About the program
Welcome to IIMU Consumer Culture Lab’s Executive Program on Strategic Marketing through Cultural Intelligence (SMCI). In this one-of-its-kind program, a cultural intelligence lens is used to understand, define, and design marketing elements. This approach uncovers insights that can help your firm gain competitive advantage, by tailoring marketing strategy to the nuanced and complex cultural contexts of your markets. The program is positioned at the intersection of culture and marketing, offering a framework to develop effective strategies and identify opportunities in diverse markets.
The program takes a multidisciplinary approach to empower industry practitioners with a deeper understanding of not only managing multiculturalism but also developing great brands by utilizing cultural undercurrents. Thus, the program will provide insights into a powerful method for building stronger brands. Moreover, it will also offer different approaches for conducting cultural analyses to understand, uncover, and utilize cultural insights. The program offers a fine balance of academic rigor and business relevance through multiple pedagogical approaches to create a space for collaborative learning and networking.
Objectives
The program has four key objectives:
- Introducing participants to the concept of cultural intelligence in strategic marketing
- Equipping participants with the necessary analytical and decision-making skills to create culturally informed marketing strategies
- Familiarizing participants with relevant research methods that generate deep cultural insights, and
- Developing a comprehensive framework of using cultural intelligence in strategic decisions
Program duration:
This open program is designed for 3 days as a residential experience at IIM Udaipur. Participants must travel to Udaipur to attend the program in person. Being a residential program, we will provide single accommodation for participants in a nearby hotel.
Program content:
The program would cover the following broad topics:
- Situating cultural branding with other mainstream branding approaches
- Understanding cultural lenses to decode the Indian Market
- What is cultural branding (and what it is not)
- Crafting cultural brands
- Tools for cultural branding
- Developing a road-map for practising cultural branding
Pedagogy:
- A blend of experiential learning, case studies and participatory exercises.
- Sessions by International faculty/practitioners to share real-time applications of course concepts in the industry.
- Individual and Group assignments for hands-on practice of course concepts.
Venue and Accommodation
The program will take place at the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur. Participants will receive full board and air-conditioned single-room accommodation at a nearby hotel on a single-occupancy basis.
Program dates:
Start Date: Thursday, September 25, 2025
End Date: Saturday, September 27, 2025
Early Bird Discount (EBD) till:
Thursday, August 14, 2025
Last date for application:
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Last date for withdrawal:
Thursday, September 11, 2025
Program Fee
Rs. 75,000/- (+ applicable GST) per person for participants from India and its equivalent in US dollars for participants from other countries.
Early Bird Discount
Nominations received with payments on or before August 14, 2025 (Thursday) will be entitled to an early bird discount of 7%. Rs. 69,750/- (+ applicable GST).
Group Discount
Group discount can be availed for a group of 3 or more participants when nominations are received from the same organization.
IIMU offers additional benefits to encourage women participants across all its programs.
Note
- All enrolments are subject to review and approval by the program director. Kindly do not make your travel plans unless you receive the letter from IIMU.
- The program fee should be received by the Executive Education Office before the program commencement date. In case of cancellations, the fee will be refunded only if a request is received at least 15 days prior to the start of the program.
- If a nomination is not accepted, the fee will be refunded to the person/organization concerned.
PROGRAM FACULTY
Rajesh R Nanarpuzha
Program Director
Rajesh Nanarpuzha is an Associate Professor of Marketing and Dean (Programs) at the Indian Institute of Management Udaipur. He has completed his MBA from IIM Indore and his PhD from IIM Ahmedabad. His dissertation won the ‘Prof. Tirath Gupta Memorial award’ for the best thesis at IIM Ahmedabad. His academic research focuses on different aspects of branding and consumer behavior.
