The Pulse of A BRAND

In a frenetic jet-paced world, where consumer preferences shift by the day, effective marketing isn’t just about being seen, it’s about listening. It’s about having your ear to the ground, being responsive to consumer insight, and thinking ahead to reshape it. For Nishant Mishra, Chief Marketing Officer at Apollo Health and Lifestyle, that means digging deep into insights while reimagining how healthcare in 2025, speaks to people. “Marketing is part instinct, part insight—and all about staying one step ahead,” he says. With over 25 years of experience across media, FMCG, telecom retail, and now healthcare, Nishant has seen how marketing has evolved and helped shape that change. In tête-à-tête with Corporate Citizen, he talks on how his journey reflects the changing face of Indian marketing.

Corporate Citizen: You are an MBA in marketing from Pune’s Indira Institute of Management. How did you come to choose management as a career?

Nishant Mishra: As they say, some of the most enduring lessons are the ones you learn at home. This was so in my case. My mother, late Meenakshi Joshi Mishra, was a station director at All India Radio, Bhopal, in the mid to late nineties. She not only put together plays with a social message, but she also headed the set-up. People came to her with their problems, and she managed to successfully solve them. I noticed just how much attention to detail and management it entailed, and like children usually do, I absorbed it all. On the one hand, she was directing dramas, on the other hand, she was controlling proceedings, telling people what to do. Watching her combine her artistic side with a strong managerial hand, made a huge impact on me, as a school kid. I noticed, how she was able to make a difference and drive change. Being around her, I saw how powerful management skills can be.

Similarly, my dad late Rajendra Prasad Mishra, was a news reader at All India Radio. A flamboyant and gregarious person, a very strong personality, there was a lot to learn from him when it came to communication skills. I realised that a field which offered me a combination of organisation with communication, was where I needed to be. While I did my 12th class with science, I realised that commerce and management were my true calling and that’s how I did my B.Com and eventually MBA.

CC: Tell us about your experience during your MBA days.

Well, my batch was fortunate enough to have late Dr. Dilip Sarwate, considered a big name in market research, as a professor. Also, the 90s were the time that satellite television entered India. It was simply fascinating to observe how powerful a well-made TV commercial with a strong call to action could be, even in as little as 10 seconds. India was aspiring to a different lifestyle and the ads reflected that aspiration. Communication and marketing were integral to creating and building an iconic brand. As a student and youngster, I thought to myself just how fabulous it would be to be able to say that one was part of creating a product or service that has touched thousands of lives.

"These days, it’s all about AI-powered ChatGPT searches—but that’s only the packaging. At its core, marketing will always be about understanding consumer insights"

— Nishant Mishra

CC: You’ve been intentional about choosing marketing from the get-go, whether it’s consumer marketing, media, retail or now healthcare. Do tell us about your stints in marketing and what each experience taught you.

Over the last 25 years, I’ve worked across several industries, and that cross-pollination is what shaped my journey. As GenX, my generation was the first to truly experience the evolution of corporate India. And, marketing went hand-in-hand with that. I began with the Dainik Bhaskar Group in Bhopal, one of India’s leading vernacular dailies. My role was that of a management associate, which meant I had a ringside view of how different departments worked in sync. Indian corporates were largely promoter-driven back then, and this experience gave me an early sense of how businesses ran from the inside out. I was also asked to create events that added value to advertising; basically, helping brands engage more deeply with their consumers. That was my first taste of just how impactful marketing could be.

Next came Coca-Cola, a dream job for a youngster who had grown up admiring its iconic campaigns. It was a very rewarding stint of 4.5 years. I joined as head of marketing for Madhya Pradesh, and eventually moved to Delhi, heading marketing in one of the company’s most high-volume markets. This was also when Coca-Cola launched the `5 pricing initiative to drive deeper penetration in the market. The learning curve was intense. FMCG, I believe, is a marketing school in itself; it teaches you to study the consumer, use data intelligently, and extract insight from research. And this was pre-digital, so you really had to trust your gut and keep your ear to the ground.

CC: You mentioned guerrilla marketing in the pre-digital era. Any campaigns you particularly remember?

Absolutely. When I moved into telecom retail with The Mobile Store, India was just entering the organised retail boom; names like Big Bazaar and Croma were taking off. This was the marketer’s last mile—directly engaging with the consumer.

At The Mobile Store, one of my favourite campaigns involved branding a Rolls-Royce with our logo. It sent out a bold message that the buying experience with us could feel just as aspirational. Another was a grassroot campaign during a Ganpati Immersion (Visarjan) Day. I managed to place our brand board on a fisherman’s boat off Colaba Koliwada, for a modest sum, knowing TV cameras would capture it. It actually made the front page of a national daily. These are the kinds of moments that give you a real high as a marketer.

CC: And, from there on, your path led to healthcare?

Yes. After stints with Planet M Retail, Turtle Health and Dr. Batra’s—my first brush with health and wellness—I was drawn deeper into the healthcare space. Dr. Batra’s had a strong focus on digital lead generation, SEO and performance marketing, which aligned with the times. By now, digital was no longer on the sidelines; it was front and centre of all we did.

Later, I joined Rainbow Children’s Hospital, pioneers in pediatric tertiary care—a concept new to India, but oh-sonecessary. To simplify, pediatric tertiary healthcare refers to advanced and specialised medical care for children with serious or complex health conditions.

