Storyboard18's Visionaries: An evening of excitement, camaraderie and a toast to the future

Storyboard18's Visionaries Part 1 at The Oberoi, Gurgaon

Storyboard18’s Visionaries, held at The Oberoi in Gurgaon on October 27, was an evening to remember. The air was thick with anticipation, excitement and a strong sense of camaraderie as the crowd of industry stalwarts gathered to enjoy each others' company, watch their peers get felicitated and learn more about the bright future of advertising and marketing.

The night opened with a powerful speech by Suresh Narayanan, chairman and managing director of Nestle India. Narayanan addressed the large gathering of CEOs and CMOs on the importance of matching innovation and purpose in marketing. The speech, in Narayanan’s typical fashion, was a mix of important tips and tricks and impactful verses from works by famous Indian poets that were bound to leave a lasting impression on those present.

The evening also included stimulating panel discussions on key topics. One of them, mediated by Storyboard18’s Delshad Irani included prominent names such as Kulmeet Bawa, president and MD, SAP India; Aseem Kaushik, MD, L’Oreal India; Prativa Mohapatra, VP and MD, Adobe India; Sukhleen Aneja, CEO, Good Glamm Group; Madhav Sheth, CEO, HTECH; and Devendra Chawla, CEO, GreenCell Mobility. The panel shared insights on a rather interesting topic—the relationship between CEOs and their CMOs and if CMOs can be CEOs.

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The event also included valuable discussions on the state of media quality in India by Saurabh Khattar, country manager, India, Integral Ad Science, and the promising future of generative AI in marketing by Gan.ai’s founder and CEO, Suvrat Bhooshan, both mediated by Storyboard18’s Shibani Gharat.

Storyboard’s Visionaries was predominantly an occasion to celebrate CMOs who have made a deep impact through their work that has catapulted the growth of their respective companies and brands. This first edition of Visionaries at Gurgaon felicitated leading lights such as Shashank Srivastava, executive director, Maruti Suzuki India Ltd; Paras Sharma, director and head of content and community partnerships, Meta India; Anita Nayyar, COO, media, branding and communications, Patanjali Ayurveda; Sumit Mathur, CMO, Paytm; Sahibjeet Singh Sawhney, marketing head, Zomato; Ruchira Jaitly, CMO, Diageo India; Tarun Bhagat, CMO, India beverages, PepsiCo; and Vikrant Mudaliar, CMO, Dream11, Anoop Manohar, CMO, Axis Bank, Kartik Mohindra, CMO, Pernod Ricard India, Rajat Abbi, VP, global marketing, Schneider Electric, Sunil Suresh, CMO, Air India Limited, Raj Rishi Singh, CMO & CBO, MakeMyTrip, Rahul Talwar, CMO, Max Life, Rajeev Jain, Director - corporate marketing, DS Group, Pooja Baid, CMO, Philips Domestic Appliances, Anukool Kumar, head of marketing, India, Tinder, Ankit Desai, CMO, Hersheys India, Rahul Singh, vice president and head of marketing and sales, SAP and Ashish Tiwari, CMO, Home Credit India among many others.

Suffice to say, the first edition was a resounding success. On to the next.