Brands must move beyond Hindi and English, embrace India's full cultural spectrum: Tata Motors' Shubhranshu Singh

Mint

23-06-2025

Mumbai: Moments after being named on the Forbes' list of the world's most influential CMOs at its annual event in Cannes last week, Shubhranshu Singh, chief marketing officer (CMO) of Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles, spoke to Mint over the phone. Among a select group of global marketing leaders, Singh's inclusion reflects India's rising voice in international brand conversations. He is also the only Asia-Pacific representative on the board of the Effie LIONS Foundation, a not-for-profit entity formed after the merger of Cannes Lions and Effie Worldwide. In a wide-ranging conversation, Singh reflects on India's creative ascent, the trust-tech paradox, the unfinished task of multilingual storytelling, and why marketers must move beyond metrics to create meaning. Edited excerpts:
Congratulations on being named one of Forbes' 50 Most Influential CMOs globally. How does it feel?
It's a deeply humbling moment. This isn't just a personal achievement; it's recognition of India's growing stature in the global brand and marketing ecosystem. The list includes leaders from Apple, Meta, Google, Coca-Cola, AB InBev, Ikea, and LVMH. To be featured alongside them is an honour, but more importantly, it signals that Indian creativity is now being taken seriously at the highest levels. We're not just contributing volume or cost-efficiency, we're offering cultural imagination, emotional intelligence and strategic depth.
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It's an apex platform formed after the merger of Cannes Lions and Effie Worldwide, a not-for-profit foundation focused on expanding marketing inclusion, education and capability building. It brings together the best minds from both effectiveness and creativity. I'm proud to represent both India and the broader Global South. The idea is to ensure that more marketers from underrepresented regions have access not only to recognition but also to resources, confidence and community.
I want to create pipelines of access, not just for awards but for learning, confidence-building and capability development. India alone has nearly a billion content creators with smartphones. But we need to equip them with the tools, training and trust to scale. I'm hoping to work with institutions to offer microlearning modules, bootcamps and mentorship that build T-shaped marketers—deep in craft, broad in digital and data fluency.
For me, Cannes 2025 boiled down to six Cs—Convergence, Content, Creative Intelligence, Creators, Commerce, and Cadence. These aren't just trends in advertising; they're redefining how brands operate in culture, media, and even diplomacy. I spoke at the CNN CMO roundtable alongside peers from AXA, Juniper Networks and Warner Bros. Discovery. The key thread was trust—how to build it in a fragmented, noisy world where everyone is a creator and everything is content.
India's strength is undeniable. We are a mobile-first nation—850 million smartphone users, digital ad spends poised to hit $25 billion by 2025 and a deeply emotional storytelling culture. Short-form video, vernacular content and influencer discovery are becoming powerful tools. But what's broken is the fragmentation —too much content, not enough coherence. We suffer from a fatigue of sameness and an underserving of regional markets, which are costly and complex to serve.
We're not just ready—we're already there. But we now need to show up intentionally and unapologetically. India has the advantage of digital leapfrogging—we're native to platforms like YouTube Shorts, Instagram Reels, Moj, Josh. And we've always done jugaad innovation—low budget, high emotion and often high impact. Now, the world is watching. We must stop seeing ourselves as a production hub. We are a creative powerhouse, and we must own that story.
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That balance is crucial. You can't build a national brand today without understanding the diversity of languages, cultural codes and aspirations. Tier 2, 3 and rural consumers are not 'lesser" or 'slower"—they're simply different. They're value-conscious, but increasingly platform-savvy, content-aware and creatively expressive. Brands must move beyond Hindi+English and embrace the full cultural spectrum. India's story cannot be told in one language.
Both. AI and automation are necessary, they give scale, speed and precision. But without human insight, creativity risks becoming commoditized. We need AI to assist, not replace, creativity. Technology should scale imagination, not flatten it. India's edge is its emotional bandwidth, we must protect that while embracing the new.
Absolutely. A brand is not a campaign—it's what you do, not what you say. At Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles, we're dealing with people's livelihoods—truckers, fleet owners, transporters. Trust, uptime and respect matter far more than flash. Branding, in that sense, is about living your purpose across the value chain—product, service, community. That mindset needs to become cultural, not just a function of the marketing department.
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First, they must marry data with storytelling. Don't build for platforms, build for people, on platforms. Learn performance tools, yes, but don't lose the poetry. Second, understand that resonance matters more than virality. Third, build consistency—brands are remembered through repetition with variation, not novelty for novelty's sake. And finally, seek global relevance without losing local sensitivity. Our time has come, but we must show up with both confidence and cultural awareness.
Simple truths. Know your consumer's hopes, fears and contexts. Be distinctive, not just different. Build fame, fluency and feeling. The best marketing gives you goosebumps—not clicks. If it doesn't move you, it won't move the market.