Dr. Ankoor Dasguupta: The Thought Leadership Dynamo Changing the Face of Executive Coaching

“Dr. Ankoor, Chief Experience Officer at Garage Collective, shares insights on his more than 24 year marketing & advertising career, leadership philosophy, AI’s impact on marketing, mentoring and coaching along with the future of this wonderful industry in an exclusive interview”

With over 24 years of an illustrious career, Dr. Ankoor has made himself into a marketing thought leader and mentor incorporating an enviable mix of innovative strategies and deep-rooted commitment to continuous learning. It so speaks to a culture of perseverance, adaptability, and emotional intelligence as part of his peerless journey. In his pursuit of being people-centric, self-improving, his leadership philosophy is based on freshness. In this reflective conversation, he shares with us his life-changing points, the importance of mentorship, how AI would disrupt the world of marketing, and the future of the industry. From winning prestigious awards to advising boards, the story of Dr. Ankoor is one of relentless pursuit and giving back to the marketing world.

  1. Career Path: Having had a glittering 24-year career, from marketing, advertising, media & communications to growing teams, would you agree if I say that it has really been a very eventful journey for you? Do tell me what were those turning points that made you the successful?

First of all, thank you for selecting me to do a Cover Story.

I am grateful to have a rollercoaster and exhilarating ongoing journey, a mix of opportunities disguised as challenges, working with extremely difficult people, absorbing the good elements from leaders that I have always observed closely and improvising my own style of leadership which is people centric first. In this journey, I first deeply thank all the people who have hurt me in some way because if it was not because of those moments, my resilience may not have shaped up the way it has. Then I thank the people who have been with me through thick and thin, my close childhood friends, my wife and the Universe for guiding me at every step. All my turning points were primarily were what seemed like failures disguised as opportunities. I have been vulnerable; however, the good part has always been that I have gone ahead and done it. I used to and still ask this question when in a difficult decision-making process – “what is the worst that’s going to happen if I do this?”

  1. Thought Leadership: Being a marketing thought leader, how do you keep yourself up to date with the most suitable and relevant industry trends, and how do you make it a consistent effort to add value?

Great question, but I have a simple answer. I read extensively, I revisit what I read often and I apply as much possible of what I read, I document and make my notes. There may be very few things that I do just for the sake of doing. For me, every minute is crucial and what I am doing at the present moment will define my tomorrow. This is a simple belief that I have.

Another practice I follow is unlearning what I already know and learning new approaches so as to stay relevant. Also, I interact a lot with people of different age groups, starting with children as young as 6 years to interns to senior citizens. It gives me a lot of perspectives to shape up how I think with respect to how I can contribute to add value in people’s lives to define and create a positive social impact. The most important thing, by now I know exactly what I need to read and when while making my notes from my reads. I tandem, I write extensively for global publications. Here is my secret- Reading is my input and writing is an outlet. This process helps me with a ‘flow state’ that I enjoy,

  1. Leadership Philosophy: How would you describe your leadership philosophy, and how has it evolved over time?

To me, Leadership is beyond one particular philosophy. Leaders are (need to be) far more emotionally intelligent than others, they have the ability to view the panoramic view from the top that others can’t see, they practice good habits and cultivate relationships keeping in mind the values of a person, they have business intelligence and know even to step in and when to step out. Leadership is a state of the mind and is not one word. It is the ability of storytelling and the ability the listen well. It is the ability to create sustainable teams and create a positive social impact. I have practiced all of these and I am glad I still do. The glue is consistency and discipline while getting more self-aware in the process. This is my leadership state of my mind (rather than a philosophy). For me, a mix of democratic, charismatic and servant leadership is what I practice as it works for me. For someone else, a combination of other leadership styles may work better, which also depends on other factors like your limiting beliefs as a leader.

  1. Advisory Positions: You are an advisor to several boards. How do you feel these impact on your thinking as a leader today?

I am grateful to be on multiple Advisory Boards. To me, Advisory Role is to do with stepping in to create an existing thing better or help the management take a decision which runs deep aligned to their values and with respect to the goal- short term or long term. These help me become more evolved in my thinking approach for various businesses. I think of Okazaki fragments (short sequences of DNA nucleotides which are synthesized discontinuously and later linked together by the enzyme DNA ligase to create the lagging strand during DNA replication) while trying to solve something for someone. Essentially means, I first look at the surface, dive deep enough and then the surface seems different from the first time when I help joining the key ‘strands’ of thoughts that I listen to in a discussion.

  1. Mentorship: As a mentor at IFTDM and an empanelled speaker at SpeakIn, how do you engage the next generation of marketers and digital leaders you are mentoring?

I speak extensively at events as a Keynote speaker, podcasts, panel discussions,lectures at Business Schools and it helps me become better each time I address an audience that ranges from academia, college students, teams who are in their mid-level career journey and C-Suite. I always research around the topic I need to speak so that I can help the audience with key takeaways. In this process I need to change my ‘hat’ accordingly- for instance if I am trainer vis-à-vis I am a Coach, vis-à-vis I am a mentor or if I am a speaker on a specific topic. Thankfully my playing ground of the subjects that I talk on have a big range from various aspects of marketing, advertising, media, leadership, communication, business, strategy and aspects such as Emotional Intelligence. I am deeply engaged with IFTDM as a trainer and mentor to help the youth of our country to stay ahead in their learning curve on all aspects of Digital Marketing”

  1. Achievements and Accolades: There you go with a long string of achievements. Do these awards energize you to make your work even stronger in the marketing world?

