TheCconnects: Can you tell our readers a little about your professional journey?
Ankoor Dasguupta: Trained from Dale Carnegie in Mentoring, a CMO Council Member, Ankoor is a marketing practitioner, a knowledge manager, a thought-leader, an avid writer with more than 50 published articles and has multiple guest columns, one of which is Reputation Today .Ankoor is an established speaker and jury member for multiple esteemed forums including reputed B-Schools in India. Ankoor is also on the Advisory Board -Marketing Department at ISBR Business School. Recognized by DMA Asia as a marketing Ace, Ankoor is an advocate of social impact, driven by kaizen, he believes in the power of Energy and Energize while bringing to the table a pedigree of 23+ years with a rare combination experience across the spectrum of media – print, digital, mobile, event productions & successful pilot projects. Worked across functions – ad operations, business operations & strategy, content, brand strategy, sales, events, media planning & buying and spearheading P&Ls. Ankoor has been part of six Sigma projects and worked in cross functional roles with – MNCs, media conglomerates and start-ups. A process expert, Ankoor has been part of the core pilot team of launching and scaling International IPs such as ad:tech, iMedia Summits, Modern Marketing Summit and TechCrunch events in India. Ankoor has directed and enabled the winning of multiple pitches while actively involved in overall and tactical strategy. Ankoor is also on the Screening Council for MMA APAC and MMA Global for Smarties Awards. Ankoor is POSH Certified and has been selected to be part of core Committee for POSH at two organizations during his work tenure till now. At present, Ankoor is wearing the hat of Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Shisham Digital which has head quartered in India with offices in Dubai, Singapore and USA.
TheCconnects: Who has influenced you the most in life and why?
Ankoor Dasguupta: My grandfather. My values such as respect, discipline and integrity are all because of him. I realized from early childhood that there is no shortcut to discipline and this trait till date helps me to perform optimally daily and helps me achieve my goals with clarity of thought. Infact while doing my thinking, I always ask the ‘why’ to myself. My grandfather was a magical storyteller, so he was never prescriptive, he just showed me the way. For example, if he wanted me to cultivate a good habit such as waking up early morning on a particular time daily, rather than telling me to do so he would tell me stories about the importance of early mornings, how spectacular the rising sun looks, how the dew drops on the leaves have an essence a so on.
TheCconnects: What are the biggest challenges you have faced in your life & how did you overcome them?
Ankoor Dasguupta: Losing some very close people during a particular time was challenging. What I learnt during that time was pain is the best teacher and it will magically give you strength to overcome that pain. However, the only thing is – we have to be open and receptive to receiving the strength from the universe.
TheCconnects: What lessons you have learned from your professional career?
Ankoor Dasguupta: Many lessons! Though some very close to my heart have been undercomit and overdeliver, focus on listening, practice having and eye for detail and ofcourse my favourite ha been to reflecting on myself from time to time to become more self-aware as that leads to helping others better.
TheCconnects: What do you see as the biggest challenge for brands in the digital space?
Ankoor Dasguupta: I’d like to say, three broad challenges –
a) Choice of technology given the plethora of options today
b) Utilizing technology optimally
c) Having the most appropriate partner (be it agency/vendor/martech)
TheCconnects: Leadership often entails making difficult decisions or hard choices between two apparently good paths. Can you share a story with us about a hard decision or choice you had to make as a leader?
Ankoor Dasguupta: One key challenge in senior leadership that I have observed is that they must talk to each other more often that they actually do. Many a times arriving at a decision takes more time because say – the CFO, CMO, CTO are not on the same page, which is okay, however, many at times it is not about individual perspectives only but what is right for the business goal. In this process, the team suffers because they may be clueless about certain board room discussions.
TheCconnects: How can your product/solution help to resolve the pain points of your customers?
Ankoor Dasguupta: Shisham Digital is one of the top global audience performance marketing companies with proven experience in building and executing strategies around intensive audience architectures. Our audience intelligence empowers companies ranging from ambitious start-ups and large enterprises, to leverage wide-segmented performance designed reach in a privacy-safe environment. Our expertise lies in collaborating with businesses to optimize marketing efforts, achieve sustainable growth while adding value to the revenue streams. Our global footprint is on the rise because of an expert team and global clients.
TheCconnects: What do you do in your free time?
Ankoor Dasguupta: I don’t watch OTT platforms. I am a voracious reading, avid writer and love spending time with my wife and daughter. That’s what my leisure pursuits are.
TheCconnects: Do you have any advice for those who want to be an entrepreneur/C-Suite Executive?
Ankoor Dasguupta: For executive leaders / entrepreneurs, may be not an advice but more of a best practice sharing that has worked for me. Have at least 2 goals at any given point of time – one short term goal and one long term goal, define the time period, document the action items and follow it up daily. That is a simple hack that works wonders. Also, challenging status-quo.
Connect with Ankoor Dasguupta on LinkedIn here
