Ajay Adlakha joins Kickboxing Super League launch as co-founder

Haryana: Ajay Adlakha, a long-time player in India’s advertising and rural marketing circuit, has added a new title to his portfolio, co-founder of the Kickboxing Super League, signalling a move from boardrooms and brand strategy into the business of sport.

The league marks Adlakha’s latest entrepreneurial bet after more than two decades in advertising, media and market development, where he built a reputation for rural outreach and niche brand building.

Adlakha continues to serve as managing director at Infinity Advertising Network, the agency he founded in the mid-1990s, and remains the force behind Rural Marketing, described as India’s first magazine and portal dedicated to rural and agricultural markets through RuralMarketing.in. The platform focuses on agriculture marketing, rural innovation, development, policy and the evolving links between urban and rural demand.

Over the years, Adlakha has positioned himself as a specialist across broadcast television, print, research, digital and emerging technology, arguing that brand-building is about speaking smartly rather than loudly. He has also been active in pro-bono consulting and startup mentoring.

Industry bodies have taken note. Adlakha has been counted among India’s 50 most influential rural marketing professionals and received a gold standing recognition as a most admired rural marketing professional by ACEF.

His media footprint extends through earlier leadership at i9 Media, a rural-focused knowledge and media outfit launched in 2012 to build what it called a large rural knowledge repository. The group also rolled out Rural & Marketing, a monthly English magazine aimed at corporates, administrators, NGOs and business schools, with a focus on analytical and data-led insights on rural India.

Adlakha is also an author, with the Amazon bestseller “Why Nobody Cares for Your Brand”, a blunt take on the gap between marketing noise and consumer attention.

The Kickboxing Super League now becomes the newest arena for that branding instinct. India’s sports leagues have multiplied in recent years, chasing media rights, sponsorship and regional fan bases. Combat sports, once fringe, are drawing younger audiences and digital viewers.

For Adlakha, the move fits a pattern: spot an underdeveloped market, build a platform and sell a story around it. From rural India to the fight game, the playbook looks familiar.

Brands, villages or fight cards, the pitch is the same. Find attention, build trust, scale fast. This time, the contest just happens to come with gloves.