As a young parent myself, I saw firsthand, how critical such services were. We grew from 4 to 12 hospitals across cities in five years. Eventually, I joined Apollo Health and Lifestyle, and over the past six years, it’s been a fantastic experience understanding the pulse of one of India’s most respected healthcare brands.

"Constant reinvention is the name of the game. Never become complacent or comfortable. Each stage of your life and career are going to demand a different version of you, so you must be prepared to take the trouble to upskill, re-skill, learn and unlearn"

CC: Do tell us more about the focus of the brand.

Well, we have been able to drive agendas and generate a much-needed conversation about preventive healthcare, which is the vision of our chairman, Dr. Prathap C. Reddy. Most folks tend to reach out for healthcare when they’ve had an emergency health episode. Why not reach out before the damage? The choices you have then are far greater as opposed to those critical moments when those around you take the decision for you. Timely tests, routine check-ups are a pro-active and positive approach that can give you so much insight into how you can improve your health. This can not only save a life but also a family. And thus, as we say, Apollo Health & Lifestyle Ltd. (AHLL) is not about just illness but wellness.

• Curiosity

  Good marketers are curious by nature; they’re always observing, asking questions, and trying to understand what makes their audience tick.

• Creative thinking

  Effective marketing is not always about money. Out-of-the box, unconventional ideas can work, if you are willing to take that risk.

• Data meets instinct

  You need a gut feeling, but also the ability to back it up with numbers and research.

• Adaptability

  Whether it’s FMCG or healthcare, your ability to adapt will decide the altitude of your career.

• Love for reinvention

  Marketing keeps evolving, and so should you.

CC: What, are the challenges and opportunities before healthcare in the days to come?

Well, I would say that the opportunity is inherent to the challenge: To disseminate information and thereby create awareness among Indians across the board that maintaining your mind and body are key to your present and future well-being. When you predict a health issue beforehand, you actually have a fighting chance to prevent tragedy. Don’t wait for that emergency surgery to tackle a chronic or degenerative health condition. Thus, designing an appropriate testing kit package becomes a natural corollary to that message.

"The opportunity is inherent to the challenge: To disseminate information and thereby create awareness among Indians across the board that maintaining your mind and body are key to your present and future well-being"

CC: Walk us through the various brands under the Apollo Health and Lifestyle Umbrella.

AHLL has various brands that look after diverse segments of healthcare. Within the primary health care space we have Apollo Clinics (outpatient services like consultation, health checks and radiology), Apollo Dental (oral care) and Apollo Sugar (diabetes management programme), Apollo Diagnostics (pathology and laboratory services), and within the secondary care space we have Apollo Cradle (women and child health), Apollo Fertility, Apollo Spectra (short-stay surgical centers) and Apollo Dialysis.

Procedures like Cradle, Fertility and Spectra are planned procedures. A lady giving birth at Cradle is a cause for celebration, and the decor and ambience reflect that. Similarly, fertility issues are not a cause for hospitalisation, but something that needs the best possible resolution. Also, Apollo Spectra that offers short stay surgeries, is meant for quick procedures and faster discharges.

Understanding the difference between a patient and non-patient, emergencies as opposed to a non-emergency, simple versus prolonged surgeries, help us deliver services that are timely, sensitive and resonant. All our offerings are based on detailed consumer feedback and with customer comfort in mind, we have launched various unique platforms for their engagement and empowerment: Admission Assist, allowing expectant mothers to explore and book rooms virtually, Apollo Cradle App offers continuous guidance from pregnancy planning to postpartum care and parenting.

CC: When you hire a marketing professional, what is it that you look at?

I try and gauge their understanding and passion for the role on hand. Each day is a new day when you are a marketing person, it’s not a role that allows you to ‘wing it’. Are they excited about consumer insights and on-ground activation? Are they driven and hungry to push the envelope?

CC: There’s this perception that this is not a career for women.

No, that’s not true. Marketing is for any professional who wishes to engage with consumer behaviour, drive the change and also be responsive to it. There’s much to build and has tremendous value to deliver, if you are up for the challenge.

CC: You were a panelist at the recent Growth Summit organised in Mumbai where you looked at how traditional marketing funnels were evolving. Can you recount that in a nutshell for us?

Well, we looked at the evolution of traditional marketing funnels in the digital age. We examined the shift from linear customer journeys to more dynamic, multi-touchpoint experiences, highlighting the need for brands to adapt to rapidly changing consumer behaviors. Furthermore, we also looked at the importance of integrating data-driven strategies and personalised engagement, to build lasting customer relationships in this new marketing landscape.

CC: Given that the world has changed so much thanks to the advent of AI, how has the role of marketing evolved?

I agree that technology has evolved and will continue to do so. These days, it’s all about AI-powered ChatGPT searches—but that’s only the packaging. At its core, marketing will always be about understanding consumer insights.

CC: Other than work, how do you unwind?

Movies, cricket, spending time with my son (laughs). I also enjoy travel a lot and love reading about new tech innovations and problem solving.

CC: What is the philosophy that you live and work by?

Constant reinvention is the name of the game. Never become complacent or comfortable. Each stage of your life and career are going to demand a different version of you, so you must be prepared to take the trouble to upskill, reskill, learn and unlearn.