Brands
Show must go on for brand partnership maven as Sujith Kumar joins BookMyShow
MUMBAI: In a move that has more twists than a Hindi cinema blockbuster, Sujith Kumar has swapped his role as head of brand partnerships at Swiggy SteppinOut for a senior manager position at BookMyShow, India’s entertainment ticketing titan. The career hop, announced this month, sees the marketing maestro taking his knack for turning consumers into brand evangelists to fresh pastures.
Kumar’s track record reads like a greatest hits album of Indian entertainment marketing. At Swiggy SteppinOut, he orchestrated partnerships spanning food, music, comedy and lifestyle events, including the launch of “Supper Clubs of India”—intimate dining experiences showcasing regional cuisines that had Mumbai’s foodies queuing round the block.
His previous stint at Paytm Insider proved particularly lucrative, where he built the brand partnerships team from scratch. The portfolio included managing Arijit Singh’s five-city tour and pioneering Van Heusen’s first metaverse concert—a digital-age spectacle that had traditionalists scratching their heads and millennials reaching for their wallets.
The marketing maverick’s earlier adventures include a two-and-a-half-year spell at Sony Music Entertainment, where his mission statement “turn music fans into brand fans” became the stuff of industry legend. He juggled over 80 active brand strategies across south India, orchestrating collaborations with musical heavyweights including Badshah and Anirudh Ravichander.
At ESPN, Kumar cut his teeth managing marketing for ESPNcricinfo during cricket’s golden television era, overseeing campaigns for the 2015 World Cup and IPL. His creation of CricIQ, billed as India’s largest cricket quiz platform, proved that sports and smartphones could be a winning combination long before fantasy leagues became the rage.
Now at BookMyShow Live, Kumar faces the challenge of making brands feel rather than merely seen when “the lights dim and the fans roar.” Given his penchant for turning spectators into spenders, India’s entertainment industry may have found its most valuable player yet.
The motorcycle enthusiast, who founded BrosonWheelsOfficial and treats riding as his “refresh button,” appears ready to take the brand partnerships game into top gear. For an industry where attention spans are shorter than TikTok videos, that could be music to corporate ears.
Brands
PeopleStrong appoints Adishri Charla SVP marketing to drive global growth
Former UiPath marketing head to scale brand, demand and expansion across regions
NEW DELHI: PeopleStrong has brought in marketing heavyweight Adishri Charla as senior vice president, marketing, tasking her with sharpening the company’s global brand and fuelling its next phase of growth.
Charla steps in with nearly two decades of B2B marketing experience across both fast-moving start-ups and global technology giants. She joins from UiPath, where she served most recently as director and head of marketing for India and Saarc, playing a key role in the automation firm’s rise to category leadership in the region. Her work there ranged from revenue-driven marketing strategies to building strong customer and community engagement programmes.
At PeopleStrong, Charla will oversee global brand strategy, demand generation and customer engagement as the HR tech firm expands across India, Asia, the Middle East and other emerging markets.
CEO Sandeep Chaudhary said the company was looking for a leader who could connect brand storytelling with measurable business outcomes. “Adishri brings global marketing experience and strong team leadership. We are confident she will help sharpen our positioning and support our next phase of expansion,” he said.
Charla previously held marketing roles at Oracle India and IBM India, working across cloud, systems and product marketing. An MBA graduate from Symbiosis Centre for Management and HR Development, she has also completed executive programmes at Columbia Business School and ISB.
Sharing her excitement about the move, Charla said PeopleStrong has the potential to reshape how organisations across the region think about HR technology. She added that her focus will be on building stronger brand connections while driving measurable business impact.
Backed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives, PeopleStrong today serves more than 500 enterprises and has won several industry recognitions, including honours at the ET Human Capital Awards and the People Matters Infini-T Awards. Charla’s appointment signals the company’s intent to strengthen leadership as it scales its global ambitions.
