S02E08: The one with Punit Modhgil (Octane Research)

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2F5cjhmskZr9OS3SbsMSdA?si=tKSkBMYtTr6eNnCmTBSmPw

Welcome to The Digital Couch Season II where we publish another conversation featuring leading global thinkers from the world of business, management, and marketing. Who all are coming for Season II? Discover unbiased, actionable, and in-depth stories from growth-minded people on the podcast every week.

In this episode of The Digital Couch, Shoury Gupta (ValueFirst) is joined by Punit Modhgil (Octane Research). Punit is Co-Founder and Chief Research Officer of Octane Research. In his previous roles, Punit held leadership roles at ValueFirst, Microsoft, and Allied Worldwide. Punit and Shoury speak about marketing, COVID-199, Digital 2021- the research report, and more.

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"The way we are looking forward to a brand new year is perhaps unprecedented in the living memory"

The year 2020 was a grand reset for many and the changes that happened globally were the highlight of the Year. Our eighth guest Punit Modhgil kicked off the episode by sharing what the year 2020 had for him. Discover how words like 'pause' and 'live' become the key theme of his last year only on The Digital Couch.  

"You can glorify the past in many ways if you've been through the Journey"

Moving forward, Punit sheds light on how what led to the creation of Octane Research India's first platform purely on email which is based on subscribers and no spamming.

"This year is our tenth-anniversary gift to the community from our side"

Speaking of the Digital 2021 Octane Research Report, Punit explains the report in a nutshell and how readers can benefit from it. It's a part playbook and part black book of online marketing. Capture interesting insights of areas like digital transformation, the rise of influencer marketing, marketing automation, pandemic & work from home, and other grounds covered in 96-pages.

"I see a realistic and restrained view of the future in 2021 from India marketers"

When asked about the industries that can help recover the economy in the new normal, Punit shares some enticing tidbits on digital transformation from v-shape to w-shape recoveries. Backing his story with riveting statistics, and marketeers and industry leaders' views, Punit surely knows how to grab the attention. 

"Enabling the organization to go direct to consumer in an unprecedented way"

Pandemic disruption has caused everything to become digital in a matter of a few months. The loss of revenues and job opportunities has led companies to fast pace towards the adoption of technology. Sharing some insights from the report, Punit concerned the importance on multiple aspects such as means to enable a new channel for sales, marketing, customer outreach, engagement, and digitization of organization functions.

"Marketing execution excellence is no longer a given skill that everybody needs"

Talking about an effective marketer, Punit feels that ability to execute is no longer considered a necessary skill. That being said, he shared five skills that candidates need to have while applying for a role in marketing. From being comfortable in taking risks, adapting to new technologies, being open and collaborative, ability to make connections between disparate ideas or concepts, and ability to deal with uncertainty are some of the top skills that marketers should look for in 2021.

"I was already in that mode of like a yo-yo between the yogi mode and the bhogi mode"

From being on sabbatical to finally ticking many boxes in his wishlist, we wanted to know what else our guest experienced in the year 2020 as a human on this planet. Punit takes us through his different levels of transformation that aided in his personal journey. Even though he was cocooned inside a home, Punit didn't fail to make most of the pandemic period which was otherwise impossible. Discover all the enticing tidbits on the podcast and experience a fun and informative series.

Catch Punit Modhgil, sharing some gripping insights from the Digital 2021 report by Octane Research, living in unprecedented times, skills, and future of marketers in 2021, and amusing rapid-fire only on The Digital Couch. 

Shoot us an email at thedigitalcouch@vfirst.com if you found value in this episode and have suggestions for our upcoming episodes.