ONE channel (and how AI is reshaping it)

10:33 – 17:06 — 3 default LinkedIn settings killing your budget + the 3-stage retargeting funnel

17:06 – 24:08 — The most expensive mistakes from $200M+ in LinkedIn ad spend

24:08 – 33:16 — The creative playbook: founder-led, witty B2B, and format stack rank by funnel stage

33:16 – 47:00 — AI in agency workflows, lead magnet posts, and LinkedIn vs Google Ads

47:00 – End — Future of LinkedIn Ads + rapid fire: overrated metrics, CTV, advice to his 2014 self

Meet Surender (host and co-founder at Hawky): https://www.linkedin.com/in/say2surender/

Meet AJ Wilcox: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilcoxaj/

🎧 Listen to The LinkedIn Ads Show by AJ Wilcox: https://b2linked.com/podcast

🌐 Learn more about B2Linked: https://b2linked.com

About Hawky: A creative intelligence platform that transforms marketing guesswork into data-driven success. From Ad Creative Analysis to AI-powered optimization, we help B2C brands and agencies achieve higher ROAS and predictable campaign performance.

👉 Book a Hawky demo: https://hawky.ai/get-demo

#LinkedInAds #B2BMarketing #PerformanceMarketing #AJWilcox #B2Linked #DigitalMarketing #PaidSocial #LinkedInAdvertising #CreativeIntelligence #MarketingPodcast

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, we sit down with Nishith Srivastava (Nish), Founder of Agentics (the "Anti-Consultancy") and a 26-year veteran of global giants like Ogilvy, JWT, and Tech Mahindra. Nishith breaks down the structural shift required to survive the next decade: moving away from "strategy on slides" toward multi-agent orchestration where 100+ AI agents work in sync to solve complex business problems.

🎯 KEY TOPICS COVERED:
00:00 - From Digital to Intelligence: Nishith’s 23-year evolution through the world's biggest agencies.
05:47 - The "Anti-Consultancy" Philosophy: Why strategy without execution is just a deck.
08:19 - The Multi-Agent Opportunity: Scaling beyond one chatbot to 100+ autonomous agents.
13:34 - The "Validation First" Framework: How to scale AI across 100 stores without breaking the system.
18:43 - AI Transformation vs. AI Native: Moving from "Rule Engines" to "Reasoning Engines".
23:29 - The 10x Productivity Leap: Why AI shouldn't replace humans, but make them superhuman.
34:35 - Rapid Fire: Why Claude is for research, and why Grok has "advertising flair".
35:45 - Build vs. Buy: The CMO’s roadmap for custom AI implementation.

MEET THE SPEAKERS:
Surender (Host & Co-Founder at Hawky):https://www.linkedin.com/in/say2surender/
Nishith Srivastava (Founder, Agentics):https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishith/

Ready to scale your creative production like the pros?
https://hawky.ai/

How Topmate Turns Creators into ₹4L+/Month Earners | Creator Economy Sales Playbook

Followers don't pay bills. Sales systems do. In this debut episode, Anuj Niranjan reveals how Topmate built a sales-assisted engine that takes creators from inconsistent revenue to ₹4L+/month — without needing a single new follower. From cold-calling 200 people to land his first cohort, to building a 25-person sales floor that closes for creators across AI, product management, and tech — this is the BOFU playbook no one talks about.

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, we spoke to Anuj Niranjan, VP of Creator Growth at Topmate and an IIT Bombay alum who's gone from Citibank risk modelling to trading floors to running creator monetization at one of India's fastest-growing creator economy platforms.

KEY TOPICS COVERED:

00:00 - Introduction: Meet Anuj Niranjan & the Velocity Podcast

04:30 - From Citibank to Manali: The unconventional path to Topmate

11:00 - The pilot that proved it: 9 creator sales in 12 days

18:30 - Pull vs Push: The sales philosophy behind ₹50K cohort closes
29:30 - Followers ≠ Revenue: Why trust beats follower count every time

37:00 - How performance marketers can start selling courses as a side stream

40:30 - Hiring freshers at speed: 3-day onboarding vs 30-day campus cycles

47:30 - AI's real impact on creators: What it replaces and what it never will

Meet Surender (Host & Co-Founder at Hawky): https://www.linkedin.com/in/say2surender/

Meet Anuj Niranjan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anujniranjan/

About Hawky

A creative intelligence platform that transforms marketing guesswork into data-driven success. From Ad Creative Analysis to AI-powered optimization, we help B2C brands and agencies achieve higher ROAS and predictable campaign performance.

