India’s media landscape is becoming more fragmented, giving marketers more channels, more metrics and more ways to measure performance.
For FMCG brands, that makes media planning less about choosing the platform with the biggest audience and more about understanding which investment can create incremental reach and contribute to business outcomes.
Rajiv Dubey, VP – Head Media & Consumer Activation, Dabur India, discusses how the company approaches that complexity, while also addressing how legacy brands can stay relevant among younger consumers, how festive marketing can move beyond media weight, and where data, instinct and brand experiences fit into the decision-making process.
Throughout his responses, Dubey outlines how Dabur is balancing media efficiency, brand relevance, consumer insights, and business outcomes in different marketing decisions.
Legacy Brands Need To Change How They Communicate
Dabur’s established brands already carry years of familiarity, but younger consumers increasingly encounter brands through creators, short-form content and communities. The strategic question, then, is how much of the communication needs to change without weakening the brand itself.
Dubey said, “We have changed how we communicate, not what our brands stand for. Creators, short-form content, communities and contemporary storytelling help us make legacy brands relevant without compromising their core equity.”
The distinction is clear. New formats and newer voices can change how a legacy brand enters the conversation, while its established equity remains intact.
Festive Marketing Is Moving Beyond Media Weight
Festive advertising puts brands in a crowded race for consumer attention, making it harder to differentiate through media presence alone. For Dabur, the approach is to identify relevant consumer moments while ensuring festive communication can translate emotional connection into measurable business impact.
Dubey explained, “We are focusing beyond media weight on owning relevant consumer moments through sharper audience understanding, contextual content, regional relevance, creators and experiences.”
That approach gives festive marketing a more targeted role, with audience understanding, contextual content, regional relevance and creators helping Dabur participate in moments that matter to consumers rather than simply increasing media weight.
Dubey noted, “We don’t see the two as contradictory. Festive communication must win the heart and drive the purchase, so we measure everything from attention and brand impact to engagement and sales.”
The Next Media Rupee Has To Go Beyond Reach
When different media platforms offer different measures of scale, attention and efficiency, the challenge is deciding which signals deserve the most weight. Dubey says ‘Dabur looks at several metrics together rather than treating reach as the sole measure’.
Dubey explained, “We follow consumer relevance, incremental reach and business impact, not just reach. Data, attention, cost efficiency and ROI collectively determine where the next rupee goes.”
That makes incremental reach and business impact central to the question of where additional media investment can add value.
Data Can Sharpen Decisions, While Activations Must Prove Their Impact
More data can sharpen marketing decisions, but Dubey believes it cannot replace experience and judgement. The same emphasis on meaningful outcomes applies to brand activations. For Dubey, both require judgement about what the available signals actually reveal.
Dubey added, “Data has made decisions sharper, but it cannot replace experience and judgement. The best marketing decisions combine data, technology, consumer insight and instinct.”
The same principle applies to brand activations, where visibility is only an initial indicator, not the final measure of success.
Dubey said, “Buzz is only the beginning. We look for real changes in engagement, perception, trial and behaviour, and wherever possible, an impact on sales.” His response points to a broader view of activation effectiveness.
Data and technology can sharpen decisions, but marketing effectiveness ultimately depends on whether those decisions translate into meaningful changes in consumer response.
For Dabur, the question is therefore less about how much attention marketing can generate and more about what that attention can change.
