Gaurav Ganta

Growth and brand marketing professional with 12+ years across FMCG, healthcare, automotive and lifestyle categories, with a track record of driving revenue growth and owning budget/P&L-adjacent decisions end-to-end. Scaled a brand's monthly sales from ₹10L to ₹2.5Cr (~25x) in 11 months, diagnosing channel underperformance and reallocating focus toward the highest-return platforms, while building distribution from zero across marketplaces and retail. Combines strategic ownership of brand and GTM with hands-on execution — product launches, content, and influencer partnerships — and senior brand experience across Johnson's Baby, Lipton, Clean & Clear and Kwality Wall's.

Brand Marketing Lead at Freshcon India (2025-09 – Present)

In-house / Brand-side. Own brand marketing for Freshcon's convenience food portfolio — brand strategy, product launches and end-to-end GTM execution across GT, MT, Q-commerce, digital and offline channels.

• Supported Modern Trade distribution growth from 0 to ₹25L in year one through packaging and activation that helped secure category placement with Reliance Retail; helped stand up the General Trade channel from scratch to ₹2.5–3L monthly sales in its first 3 months, tracking toward ₹5L.
• Partnered with Sales to execute General Trade activation across 150 retail outlets in Mumbai — driving in-store visibility through POSM, gondolas, shelf strips and brochures, and a monthly sampling program distributing ~15,000 samples to drive trial.
• Re-engineered GT activation collateral costs, driving a ~22% reduction in planned spend (₹2.43L to ₹1.91L) while preserving full store coverage — building on ~₹19L in cumulative POSM investment already deployed across Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Goa, while overseeing a 2-member merchandising team supporting field execution.
• Led end-to-end commercialization of 10+ new products across Makhana, Ready-to-Eat Rice, Boiled Peanuts and Pre-Cooked Ingredients — partnering with Product, Packaging, Sales and Production to ensure launch readiness across GT, MT and Q-commerce.
• Defined consumer-centric packaging communication through consumer research and competitive benchmarking, delivering production-ready artwork across every launch; ran comparative taste tests to sharpen product positioning.
• Co-created Freshcon's flagship Makhana launch film end-to-end (script, production, budget, partner onboarding) — co-wrote the script in-house, personally closed the shoot location, and hard-negotiated edits and post-production costs, cutting the film's production cost by ~50%.
• Led the Farah Khan influencer collaboration for the Makhana launch, delivering ~6M campaign reach.

Director – Brand Engagement at DDB Mudra Group (2024-09 – 2025-08)

Agency – Client Brands: Kwality Wall's, Birla Opus (FMCG). Led integrated brand communication for Kwality Wall's and Birla Opus, translating business objectives into consumer-centric marketing strategy and multi-channel campaigns.

• Partnered with client brand managers and category teams to shape communication strategy and GTM priorities; led cross-functional delivery across strategy, creative and production.

Group Head – Digital at White Rivers Media (2023-06 – 2024-05)

Agency – Client: Switz (FMCG). Directed the 'Home of Switz' campaign from strategy through execution as primary client partner, leading integrated consumer communication across digital-first channels.

Associate Director – Social Media at BBH India (2021-11 – 2023-05)

Agency – Client: Audi India (Automotive). Supported integrated communication for multiple Audi India vehicle launches — content strategy, influencer partnerships and consumer engagement.

Senior Brand Solutions Executive at DDB Mudra Group (2016-06 – 2021-09)

Agency – Client Brands: Johnson's Baby, Clean & Clear, Listerine, Lipton, Love Beauty & Planet (FMCG); Audi India, Taco Bell. Led integrated communication for Johnson's Baby, Audi India, Clean & Clear, Listerine, Lipton, Love Beauty & Planet and Taco Bell; built influencer and ORM frameworks with brand managers.

• Effie Bronze Award and Social Samosa recognition for the Johnson's Baby 'Turn to Learn' campaign.

Social Media Executive at Mirum India (2015-11 – 2016-06)

Agency

Digital Marketing Executive at Imarticus Learning (2014-06 – 2015-10)

In-house

PG Diploma in Advertising & Media – Garware Institute

Bachelor in Mass Media – Dnyanasadhana College