Ready to scale your creative production like the pros? https://hawky.ai/get-demo

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, we dive into the complex world of real estate marketing with Kapil Arora, Assistant Vice President of Business Strategy & Marketing at ANAROCK. With over a decade of experience across leading firms like Shriram Properties and Xanadu , Kapil reveals how marketing in the "realty" space is shifting from selling mere specifications to selling a lifestyle.

Discover how ANAROCK operates as an end-to-end "mandate firm" for developers , the role of Anarock.ai in optimizing the buyer journey , and why "trust" remains the most valuable currency in an industry with increasingly long decision cycles. Kapil also breaks down the evolving persona of millennial and Gen Z home buyers and why influencer marketing is becoming a dominant force in property sales.

0:00 - Journey to the C-Suite: From Direct Sales to Marketing Strategy

3:51 - The ANAROCK Blueprint: Scaling Real Estate via the Mandate Model

6:59 - Decoding the Modern Buyer: Content Strategy for Millennials & Gen Z

15:03 - Performance Over Hype: The Site Visit Metric & Pricing Psychology

21:11 - The Digital Shift: Anarock.ai, Influencers, and the Future of AI

31:57 - Closing Thoughts & Industry Recommendations

Meet Surender (Host & Co-founder at Hawky): https://www.linkedin.com/in/say2surender/

Meet Kapil Arora: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kapil-arora-598072101/

About Hawky: A Creative Intelligence Platform that transforms marketing guesswork into data-driven success. From Ad Creative Analysis to AI-Powered Optimization, we help B2C brands and agencies achieve higher ROAS and predictable campaign performance.

More Episodes: https://hawky.ai/podcast

How Insurance Marketing Actually Works: 10+ Years of Industry Insights with PolicyBoss CMO

Building trust in a skeptical market takes more than flashy ads. In this deep-dive episode, Varun Kaushik shares how he's transformed insurance marketing at PolicyBoss over the past decade, moving from pure B2C to B2B2C, scaling a 40,000+ agent network across 800+ PIN codes, and discovering why traditional marketing channels still outperform the latest trends.

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, we spoke to Varun Kaushik, Chief Marketing Officer at PolicyBoss and a marketing veteran with 18+ years across IT, B2B SaaS, and InsurTech. Varun leads marketing for one of India's largest insurance broking platforms, managing the critical bridge between business, technology, and customer experience.

• 00:05 - Introduction: Varun's versatile marketing journey across B2B, B2C, and B2B2C
• 01:45 - From IT to Insurance: Why Varun made the contrarian career move 10 years ago
• 05:04 - PolicyBoss's unique positioning: Comparison, convenience, and trusted advisory
• 09:12 - The POSP model explained: How sub-broking transformed insurance distribution
• 12:40 - Trust as the defining factor in insurance vs other financial services
• 18:25 - Brand vs Performance Marketing: When PolicyBoss chose performance-first
• 22:30 - Multi-channel vs Omni-channel: Why insurance needs different personas per channel
• 28:15 - The creative bottleneck: Why 200+ creatives/month aren't enough
• 32:40 - Attribution challenges in insurance's long buying cycle (6-12 months)
• 38:20 - Why celebrity endorsements don't work as well as customer testimonials
• 43:15 - Regional marketing strategy: Scaling across 800+ PIN codes
• 47:30 - The brand awareness mistake most insurance companies make
• 52:45 - Why SMS and email are resurging as marketing channels in 2025
• 57:22 - Rapid Fire: Customer testimonials vs celebrity endorsements

Meet Surender (Host & Co-Founder at Hawky): https://www.linkedin.com/in/say2surender/
Meet Varun Kaushik: https://www.linkedin.com/in/varunkaushik82/
PolicyBoss: https://www.policyboss.com/

About Hawky

A creative intelligence platform that transforms marketing guesswork into data-driven success. From Ad Creative Analysis to AI-powered optimization, we help B2C brands and agencies achieve higher ROAS and predictable campaign performance.

Ready to scale your creative production like the pros? Book a Demo

#PerformanceMarketing #InsuranceMarketing #B2B2C #MarketingStrategy #CreativeOptimization #DigitalMarketing #InsurTech #AgencyLife #MarketingPodcast #PolicyBoss #Hawky

Most agencies chase Mumbai and Delhi. Vikas Chawla built Social Beat from Chennai and turned it into a ₹2500 crore powerhouse.

