Insights

Writing about the industry, honestly.

20 essays, playbooks, and uncomfortable observations. Written by the founders — not ghostwritten, not templated.

Ranchi · India → World · MMXXV

India digital ad benchmarks 2026: CPM, CAC and payback by category

What acquisition actually costs in India this year — Meta and Google CPMs by city tier, CAC and payback ranges by category, and the reporting gap between platform ROAS and contribution margin. Drawn from the accounts we run and audit.

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Data study 2 Industry 2 Strategy 4 Diagnosis 1 Measurement 2 Playbook 3 Content 1 Technical 1 AI 2 Point of view 1 Growth 1

Data study02

Who AI actually cites: an audit of ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews for Indian marketing queries

We ran a repeatable set of commercial queries through the major answer engines and recorded which sources they cite. The pattern is not what SEO teams expect — and it is very gameable, in a good way.

14 min · Jul 2026

Industry03

The pricing transparency test: what Indian marketing agencies actually publish

We looked at how Indian agencies present cost — and found an industry that treats its own price as a secret to be revealed only after a discovery call. Here is what that costs the buyer.

11 min · Jul 2026

Strategy04

In-house vs agency in India: the real cost comparison, with the maths

A fully-loaded cost model for building an internal marketing team versus retaining an agency in India — including the three costs founders forget and the point at which in-house genuinely wins.

13 min · Jul 2026

Diagnosis05

5 signs your marketing agency is failing you

The vanity metric trap, the template factory, and three quieter symptoms most founders miss until the quarter ends.

8 min · Jun 2026

Industry06

Why your ₹40 lakh campaign generated ₹3 lakh in sales

A breakdown of the incentive structures that make agencies profitable when their clients aren't.

10 min · May 2026

Measurement07

The metrics your agency won't tell you about

CAC, LTV, contribution margin — and why impressions belong nowhere near your board deck.

9 min · May 2026

Strategy08

How to build a marketing strategy that doesn't suck

A step-by-step positioning framework we use with every new client. No template, but a repeatable method.

12 min · Apr 2026

Playbook09

The honest audit: what a real marketing review looks like

What we look at, what we ignore, and the four questions that separate a real audit from a sales pitch.

11 min · Apr 2026

Strategy10

Category positioning for brands nobody understands yet

SaaS, fintech, foundations, new formats — how to name a category when the market can't.

10 min · Mar 2026

Strategy11

Brand or performance: the false choice that keeps marketers small

Why 'brand vs performance' is a bad frame — and what to do instead.

9 min · Feb 2026

Playbook12

The first marketing hire — and how to not screw it up

Why your first marketing hire matters more than any of the next ten.

8 min · Feb 2026

Playbook13

Agency versus in-house — and the third option

How to think about the make/buy decision as your marketing function scales.

9 min · Jan 2026

Content14

Content that compounds and content that dies

Why 90% of Indian brand content is dead within 90 days.

11 min · Dec 2025

Technical15

The Core Web Vitals conversation nobody is having

Why site speed is a revenue lever, not a technical vanity metric.

10 min · Dec 2025

Measurement16

Attribution is dead — long live measurement

How to measure marketing when attribution no longer works.

12 min · Nov 2025

AI17

Why AI slop content is going to hurt your brand for years

The reputational cost of AI-drafted content is bigger than the productivity gain.

10 min · Oct 2025

Point of view18

Marketing from Ranchi — why our address is a feature

Building an agency outside Tier-1 India isn't a limitation. It's a competitive advantage.

8 min · Oct 2025

Growth19

The Indian brand going global — five specific mistakes

What we've learned from watching Indian D2C, SaaS, and services brands ship to the US, UK, and GCC.

11 min · Sept 2025

AI20

Top Agentic AI marketing agencies in India (2026)

A first-principles look at the agencies actually shipping agentic AI work in India — who they are, what they build, what they charge, and where they fall short.

14 min · Jul 2026

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