Ofcourse, it does! energize It helps me validate what I do, and I feel grateful for the recognitions. I don’t let these get to my head 😊. These make it compelling for me to keep doing more.

  1. Digital Kaizen Leader: What does “Digital Kaizen Leader” at DigiAdCon 2024 mean? Why do these accolades resonate with your marketing improvement philosophy?

Well, thankfully I learnt the word Kaizen during the time I started my career journey. The thing is, even before I knew this word and the essence behind it, I used to follow and practice improving continuously in whatever I did. Just that early in my life I was not emotionally intelligent and this part I gradually improved upon. I am grateful to have been selected by various coveted platforms for recognition.

  1. Industry Contributions: Which contribution to marketing and advertising has had the biggest impact for you?

Without flinching I’d say – people. The leaders, the CXOs that I am privileged to know well in my network is extensive and rich in practice and storytelling. It may not be right to just point few things from my long career journey as contributions as each and every contribution led to a deeper learning for me. The kind of opportunities in pilot projects and building and scaling businesses and teams that I have got, I am deeply grateful for.

  1. CMO Responsibilities: As a CMO, what are the priorities for building brand equity and driving digital transformation in today’s competitive landscape?

Today, I identify my role more as a Chief Experience Officer (CXO) which is broadly an amalgamation of both CX and EX. I take it as my accountability to ensure there are people with good positive and resilient attitude onboarded in my team while imbibing in them to ‘feel’ like a customer while thinking about a strategy. Feeling is as important as thinking. The ‘doing’ then becomes easier.

Also, first it is the alignment with the C-Suite itself. To navigate and unfreeze any silos. Only then we can empower teams to accomplish organizational vision and goals. Equity of a brand is the story we say in a more distinguished way from time to time, I recall my grandfather (to me a great storyteller) who used to tell me stories, sometimes the same story again and again but in a different way! And I as the audience felt the same story narrated do fresh each time! That’s the power of the storyteller!

So, CMOs need to be great storytellers, the brand listener, the data practitioner, the brand feeler (The one who actually feels the brand). In one word- the Brand Custodian and imbibe (as I do) to get each one in my team to gradually become brand custodians. That way, the work gets fun and simpler as well as each one knows the bigger ‘Cause’ that they are working towards.

When I see people overthinking or spending too much time on building a presentation, I try and imbibe that if one has clarity if thought, building any presentation hardly takes much time.

I also drive a culture where people must try and get up from their seats to speak with colleagues as much as possible. I say this because I observe people ‘playing’ WhatsApp chats while sitting hardly an arm’s length from each other!

  1. Challenges and Opportunities: What do you think are the biggest challenges and opportunities in digital marketing in the next 5 years?

There are quite a few and some of them that I would want to highlight are-

Starting with- the challenge and opportunity is for CMOs to stay relevant by doing more experiments and not having the fear to go wrong at times. For instance, it could be the way we align annual operating budgets, may change in the next few years in terms of priorities.

Also, consumers are more conscious about sustainability and corporate social responsibility. I was reading a report from 2023 (don’t remember the research company) that 81% of global consumers expect companies to be transparent about their environmental impact and ethical standards.

Opportunity: Digital marketing offers brands an excellent platform to communicate their sustainability efforts and engage with conscious consumers. Brands that incorporate purpose-driven content into their digital strategies will create stronger emotional connections with their audiences, leading to higher loyalty.

Fragmentation of Consumer Attention Across Multiple Platforms – As digital platforms continue to grow, from social media to streaming services, the challenge for marketers is reaching consumers across fragmented attention spans. People engage with content across diverse channels like Instagram, YouTube, podcasts, newsletters, and even niche community platforms. I recall reading according to eMarketer, 65% (could be bit more) of consumers engage with brands through multiple platforms, but ensuring consistency and engagement across all touchpoints is difficult.

Opportunity: Brands that master an omnichannel strategy—seamlessly integrating messaging, design, and experiences across platforms—will thrive. Leveraging technologies like unified customer profiles and cross-channel attribution models will enable more consistent customer experiences.

In addition, Hyper-Personalization with AI and Machine Learning AI and machine learning are enhancing marketers’ ability to deliver hyper-personalized experiences in real time. According to Accenture, 91% of consumers are more likely to shop with brands that provide personalized offers and recommendations. AI enables real-time adjustments to campaigns based on customer behaviour, preferences, and context.

Challenge: Striking a balance between personalization and privacy concerns will be crucial, especially in light of stricter data regulations.

Opportunity: Marketers who integrate AI and machine learning into their personalization strategies will deliver highly relevant content, offers, and experiences, increasing customer satisfaction and loyalty. From personalized email campaigns to dynamically changing website content, AI will unlock greater engagement.

