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/

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, we sit down with Veera Raghavan, CMO and Founding Team Member of Sweet Karam Coffee. From bootstrapping during festivals to scaling across 32 countries, Raghav shares the authentic story of building a clean-label snacking brand rooted in tradition, powered by data, and loved by 100,000+ customers.

Discover how Sweet Karam Coffee cracked the code on D2C growth, dominated quick commerce, and maintains creative velocity while staying true to their "No Palm Oil, No Preservatives" promise.

Chapter:

0:00 - 1:56 Introduction

1:57 - 11:46 Journey of SKC

11:47 - 14:55 Raghav's Career Path

14:56 - 20:38 SKC's Positioning & Messaging Strategy

20:39 - 23:43 The Story of Janaki Paati

23:44 - 27:11 Can Janaki Paati be Correlated with Conversations?

27:12 - 32:59 How SKC Attributes Content

33:00 - 35:00 Story Behind SKC's Name

35:01 - 38:50 SKC Quick Commerce Growth

38:51 - 41:31 Does Quick Commerce Affect D2C/Retail

41:32 - 45:26 SKC Festive Season Planning

45:27 - 47:22 How SKC Produces Creatives

47:23 - 51:50 SKC's AI Integration

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

Meet Veera Raghavan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/veeraraghavanbv/

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 explore the world of TV marketing with Chethan Shenoy, VP of Marketing at Zee Kannada. With 17+ years spanning agencies (TBWA, FCB Ulka), brands (Acer, Samsung, Speedo), and now TV, Chethan reveals how traditional media still dominates reach in India, how BARC measurement works, and the strategy behind launching Zee Power—a new entertainment channel bridging the gap between traditional TV and OTT content.

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

Meet Chetan Shenoy: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chethanshenoy/

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, Abhishek Upadhya, SVP at HiveMinds (Madison World), shares how his engineering background shapes his approach to marketing innovation. From leading festive campaigns where brands hit targets in 72 hours to implementing AI-powered creative intelligence that reduced CPL by 27%, Abhishek reveals the frameworks and systems that keep HiveMinds ahead across travel, luxury retail, real estate, and e-commerce.

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, Abhishek Upadhya, SVP at HiveMinds (Madison World), shares how his engineering background shapes his approach to marketing innovation. From leading festive campaigns where brands hit targets in 72 hours to implementing AI-powered creative intelligence that reduced CPL by 27%, Abhishek reveals the frameworks and systems that keep HiveMinds ahead across travel, luxury retail, real estate, and e-commerce.

Chapters:
00:00 - 10:30 - Abhishek's Journey from Engineering to Marketing Tech
10:30 - 19:06 - Innovation Framework and Tool Evaluation
19:06 - 27:31 - Festive Strategy and Quick Commerce Planning
27:31 - 36:59 - AI-Powered Creative Intelligence Framework Evolution
36:59 - 46:38 - First Principles Over Platform Expertise
46:38 - 54:39 - Building Proprietary Tech for Agencies


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


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 dive deep into Dinesh's 17+ years of experience scaling B2C brands across travel, e-commerce, fintech, gaming, and edtech. From his days at MakeMyTrip to his current role building scalable growth engines at Univest, Dinesh shares the universal marketing principles that work across every industry.

Chapters:

• 03:28 - Which marketing experiences excited him most across industries

• 06:20 - Channel strategy by revenue stage: 0-1M vs 1-10M vs 10-100M

• 13:14 - Essential MarTech stack tools that actually matter

• 15:19 - How AI reduced 40-person teams to 2-3 people

• 21:44 - Why SEO is earned media, not organic

• 29:57 - In-house vs agency: when to keep performance marketing internal

• 37:33 - AI-led creative operations: 110 creatives daily with 3 people

• 41:55 - The 40% creative rule: why perfect isn't always better

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

Meet Dinesh Arora: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinesh-k-arora/

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 dive deep into the evolution of digital marketing with Rahul Shinde, Head of Global Accounts at Havas Media Network India's Center of Excellence. With over 15 years spanning brands like UTV, Emami, and leading roles at Havas, Rahul brings unique insights from both agency and client-side perspectives.

Chapters:

• 01:49 - Rahul's journey from Mobile2Win to global marketing leadership
• 07:00 - Agency vs Brand experience: What marketers need to know
• 10:59 - Digital transformation: Beyond tools to purposeful strategy
• 14:14 - AI and human balance in marketing execution
• 19:05 - Global vs regional marketing strategies and local nuances
• 29:22 - Augmented reality in marketing and emerging channels
• 32:43 - "Intent is the new black" - The future of consumer targeting
  

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

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/

Aditya Somaiya is the founder of 367 Agency, a leading performance marketing agency specializing in D2C brands and Amazon marketplace optimization. With over 17 years of experience in marketing, Aditya previously ran his own D2C business for 5 years (2015-2019) and has worked at major companies including GSK India Ltd and Dabur in various roles spanning sales, trade marketing, and marketing strategy.

In this insightful conversation, marketing veteran Aditya Somaiya shares his extensive journey from D2C founder to agency leader, discussing the evolution of marketing functions and the critical balance between brand and performance marketing. The discussion explores emerging media channels like Connected TV and OTT while addressing how AI is fundamentally reshaping the marketing landscape and required skill sets.

• Marketing Evolution: The shift from execution-focused roles to strategic thinking as AI automates routine tasks
• Media Strategy: How brands should adapt their channel mix as they scale, with emerging opportunities in Connected TV and OTT
• Brand-Performance Balance: Why these marketing approaches should complement rather than compete with each other
• D2C Success Factors: The importance of product-market fit and understanding target demographics, including underserved segments like older consumers

• 00:00 - Introduction to Aditya's Journey
• 02:44 - The Evolution of D2C Marketing
• 05:45 - Brand vs. Performance Marketing
• 08:35 - Media Channel Evolution in Marketing
• 11:40 - Emerging Channels: OTT and Connected TV
• 14:34 - Content Creation and Engagement Strategies
• 17:14 - Staying Updated in a Rapidly Changing Landscape
• 17:34 - Client Expectations and Agency Adaptation
• 22:25 - The Future of Creative Work and AI
• 24:32 - Evolving Skill Sets in the Age of AI
• 26:23 - Transforming Media Buying and Creative Roles
• 28:28 - The Rise of AI in Creative Production
• 30:27 - The Shift Towards Strategic Thinking
• 32:17 - The Changing Landscape of Agency Teams
• 34:20 - The Importance of Core Marketing Principles
• 36:08 - Trends Impacting B2C Brands
• 38:10 - Advice for D2C Founders