•  parameswaran@spjimr.org

M G Parameswaran

Adjunct Professor

Marketing

M G Parameswaran, or Ambi as he is known is a Brand Strategist and Founder of Brand-Building.com. In a career spanning three+ decades, Ambi has handled assignments in marketing, sales and advertising with companies like Rediffusion DY&R, Boots Company and UDI Yellow Pages before dropping anchor at Ulka Advertising over two decades ago. He has helped build numerous brands, including Digene, Brufen, Santoor Soap, Sundrop Cooking Oil, TCS, ICICI Bank, Wipro, Indica Cars, and Zee TV, among others.

He served as VP, then as CEO of FCB Ulka from 2003 to 2013, and as Advisor before moving out to set up his own Brand Advisory unit Brand-Building.com.

Ambi has been contributing articles to premier business publications, has conducted seminars and branding workshops for Indian/ MNC organizations and industry bodies like CII, FICCI, AIMA etc.; he has spoken at international forums, including the Kellogg India Summit at Northwestern University and Cornell University; he has also been a guest faculty at several business schools in Mumbai such as SPJIMR and at his alma mater, IIM Calcutta.

Ambi has served as the President of the Advertising Agencies Association of India [2014-16]; he was President of Ad Club Bombay [2003–05]. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from IIT Madras in 2009 and from IIM Calcutta in 2018. Ambi has served on the Board of Governors of IIM Cacutta from 2007 to 2017 and is an Independent Director on the board of several listed and unlisted corporate entities.

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EDUCATION

Harvard Business School

Advanced Management Program 2014

Mumbai University

Ph.D. Management [Marketing & Consumer Behaviour], 2006 – 2012
The thesis was on ‘Religiosity and Consumer Behaviour’. How does religion and religiousness interact with our behaviour as consumers.

Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta

MBA [PGDM], Marketing & Finance, Honour Roll Graduate, 1977 – 1979

Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

B Tech, Chemical Engg. 1972 – 1977

  • BOOKS

    2022

    Parameswaran Ambi, All The World’s A Stage – A Personal Branding Story, Westland, Chennai

    2020

    Parameswaran Ambi, SPRING – Bouncing Back From Rejection, Westland, Chennai

    2018

    Parameswaran Ambi, SPONGE – Leadership Lessons I Learnt From My Clients, Westland, Chennai

    2016

    Parameswaran Ambi, Nawabs Nudes Noodles – India Through 50 Years of Advertising, Pan Macmillan, New Delhi

    2015

    Parameswaran Ambi M G, with Isaac Jacob and Kevin Lane Keller, Strategic Brand Management [Indian Version], Pearson India, New Delhi

    2014

    Parameswaran Ambi , For God’s Sake – An Adman on the Business of Religion, Penguin, New Delhi

    2011

    Parameswaran M G with Kinjal Medh, Draftfcb Ulka Brand Building Advertising – Cases & Concpets, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi

    Parameswaran M G with Kinjal Medh [eds.], India 2061 – Collected Articles, Cogito Publications, Mumbai

    2009

    Parameswaran M G, Ride The Change – A Perspective on the Changing Indian Consumer, Market and Marketing, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi

    2006

    Parameswaran M G, Building Brand Value – Five Steps to Building Powerful Brands, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi

    2003

    Parameswaran M G, Understanding Consumers – Building Powerful Brands Using Consumer Research, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi

    2001

    Parameswaran M G,  FCB Ulka Brand Building Advertising – Concepts & Cases, Tata McGraw Hill, New Delhi

  • BOOK CHAPTERS

    2013

    Parameswaran M G , Marketing, PR, Advertising and Media for Brand Building of Innovative Foods and Nutritional Products, in Ghosh D et al. [eds.] Innovation in Healthy and Functional Foods, CRC Press

    2008

    Parameswaran M G, Reputation Under Fire, in Arthur I and Mathews K [Eds.], Brands Under Fire, Penguin Portfolio

  • CONFERENCES

    2011

    “Portrayal of women in Indian English print advertising – A longitudinal study of advertising in Femina Magazine over the last 50 years”, 2011 Asia Pacific Conference of the Association for Consumer Research Beijing, Parameswaran M G with Srivatsava R K [KJ Somaiya]

    2009

    “Not so desperate housewives of India”, 2009 Asia Pacific Conference of the Association of Consumer Research, Hyderabad, Parameswaran Ambi M G

    “Portrayal of women in Indian package goods television advertising”, 3rd Great Lakes NASMEI Marketing Conference, Chennai, Parameswaran M G

    Panellist/speaker at Jaipur Literature Festival 2014, the biggest gathering of its kind in the world.

    Speaker at TEDx IIM Ranchi in February 2014 [TEDx ‘For God’s Sake’]

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