Who inspires the marketers? Industry voices share their gurus

For every child, parents are the first teachers. Mine have been my greatest gurus, and I continue to learn from them every single day. While teaching me the basics of math and English, they made sure I also learned valuable life lessons like self-belief, honesty, humility, and the courage to stand up for what is right. Even today, I learn from the way they approach life with balance and positivity. They remind me that success is not just about achievement but also about living fully and finding joy in each day.

Over the years, I have learned from many people, including the campaigns themselves. But when in doubt, I go back to my marketing fundamentals, and Philip Kotler stands out as the true marketing guru for me. His principles have shaped not just my thinking but also the mindset of generations of marketers. Two of his core thoughts remain timeless in my practice:
-    The 4Ps of marketing- price, place, promotion, and product: They have evolved with time but the framework still anchors decision making in clarity and structure.
-    Kotler also emphasised that marketing must lead to a win win. A brand’s role is not to push products, but to solve real consumer needs. The job of marketing is to ensure that genuine consumer value gets created
These ideas hold up because they are rooted in human truths. Markets change, channels evolve, but people still look for solutions that make life better.

Dr Ashish Bajaj, Group CMO, Narayana Health

I’ve been fortunate to meet mentors who gave me lessons far bigger than marketing frameworks. One of my professors back in university drilled into me values of humility, resilience and empathy — things that don’t show up on a resume, but shape the way you show up in life.

Along the way, I’ve borrowed from Kotler’s belief in building genuine value and relationships, and Piyush Pandey’s knack for keeping it simple and human. Across agencies, startups and now healthcare, these lessons have only become sharper.

Because marketing, at its core, was never about the loudest campaign. It’s about those quiet, lasting connections — the ones that stay with people long after the ad is gone.

Manasa Madhusudan, HOD - Marketing & Strategy, RoshanSpace Brandcom Pvt Ltd

To me, teachers are mentors, colleagues, and leaders who have encouraged me to pursue perfection constantly, stand my ground with conviction, and become better person every day. 

The brightest role model during my early years in the media space was Meenakshi Madhvani, who stands tall in my memory as someone who established the foundation of my professional ethos. Her influence was the starting point of my career, giving me the motivation to excel with both clarity and courage.

Outside the early years, it has been the whole fraternity — teammates, peers, and leaders — who have constantly imparted knowledge, provided guidance, and reminded me that growth is not only about professional excellence but also about becoming a better human being first.

As a marketing professional, global thought leaders such as Ram Charan have constantly redefined how I have perceived business challenges challenging me to think beyond the obvious.

Equally, my professor at IIM Kolkata, Mr. Biswajeet Saha, was someone I listened to with rapt attention, attempting to absorb every insight and follow his clarity of thought. His guidance left a lasting mark on how I structure ideas and decisions. Over time, I've come to realise that there are a few top voices — mentors, thinkers, and leaders. While the list is still evolving, the imprint of their guidance has been around all along.

Nisha Khatri, Head of Marketing at Libas

I’ve been fortunate to have several gurus, but if I’m honest, the ones who shaped me most weren’t the easiest, they were the tough taskmasters I worked under. In today’s world, we talk a lot about boundaries and balance, and that’s important, but I genuinely believe that having bosses who set a very high bar early in my career was transformative. They were demanding, they pushed me out of my comfort zone, and they instilled a seed of ambition that still drives me today.
Watching how they navigated crises, solved complex problems, and held teams to high standards built my own fundamentals, not just of how I work, but how I now lead.
Today, that legacy shapes how I build my teams at Libas: I aim to create an environment that challenges people to grow, that demands their best while giving them the confidence to deliver it. It’s about building ninjas, teams that are not afraid of big challenges, that see every problem as an opportunity, and that know tough feedback is often a sign of greater belief in their potential.

Two figures who’ve deeply influenced my thinking as a marketer are Steve Jobs and Taylor Swift , and interestingly, for the same reason. Both had an extraordinary ability to anticipate what people wanted before even they did. Jobs did it by turning technology into a seamless part of life; Swift does it by transforming music into a shared cultural language. They didn’t just build products or albums — they built ecosystems of belonging. Their names are now synonymous with cultural resonance. That principle shapes how I think at Libas as well: marketing today is less about pushing products and more about building a world your customer wants to be part of — before she even articulates it.

Roli Shrivastava, Vice President – Marketing at HOCCO

Growing up in a joint family in Gwalior, I’ve always had many guiding forces around me each shaping different parts of who I am. If I had to pick one “guru,” it would be my family itself. The values of humility, and togetherness that I’ve seen at home have played a key role in how I approach life and leadership today. 

Rather than one individual, I’ve drawn inspiration from many voices, the great brands, leading marketers, my mentors, partners, and most often, my amazing team. I believe the key is to keep your eyes open and absorb everything happening around you.
Hence for me, culture itself is the ultimate guru. The way people talk, joke, celebrate, even complain, it’s all raw material for marketing. At the heart of it, I try to respect the intelligence of the audience and never bore them. I personally love surprises, so when I plan campaigns or communication, I always look for ways to weave in that element of surprise, something that leaves a lasting mark.

Vaishal Dalal, Co-founder and Director of Excellent Publicity

I never really had a guru in the traditional sense. No mentors, no family legacy in advertising, not even a playbook to follow. What shaped me were my failures, my experiments, and the sheer will to not give up when things didn’t go my way. The first venture, “On Wheels,” where I stood at rickshaw stands convincing drivers to let us put up a magazine no one read, clients who didn’t trust a newcomer, those were my teachers. Every rejection became a lesson, every mistake a stepping stone. If I had to name my guru, it would be resilience.

For me, it wasn’t about following any marketing guru’s book; rather about writing my own. My inspiration came from observing the streets, from seeing how people react to or book a hoarding, how curiosity drives attention, and how simplicity builds recall. I realised early on that marketing is actually about connecting the smartest and not about being loud. That principle,  of decluttering, simplifying, and making advertising accessible, has guided every step of my journey. If anything, the market itself has been my guru, and the people engaging with it have been my biggest source of wisdom.

Vitasta Kaul, Chief Marketing Officer at Hoopr

Over the course of my journey, I was fortunate to have mentors who instilled the values of empathy, perseverance and curiosity - values that continue to shape my approach to leadership and creativity. In the field of marketing, Neil Patel has been a significant influence; his expertise in combining data-driven insights with customer-centric storytelling has reinforced the importance of precision, measurable impact, and strategies that genuinely resonate with audiences. In my stint at Hoopr as the CMO, I am applying these learnings to design data-backed campaigns, foster innovation, and create strategies that deliver meaningful results while resonating deeply with our audiences.