Branding-101: From Coffee Day to Kurlon

In this episode of Velocity: Performance Marketing Podcast by Hawky, we sit down with Prashantt Deshpande, Chief Brand Officer at Kurlon Enterprise Limited. From Café Coffee Day to Future Group, Zivame, and now leading one of India's most trusted mattress brands with 60+ years of heritage, Prashantt shares his 20-year journey of building brands across radically different categories, all united by one truth: human emotion.


Discover how Kurlon balances heritage with performance marketing, why AI is "the favorite intern that never sleeps," and the exact moment when brand care meets performance clicks to create magic. Learn the frameworks behind creative validation, real-time consumer dialogue, and maintaining brand soul in the age of AI-driven marketing.


Chapters:

0:00 - 1:53 Introduction

1:54 - 4:05 Prashantt's Marketing Journey: Café to Comfort

4:06 - 8:44 What's Changed in 20 Years of Marketing (And What Hasn't)

8:45 - 12:21 The Magic Moment: When Performance Meets Brand

12:22 - 18:36 Measuring Brand Love Beyond P&L

18:37 - 24:15 Kurlon's Dual Comfort Strategy & Category Positioning

24:16 - 32:40 Creative Development: The Thin Line Between Intent & Understanding

32:41 - 37:57 How Strategy Flows Into Performance Marketing

37:58 - 42:09 AI as Your Favorite Intern: Tools & Integration

42:10 - 44:01 Does AI Raise or Lower Creative Quality?

44:02 - 45:14 Guest Recommendations & Closing


Meet Surender (Host & Co-founder at Hawky): https://www.linkedin.com/in/say2surender/


Meet Prashantt Deshpande: https://www.linkedin.com/in/prashanttdeshp...


About Hawky: A Creative Intelligence Platform that transforms marketing guesswork into data-driven success. From Ad Creative Analysis to AI-Powered Optimization, we help B2C brands and agencies achieve higher ROAS and predictable campaign performance.

More Episodes: https://hawky.ai/podcast
Visit http://Hawky.ai: https://hawky.ai/