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In this episode of ExperiMENTAL, Sundar Swaminathan sits down with Nikhil Kant (Uber, FlixBus, Even Health) to break down why modern marketing has lost its magic and how over-relying on performance marketing is silently killing long-term brand value.

You’ll learn:
✔ Why performance marketing is losing its creative edge
✔ How brand creates the only sustainable moat in saturated markets
✔ Tactical frameworks: Get-To-By, Think-Feel-Do, and Hero-Hub-Hygiene
✔ Why startups confuse product-market fit with growth loops
✔ Lessons from political marketing and hyper-local segmentation
✔ How brands like Liquid Death, MoCabara, and Adidas play the long game

00:00:00 - Coming up...
00:01:00 - Meet Nikhil: 15 Years in Brand Marketing
00:04:00 - How Performance Marketing Took Over
00:06:00 - The Death of Brand Identity in Startups
00:08:00 - Why Brand is the Only Moat That Scales
00:10:00 - Uber vs Ola: Same Product, Different Brand Outcome
00:11:00 - Liquid Death & MOKOBARA: Brand-First Success Stories
00:13:00 - The Forgotten ‘P’ of Marketing: Patience
00:15:00 - Blending Brand into Performance Marketing
00:17:00 - Why Founders Misunderstand Brand Marketing
00:18:30 - Product IS Marketing: Spotify Wrapped & Uber Ice Cream
00:20:00 - Brand Strategy Extends to Sales and Support Teams
00:21:00 - Two Simple Frameworks to Nail Messaging
00:24:00 - The Hero-Hub-Hygiene Content Strategy Explained
00:28:00 - Nikhil’s Experience with Political Campaigns
00:31:00 - Hyper-Segmentation: What Marketers Can Learn from Politics
00:34:00 - The Craziest Political Campaign All-Nighter
00:38:00 - Politicians Move Faster Than Founders
00:40:00 - Marketing Was Simpler… and Better
00:41:20 - Why We Need Emotional, Memorable Campaigns Again
00:42:00 - Final Thoughts: Marketing is Not That Complicated

Nikhil shares real-world stories from startups, unicorns, and political campaigns to show how the best marketers blend emotional connection with business outcomes. If you’re building a consumer startup or running growth at a scaling company, this episode will change how you think about brand.

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