Rahul Karthikeyan : Building Brands That Transform Careers
Rahul Karthikeyan
Chief Marketing Officers
Modern CMOs sit at the inter section of business strategy, consumer psychology, technology, and cultural insight. They are responsible not just for visibility, but for building trust, shaping perception, and ensuring the brand creates real value in people’s lives.
The most effective CMOs today are those who understand data but communicate emotion, who balance creativity with accountability, and who treat marketing not as noise creation but as meaning creation.
Against this backdrop stands Rahul Karthikeyan, Chief Marketing Officer of Scaler, whose career journey mirrors the transformation of marketing itself — from execution-driven functions to purpose-led storytelling and large-scale brand creation.
Rahul’s career didn’t begin with high-level mandates or glamorous leadership titles. Instead, it started in the trenches: ad networks, campaign execution, and performance dashboards.
Those early years shaped his foundation and left him with two principles that continue to define his leadership - curiosity matters more than certainty, and growth only happens when you stay uncomfortable.
From leading digital transformation as Digital West Head at GroupM/MEC, to shaping upGrad’s brand during its breakout years, to now helping build Scaler into one of India’s most aspirational career brands, Rahul’s journey reflects both craft and conviction. His work spans large-scale campaigns, high-impact narratives about education in India, and the mentoring of some of the country's strongest young marketing teams.
In his role at Scaler, Rahul continues to lead with the same philosophy. His goal isn’t just growth metrics or recall value. He aims to build brands that people associate with transformation — brands remembered not for how loudly they spoke but for how meaning -fully they changed lives. Purpose-driven, grounded, and relentlessly curious, Rahul represents the new era of CMO leadership: where marketing becomes not just business influence, but human impact.
How do you adapt your marketing vision in response to market volatility and changing investor sentiment?
When the industry faces turbulence, the role of marketing isn’t to chase louder visibility — it’s to sharpen clarity and reinforce trust.
My approach begins with anchoring the brand in purpose. Instead of reacting to volatility through aggressive spends, I focus on strengthening fundamentals: authentic storytelling, clear value communication, and channels that drive sustainable demand.
Rather than high-burn campaigns, we lean into brand equity drivers —community, credibility, alumni success, and real outcomes. Narrative becomes extremely important during uncertain times: people trust brands that communicate with honesty, insight, and consistency.
Ultimately, trust is the most defensible moat, and when budgets fluctuate, trust continues to compound.
How are you leveraging analytics, predictive models, and emerging technologies to forecast demand and personalize the learner journey?
At Scaler, our philosophy is simple - technology should scale intelligence, but insight should humanize experience. We use predictive analytics, hire-signal mapping, and AI-led personalization models — but the real impact comes from connecting these with empathy and understanding. We also map high demand skill areas, understand evolving learner behavior, and build recommendation systems that guide individuals based on intent and aspiration, not just browsing patterns.The goal is not mass personalization - it is individual relevance.
Every learner should feel understood, supported, and guided. Technology enables precision, but insight creates connection.
How do you ensure marketing builds long-term relationships beyond course completion?
I don’t see learners as customers; I see them as long-term stakeholders in our ecosystem. For us, the relationship truly begins after the course ends.
We build enduring engagement through three core pillars. First, we deliver value that extends far beyond the program itself — supporting learners during pivotal moments such as job changes, promotions, and evolving skill needs ensuring our
When the industry faces turbulence, the role of marketing isn’t to chase louder visibility — it’s to sharpen clarity and reinforce trust.
My approach begins with anchoring the brand in purpose. Instead of reacting to volatility through aggressive spends, I focus on strengthening fundamentals: authentic storytelling, clear value communication, and channels that drive sustainable demand.
AI will transform how marketing is executed, but it will also elevate the value of human creativity, intuition, and cultural insight
Rather than high-burn campaigns, we lean into brand equity drivers —community, credibility, alumni success, and real outcomes. Narrative becomes extremely important during uncertain times: people trust brands that communicate with honesty, insight, and consistency.
Ultimately, trust is the most defensible moat, and when budgets fluctuate, trust continues to compound.
How are you leveraging analytics, predictive models, and emerging technologies to forecast demand and personalize the learner journey?
At Scaler, our philosophy is simple - technology should scale intelligence, but insight should humanize experience. We use predictive analytics, hire-signal mapping, and AI-led personalization models — but the real impact comes from connecting these with empathy and understanding. We also map high demand skill areas, understand evolving learner behavior, and build recommendation systems that guide individuals based on intent and aspiration, not just browsing patterns.The goal is not mass personalization - it is individual relevance.
