The best marketers aren't obsessed with marketing: Arun Iyer, Spring

What are the qualities and values a marketer should have and showcase to be a Visionary?

By Aashrey Baliga

3 min read

Published: Oct 10, 2023 02:39:11 PM IST

Updated: Oct 10, 2023 03:10:40 PM IST

Arun Iyer, founder and creative partner, Spring Marketing Capital shares what he thinks are the most important qualities and values a marketer should have and showcase. Image: Shutterstock

After the super success of YoungGuns, Storyboard18 and Network18 Group are launching The Visionaries. The three-city initiative will bring the focus on Visionaries from the world of brands and the commendable work they have been doing in establishing their organisations as leaders.

The Visionaries is an initiative that recognises the leading lights who have transformed our approach to media, marketing, and advertising. The marquee evening will take place at The Oberoi, Gurugram, on 27th October 2023.

Ahead of the Visionaries celebration, we asked advertising industry leaders to share their views on the impact visionary marketers have on brands, people and businesses as well as the necessary qualities a marketer needs to possess.

Arun Iyer, founder and creative partner, Spring Marketing Capital shares what he thinks are the most important qualities and values a marketer should have and showcase.

“The one quality which I have seen over the couple of decades that I've worked, among the marketers that I respect, is the fact that they've always been very close to the consumer. They have always had a very keen sense of what the consumer is thinking, what the consumer is aspiring towards, and their ability to make creative leaps of knowing that that will bring joy in the lives of their consumers. That has been something that I have really found commendable in some of the marketers that I respect the most and that I have worked over the years,” said Iyer.

Also read: Introducing 'The Visionaries': The highest honour for the brightest and most innovative marketing minds in India

Iyer also shared his thoughts about the impact a good marketer has on brands, businesses, people and cultures.

He said, "Marketing has an ability to get lost in its own world, in its own words, and can become quite self-fulfilling. I think the marketers who stand apart are people who don't get consumed by just the world of marketing and are able to connect outside that world as well. The people who have many interests outside of the world of marketing, they're not obsessed with the world of marketing.”

“It's unparalleled the kind of impact that a visionary marketer can have on brands. Marketers such as Sudhir Sitapati, Gopal Vittal are at the forefront of some leading organizations of the country showing the way to people. So I think the ripple effect of that is just commendable,” added Iyer.

About The Visionaries

Storyboard18’s Visionaries initiative recognises the women and men scripting some of the most exciting chapters in Indian marketing, media and advertising. They are marketing leaders with responsibility for a category, brand or innovation-led practice within their organisation. They also exhibit a purposeful approach to building sustainable businesses and enduring brands, using the new bottomline, People-Planet-Profits, as their guide. For more, visit: storyboard18's Visionaries