Brands
The Fifth anniversary edition of the BrandZTM India ranking expands to 75 brands
For this fifth anniversary of the BrandZ™ India report, the criteria has been revised and has expanded the ranking to become the BrandZ™ India Top 75. The expanded ranking keeps pace with the changes in India and charts India’s rapidly changing brand landscape and provide insights necessary for building valuable brands.
With the new criteria, the BrandZ India ranking added 30 new brands, with over a third coming from the service sector. Other categories added to the BrandZ India ranking this year are durables and home appliances, tobacco, and entertainment (TV stations). With the addition of new categories, seven Newcomers appear in the Top 15 and the awards will be given out on September 6th in Mumbai.
As India changes, the people with some money to spend and a desire for a better life are not limited to wealthy enclaves in a few major cities, making brand marketing more complicated. Especially in FMCG and personal care categories, success requires understanding the product nuances and linguistic distinctions both across thousands of villages and among the micro markets in India’s major cities.
These challenges are coupled with opportunities. First, having more higher income people, even in rural areas, increases the number of Indian consumers, making it economically feasible for marketers to create niche brands. Second, digital technology and the advent of mobile devices democratizes access to information, enabling marketers to target their messages. Opportunities are everywhere because people throughout India are striving.
Vishikh Talwar, MD Kantar Millward Brown- South Asia says-
The BrandZ™ five-year analysis shows to ensure faster brand value growth, a brand needs to cultivate the drivers of equity: Meaningfulness, Difference, and Salience. For a consumer group like the millennials who grew amid the era of India’s technological awakening and transformation, brands must adopt their values to connect and thereby build trust with this generation. This tectonic shift in Indian society molded these young adults as conscious and highly informed consumers. They expect and demand transparency and prefer to do business with brands that have expertise in their offerings and authenticity in their claims.
Brands
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen to step down after 18 years in role
Board begins CEO search as Narayen prepares to move to chair role
SAN JOSE: After nearly two decades at the helm, Adobe’s long-serving chief executive Shantanu Narayen is preparing to pass the baton.
The company announced that Narayen will transition from his role as chief executive officer once a successor is appointed, ending an 18-year run that reshaped Adobe from a boxed software seller into a global cloud and AI powerhouse. He will remain chair of the board following the leadership transition.
Adobe’s board has formed a special committee to oversee the succession process, led by lead independent director Frank Calderoni. The committee will evaluate both internal and external candidates.
“Shantanu’s leadership has been instrumental in Adobe’s transformation and in positioning the company for the AI-driven era,” Calderoni said in a statement. “As we begin the next phase of succession planning, our focus is on identifying the right leader for the company’s next chapter while ensuring a smooth transition.”
In a note to employees, Narayen described the moment not as a farewell but as a pause for reflection after a long journey with the company.
“I love Adobe and the privilege of leading it has been the greatest honour of my career,” he wrote, adding that he will continue to work closely with the board over the coming months to ensure a seamless leadership change.
Tributes from the technology industry quickly followed the announcement. Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella congratulated Narayen on what he described as a “legendary run” at Adobe.
“Congrats Shantanu, on a legendary run at Adobe! You’ve built one of the most important software companies in the world, and expanded what’s possible for creators, entrepreneurs, and brands everywhere,” Nadella wrote on LinkedIn.
“What has always stood out to me is the empathy you’ve brought to the creative process and the example you’ve set as a leader. Grateful for your friendship, mentorship, and for all you’ve done for Adobe and for our industry.”
Narayen’s career at Adobe spans nearly three decades. He joined the company in 1998 as vice president and rose steadily through the ranks before becoming chief executive officer in December 2007.
During that time, he orchestrated one of the most significant reinventions in the software industry. In 2013, Adobe made the bold decision to abandon traditional boxed software sales and move its flagship creative tools such as Photoshop to a subscription-based Creative Cloud model. The shift initially rattled investors but ultimately transformed Adobe into a predictable recurring revenue business and a case study in digital reinvention.
Narayen also pushed Adobe beyond creative tools into the world of marketing technology and data-driven customer experience, spearheading acquisitions such as Omniture and Marketo. Those moves helped build Adobe’s digital experience division and broaden its reach far beyond designers and photographers.
The numbers tell the story of that transformation. When Narayen took over in 2007, Adobe generated roughly $3 billion in annual revenue. Today the company reports more than $25 billion. Over the same period, its workforce expanded from around 3,000 employees to more than 30,000.
In recent years, Narayen has steered Adobe into the generative AI era with the launch of Adobe Firefly, aiming to keep the company ahead in a rapidly evolving creative technology landscape.
Born in Hyderabad in 1963, Narayen studied electronics and communication engineering at Osmania University before moving to the United States for a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University. He later earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Widely regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s most steady and effective leaders, Narayen has earned multiple honours during his career, including India’s Padma Shri in 2019.
For Adobe, the upcoming leadership change marks the end of a defining chapter. For Narayen, however, the story is far from finished. As he told employees, the company’s next era of creativity, powered by AI and new digital workflows, is only just beginning.