Every learner should feel understood, supported, and guided. Technology enables precision, but insight creates connection.
How do you ensure marketing builds long-term relationships beyond course completion?
I don’t see learners as customers; I see them as long-term stakeholders in our ecosystem. For us, the relationship truly begins after the course ends.
We build enduring engagement through three core pillars. First, we deliver value that extends far beyond the program itself — supporting learners during pivotal moments such as job changes, promotions, and evolving skill needs ensuring our
relevance long after the classroom experience. Second, we nurture reputation-led communities that carry real social capital.
Scaler’s alumni actively mentor, collaborate, recruit, and shape industry conversations, creating a vibrant, self-sustaining network. Third, we offer evergreen knowledge and opportunity through ongoing content, insights, and career pathways. Ultimately, I want Scaler to be remembered for shaping careers, not just delivering courses.
What are major potential disruptors or developments you foresee in marketing?
AI will transform how marketing is executed, but it will also elevate the value of human creativity, intuition, and cultural insight. I believe the next wave will be driven by human–AI creative co-pilots,hyper-relevant content ecosystems, and trust-led zero-party data relation-ships.
Discovery will shift toward voice and multimodal search, while creators will increasingly operate as influential micro-brands shaping consumer decisions. Radical transparency will move from a differentiator to a baseline expectation.
But the most profound disruptor will be authenticity in a world of infinite, AI-generated content, only brands that feel genuinely human.
What opportunities do you plan to capitalize on, and what is your future vision?
My vision for the coming decade focuses on three key opportunities. First, I aim to build India’s most trusted career ecosystem - a space where learning, mentorship, community, and opportunity come together to create genuine upward mobility.
Second, I see responsible technology, especially AI, as a powerful enabler that can democratize career growth rather than diminish human potential.
Third, I want to create brands that outlast campaigns built on meaning, strong narratives, and craftsmanship. Alongside this, I remain committed to mentoring the next generation of marketers and founders, guiding them to build with integrity, creativity, and long-term purpose.
Rahul Karthikeyan, Chief Marke-ting Officer, InterviewBit
Rahul Karthikeyan is the Chief Marketing Officer at InterviewBit, with a career spanning ad networks, digital leadership, and edtech brand building.
He specializes in creating trust-driven, product-first marketing strategies, leveraging data, AI, and storytelling to build lasting brands that transform learner journeys and drive meaningful impact.
Scaler’s alumni actively mentor, collaborate, recruit, and shape industry conversations, creating a vibrant, self-sustaining network. Third, we offer evergreen knowledge and opportunity through ongoing content, insights, and career pathways. Ultimately, I want Scaler to be remembered for shaping careers, not just delivering courses.
What are major potential disruptors or developments you foresee in marketing?
AI will transform how marketing is executed, but it will also elevate the value of human creativity, intuition, and cultural insight. I believe the next wave will be driven by human–AI creative co-pilots,hyper-relevant content ecosystems, and trust-led zero-party data relation-ships.
Discovery will shift toward voice and multimodal search, while creators will increasingly operate as influential micro-brands shaping consumer decisions. Radical transparency will move from a differentiator to a baseline expectation.
But the most profound disruptor will be authenticity in a world of infinite, AI-generated content, only brands that feel genuinely human.
What opportunities do you plan to capitalize on, and what is your future vision?
My vision for the coming decade focuses on three key opportunities. First, I aim to build India’s most trusted career ecosystem - a space where learning, mentorship, community, and opportunity come together to create genuine upward mobility.
Second, I see responsible technology, especially AI, as a powerful enabler that can democratize career growth rather than diminish human potential.
Third, I want to create brands that outlast campaigns built on meaning, strong narratives, and craftsmanship. Alongside this, I remain committed to mentoring the next generation of marketers and founders, guiding them to build with integrity, creativity, and long-term purpose.
Rahul Karthikeyan, Chief Marke-ting Officer, InterviewBit
Rahul Karthikeyan is the Chief Marketing Officer at InterviewBit, with a career spanning ad networks, digital leadership, and edtech brand building.
He specializes in creating trust-driven, product-first marketing strategies, leveraging data, AI, and storytelling to build lasting brands that transform learner journeys and drive meaningful impact.