  1. AI in Marketing: Would you say there’s a revolution coming to some of the marketing strategies due to AI?

The revolution is not coming, it is already here, and I’d say, when I started my career, the internet had just begun…think about floppy disks, ICQ chats and Yahoo Messenger days. Today with the power of automation, open-source tools and Web 3, ideation and execution is moving fast. Only thing is that in this journey we all as stakeholders need to stay ethical in our operation and be mindful of data privacy and also how we do not overwhelm our children while also ensuring to imbibe today’s generation to never stop using the most beautiful and magical creation – our Brain! So, use AI but avoid allowing it to overtake your life. I keep asking myself from time to time in key decisions – what was my source of inspiration?

  1. Customer-Centric Marketing: How do you ensure that customer-centricity remains at the heart of all marketing campaigns as if amidst raging technological changes?

Simple (not that simple as an exercise maybe), by focussing on WHO, WHY AND WHAT for a campaign. The HOW becomes easier to translate into ideation to execution.

  1. ICF Credential: You are working towards achieving the PCC credential from the International Coaching Federation. What has been this journey like for you-to become a coach as well as a leader and mentor?

It has been one of the best things I pursued. I am now ICF accredited certified Coach with my niche in Leadership, Communication & Business. My observation is that there is a dire need at the C-Suite level in many organizations for becoming better leaders and that word ‘better’ has sky as the limit. There itself is the opportunity. In organizations a lot of initiatives may not take shape because of the lack of a finding a suitable Coach. Here is where I step in. All I say is to hire a coach, one needs to be extremely serious about investing – both time and money. It is not a casual activity and needs serious intent, hence whoever approaches me for being their Coach, I ask them this one question for sure       ‘How serious do you reckon are you for this transformation?’

  1. Ongoing Learning: With a demanding career like yours, how do you ensure integration of personal learning and professional requirements? How does ongoing learning contribute to your success?

Good question. Though I don’t consciously integrate things. I am aware of my priorities and then go with the flow keeping those priorities in mind.

  1. Advice for Aspiring Marketers: What advice would you give to aspiring marketers who want to make a name in the industry today?

I don’t think I qualify to give any advice to aspiring marketers as everyone has a unique journey, however, there is this one thing that has helped me and which I keep talking about – know your why and know who you are. The rest will fall in place with consistency, practice, applying, and unlearning what you may already know. Unlearning is a powerful tool! Another thing is knowing your values and value people. For me that one thing that has worked always is I have raised my hand where no one else did and I have ventured into unknown territories…even when I was vulnerable and afraid (as I also mentioned in one of the above questions).

  1. Future of Marketing: In your view, what does the future of marketing look like, and how can professionals be prepared to adapt that?

I believe in being in the present; however the wonderful part of a CMO role is that it is future looking role and the future looks fabulous to me. There are always some challenges, but what’s the fun without them? There was not so much technology when I started my career journey. Today, people are born with gadgets! The thing is to be aware of is how much and in what capacity you would want to use technology. Use it to make something better but maybe don’t let it control your life! My one suggestion to myself and to leaders are – learn and apply, unlearn and learn. This will help stay relevant.

  1. Personal Passion: Outside of work, you enjoy reading, listening, and percussion. How are these passions connected to your work and the need for balance?

See, I am not an OTT watcher, I hardly watch anything that will not add value to my time and mind. I don’t see anything to balance. Only one thing needs to keep balanced which is my mind and I ensure to keep that as a daily priority by some rituals that I practice. I consider myself as the Chief Juggling Officer (CJO) as I enjoy juggling and that brings me a different approach to the way I see each moment as an opportunity.

  1. Memberships: As an active member of the International CMO Council, IMA India’s CMO Forum, Leaders Excellence at Harvard Square, what lessons or trend have been most noteworthy or relevant for you from these global marketing forums?

My observation is the only trend on which every trend rests is the way one leads. People, Culture and Values and its Practice (PCVP) are the top trends then, now, will be. Business will happen if you have these things in place and if you are not sure if these are in place or not, I am happy to help you as a Coach. Connect with me on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ankoordasguupta/

  1. Jury & Interview Panels: You have worked with a lot of juries (national & international) in marketing and advertising. How do these make you an added advantage vis-a-vis dynamic evolution of marketing talent?

Well, it allows me opportunity to read through and evaluate some of the top advertising campaigns while looking at all aspects of it. My learning is the more difficult it is for any Jury member, the better it is and most of the times my task as a Jury member is challenging as there are so many of them which ooze excellence! Furthermore, my network within the Jury community itself becomes stronger where I get to connect with the best of the best.

In a word, Dr. Ankoor’s journey as a marketing leader is by inspiration and enthusiasm for aspiring marketers and veterans alike; he can so easily match their relentless pursuit of innovation with a deep understanding of people-centric leadership, and with the constantly evolving digital landscape that continues to shape his success. As he looks ahead, Dr. Ankoor looks towards driving transformation, developing talent, and creating impact in both business and society. His story remains a reminder that success is not merely about accomplishing but enabling and constantly trying to be the best.