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, we sit down with Vikas Chawla, Co-Founder of Social Beat, Influencer.in, and D2Scale. Vikas shares how contrarian decisions, starting outside India's advertising hubs, organizing around media instead of creative, and building complementary businesses instead of chasing vanity scale, created one of India's most successful independent agencies.

From Facebook page likes in 2012 to full-funnel attribution in 2026, Vikas walks us through the evolution of digital marketing metrics, the structural advantages of a media-first approach, and why AI is forcing agencies to double down on business strategy and creative strategy as their only defensible moats.

🎯 Key Topics Covered:

• 00:00 - Why Chennai became Social Beat's secret weapon, not its limitation
• 08:15 - The media-first architecture that changed everything
• 16:30 - From vanity metrics to business outcomes: The evolution of digital marketing measurement
• 24:45 - Building Influencer.in and D2Scale as complementary businesses, not distractions
• 33:20 - How Social Beat is preparing for the AI transformation
• 41:10 - Why business strategy and creative strategy are becoming the only agency moats
• 48:35 - The full-funnel approach: Why performance and brand can't exist in silos

Meet Surender (Host & Co-Founder at Hawky): https://www.linkedin.com/in/say2surender/
Meet Vikas Chawla: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikaschawla/

About Social Beat: India's leading independent digital marketing agency managing 300+ brands with 540 people across India, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, delivering ₹2500 crores in annual media spends.

About Hawky: A creative intelligence platform that transforms marketing guesswork into data-driven success. From Ad Creative Analysis to AI-powered optimization, we help B2C brands and agencies achieve higher ROAS and predictable campaign performance.

Related Episodes & Resources:

• Full blog post: https://hawky.ai/podcast/social-beat-vikas-chawla
• More episodes: https://hawky.ai/podcast

#PerformanceMarketing #DigitalMarketing #AgencyGrowth #MediaStrategy #CreativeStrategy #AIinMarketing #SocialBeat #Influencermarketing #D2C #MarketingPodcast

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, we sit down with Anita Rane, Head of Brand Marketing at Cult Store. From crafting award-winning campaigns for Kingfisher Beer (Cannes Cyber Lion) to leading brand teams at hyper-growth gaming giants like MPL and Gameskraft, Anita now drives the retail brand strategy for one of India's fastest-growing fitness unicorns.

Discover how Cult Store maintains brand consistency across 500-rupee t-shirts to 50,000-rupee gym equipment, the truth about brand marketing vs performance marketing integration, and why the most important brand metric can't be quantified on a spreadsheet. Anita shares her 18-year journey from content writing at WPP agencies to building iconic campaigns for Kingfisher, Tata Tea Jaago Re, and CoWrks, revealing the frameworks that work across wildly different categories.
Chapters:

00:00 - Introduction: From Content Writer to Brand Leader
01:51 - 18-Year Journey: Agency to Gaming to Fitness Retail
05:54 - What Cult Store Stands For: Accessibility + Consistency
09:37 - Messaging Strategy: 500₹ T-Shirts to 50,000₹ Equipment
28:20 - Building Brand from Scratch in 9 Months
35:15 - Brand vs Performance Marketing: The Integration Problem
48:40 - Future Creative Team Structure: Organic vs Paid Directors
59:27 - The One Unquantifiable Brand Metric That Matters

Meet Surender (Host & Co-founder at Hawky): https://www.linkedin.com/in/say2surender/

Meet Anita Rane: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anitarane/

About Hawky: A Creative Intelligence Platform that transforms marketing guesswork into data-driven success. From Ad Creative Analysis to AI-Powered Optimization, we help B2C brands and agencies achieve higher ROAS and predictable campaign performance.

More Episodes: https://hawky.ai/podcast

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, we explore the journey of Ashutosh Bharadwaj, a marketing leader who has built brands from scratch across wildly different categories, from a $2,000 roti maker to India's first vernacular learning platform to premium home services. With 14+ years of hands-on experience, Ashutosh shares his counterintuitive playbook for creating market space against well-funded competition, understanding the real "Bharat" audience, and the power of deep user research in building sustainable growth.

