In this segment of ‘Chai Break’, we talk to Gaurav Mehta, Chief Marketing Officer, OLX India, a global Internet company that offers the next generation of free online classifieds in 50 languages and more than 40 countries. Gaurav has diverse experience spanning 13 years, which includes 7.5 years as a leading digital business expert in companies such as Yahoo and OLX.
What makes a good marketer?
- Customer orientation.
- Product and industry knowledge.
- Forward looking.
- Ability to work in a complex and ever moving ecosystem
3 things you look for when you hire people?
- Scalability is paramount. Challenges keep on reinventing themselves hence the colleagues need to scale up equally fast.
- Attitude is the bedrock of performance.
- Oriented towards the future.
Your favorite destination for business trips?
- India: Mumbai.
- Abroad: Holland and Dubai because of the flight connections.
Your favourite book?
Lord of the rings. Sheer scale, lucidity and imagination sets that book apart. Favourite genres are political and economics, epic fantasy and British humor.
3 things would never do a meeting without?
Agenda. Data to back the agenda. Need to be sure that I am required for the meeting.
When did you decide that Marketing is what you wanted to do?
During graduation. Was a member of college media and was exposed to agencies and brands due to fgds and researches. Got hooked there and then.
Your most memorable advertisement that you still remember?
Hamara Bajaj. Brought the brand ethos to life. Gave the scale that a brand like Bajaj deserved. As a consumer; loved the jingle!
Do you love data or hate data?
Adore data. Structured and unstructured both.
One app that you cannot do without @work:
Calendar app
What are your marketing priorities for the year 2016/2017?
Push the industry adoption even further. Analysis and research ethos across the teams including external partners. Identify and seed a marketing discipline that will be relevant, of scale in its magnitude.
Profile: Gaurav Mehta joined OLX in 2013, and with a forte in branding and marketing he has driven OLX to become among the most trusted and admired brands of the country. He has a post graduate in Brand Management and Media Planning from MICA. An analytics and research driven marketer, Gaurav has been in the mobile marketing space since 2008, and has also showcased his entrepreneurial streak with his company, BrandDNA, a branding and marketing consultancy. He was one of the first few employees to have joined OLX, and has led marketing initiatives that are responsible for OLX becoming a market leader in a short span of time. Through his experience and vision he made the audience believe in the brand’s message, making OLX synonymous with selling in India.
Under his leadership, OLX emerged as the as India’s only online classifieds to be on the top ten searched terms by Google Zeitgeist in 2013 and 2014. He was also felicitated with the ‘Marketer of the Year’ award at the second edition of Exchange4Media Indian Marketing Awards 2015 in December. He is an avid reader with interest in the field of politics, economics, and history. He is also a trained horse rider and skier.