Chapters:

00:00 - From Chemical Engineer to Marketer: The Accidental Journey

06:03 - The Google Analytics Moment That Changed Everything

09:58 - Josh Talks: Building India's First Vernacular Learning Platform

14:11 - Understanding How "Bharat" Really Thinks

17:48 - Marketing Rotimatic: The $2,000 Roti Maker Challenge

28:42 - Broomberg: Creating the Premium Home Services Category

40:12 - Building Brand Search Volume & Organic Traffic

48:55 - Performance Marketing vs Brand Building Balance

55:17 - Career Advice & Rapid Fire Round

Meet Surender (Host & Co-founder at Hawky): https://www.linkedin.com/in/say2surender/

Meet Ashutosh Bharadwaj: https://in.linkedin.com/in/ashutoshbharadwaj

About Hawky: A Creative Intelligence Platform that transforms marketing guesswork into data-driven success. From Ad Creative Analysis to AI-Powered Optimization, we help B2C brands and agencies achieve higher ROAS and predictable campaign performance.

More Episodes: https://hawky.ai/podcast

From mixing tracks in a music studio to mixing data with creativity, Sindhu Biswal's journey is anything but conventional. The Founder & CEO of Buzzlab started as a sound engineer, built a social app to 1.5M users, and is now disrupting India's marketing landscape with proprietary playbooks that deliver 40% lower CAC and 3X conversions.

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, Sindhu reveals why traditional agencies are dying, how content became the new competitive moat, and why brands and creators are converging into the same thing.

Chapters
00:00 - Introduction: Why Sindhu matters in performance marketing
02:27 - The pivot: From 1.5M user social app to joining Paytm Insider
04:25 - Full-stack digital marketing before it was "growth marketing"
05:12 - FilterCopy, Pocket Aces, and the birth of content-led growth
07:59 - The thesis: Why predictive content analytics is the future
12:15 - What makes Buzzlab different from traditional agencies
18:30 - The three proprietary playbooks: Instagram, YouTube, Growth Marketing
25:45 - Why "cost per share" is the most underrated metric
32:20 - Brands vs Creators: The convergence happening right now
38:15 - How Buzzlab reduced CAC by 40% for Pharmeasy
42:30 - The Super.money campaign that won Gold at EMERGE 2025
48:10 - AI's role in content production and creative workflows
52:30 - Why script writing is the most underrated skill for marketers
58:37 - Lightning Round: Books, creators, and contrarian content hooks
1:00:12 - The contrarian view framework that hooks audiences instantly

Meet Your Host:
Surender - Co-founder at Hawky.ai
https://www.linkedin.com/in/say2surender/

Meet Our Guest:
Sindhu Biswal - Founder & CEO at Buzzlab
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sindhubiswal

About Hawky:
A creative intelligence platform that transforms marketing guesswork into data-driven success. From Ad Creative Analysis to AI-powered optimization, we help B2C brands and agencies achieve higher ROAS and predictable campaign performance.

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, we sit down with Prashantt Deshpande, Chief Brand Officer at Kurlon Enterprise Limited. From Café Coffee Day to Future Group, Zivame, and now leading one of India's most trusted mattress brands with 60+ years of heritage, Prashantt shares his 20-year journey of building brands across radically different categories, all united by one truth: human emotion.

Discover how Kurlon balances heritage with performance marketing, why AI is "the favorite intern that never sleeps," and the exact moment when brand care meets performance clicks to create magic. Learn the frameworks behind creative validation, real-time consumer dialogue, and maintaining brand soul in the age of AI-driven marketing.

Chapters:

0:00 - 1:53 Introduction

1:54 - 4:05 Prashantt's Marketing Journey: Café to Comfort

4:06 - 8:44 What's Changed in 20 Years of Marketing (And What Hasn't)

8:45 - 12:21 The Magic Moment: When Performance Meets Brand

12:22 - 18:36 Measuring Brand Love Beyond P&L

18:37 - 24:15 Kurlon's Dual Comfort Strategy & Category Positioning

24:16 - 32:40 Creative Development: The Thin Line Between Intent & Understanding

32:41 - 37:57 How Strategy Flows Into Performance Marketing

37:58 - 42:09 AI as Your Favorite Intern: Tools & Integration

42:10 - 44:01 Does AI Raise or Lower Creative Quality?

44:02 - 45:14 Guest Recommendations & Closing

Meet Surender (Host & Co-founder at Hawky): https://www.linkedin.com/in/say2surender/

Meet Prashantt Deshpande: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prashanttdeshpande-567530a/

About Hawky: A Creative Intelligence Platform that transforms marketing guesswork into data-driven success. From Ad Creative Analysis to AI-Powered Optimization, we help B2C brands and agencies achieve higher ROAS and predictable campaign performance.

More Episodes: https://hawky.ai/podcast
Visit Hawky.ai: https://hawky.ai/