Prof. Nanarpuzha is the co-founder and current co-chair of the Consumer Culture Lab (https://cclab.iimu.ac.in) at IIM Udaipur. His research has been published in journals such as the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Advances in Consumer Research, and as proceedings of multiple international conferences. His teaching interests at IIM Udaipur span cultural branding and analysis, marketing management and qualitative research methods in Marketing. Prior to his academic career, Prof. Nanarpuzha has more than a decade of industry experience in the sales and marketing domains. He has worked as a brand manager with Dabur India and as a business consultant in the retail and consumer goods domains at Cognizant and TATA Consultancy Services. As part of this, he has worked with global customers across India, Europe and North America. He has been chosen as the ‘Business Consultant of the Year’ at Cognizant.
Ankur Kapoor
Program Faculty
Ankur Kapoor is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur, India (IIMU). He has completed his PhD in Marketing from IIM-Ahmedabad. He has also been a visiting doctoral fellow at Kellogg School of Management, at Northwestern University. He was awarded the “Industrial Finance Corporation of India (IFCI) Award for Best Thesis Proposal, 2016-2017” at IIM-Ahmedabad. Ankur’s research interests are at the intersection of branding and consumption with other socio-cultural domains of education, space, body, and gender. His research has been published in outlets such as Journal of Consumer Psychology, Journal of Business Research, Consumption Markets & Culture, Advances in Consumer Research, and proceedings of Consumer Culture Theory conferences.
He has taught courses in the MBA (including a course on Cultural Branding), PhD, and Executive Education programs at IIM Udaipur and IIM Ahmedabad. Before PhD, Ankur has worked for four years with Eli Lilly and Co. (India) Pvt. Ltd, in the roles of Sales, Market Research and Brand Management. He also holds an MBA from Indian Institute of Foreign Trade.
Julien Cayla
Program Faculty
Julien Cayla is an Associate Professor of Marketing at Nanyang Business School (Singapore). Professor Cayla received his PhD from the University of Colorado (Boulder, United States) where he majored in marketing and minored in cultural anthropology. His work has been published in outlets such as the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Marketing, Organization Studies and Sloan Management Review. His research on consumer experiences has been featured in a range of media outlets such The Atlantic, the BBC, the Straits Times and Channel News Asia. He is currently serving as Associate Editor of the Journal of Consumer Research.
Simon Roberts
Program Faculty
Simon Roberts is an anthropologist and founder of Stripe Partners, a strategy and innovation consultancy based in the UK, where he works on engagements with clients including Intel, Spotify, Google, Facebook, Repsol and Verizon. Prior to Stripe Partners, Simon was at ReD Associates in Copenhagen, before which he ran a R&D team for Intel Corporation’s Digital Health group in Dublin. Earlier in his career he completed a doctorate in anthropology on the satellite TV revolution in mid 1990s India. He was also ‘ethnographer in residence’ at iSociety at The Work Foundation, where he conducted influential research on everyday life and technology. During his career in industry Simon has played a leading role in the EPIC community of anthropologists working in the tech, design and innovation industries. He currently serves as Board President. His book, The Power of Not Thinking: How Our Bodies Learn and Why We Should Trust Them was published in December 2020 by Bonnier books. In India it is published by Harper Collins.
Testimonials
“What I enjoyed most about the course was the way in which complex concepts were made incredibly accessible and relevant…The discussions around real-world examples of cultural branding not only broadened my perspective but also allowed me to see the immediate impact of these concepts in everyday life. I particularly appreciated how the course encouraged us to challenge conventional thinking and explore the deeper cultural forces that influence brand perception.”
“Overall, the entire course content was very well curated and executed. I thoroughly enjoyed each class but my favourite would be the individual assignment where I had to write an article about how brands create “myths” and play around it to have that strong bond with their consumers…I would recommend every aspiring marketer and branding enthusiast to take up the course, it will significantly help you in your career.”
“The course covers how culture shapes our thinking and, more broadly, how it influences society. Throughout the course, we explored how to leverage various cultural anxieties and gaps to create impactful marketing and branding communications…I would highly recommend this course to anyone with an open mind who is eager to be part of a collaborative learning experience.”
“Attending the Cultural Branding course at IIM Udaipur was a truly transformative experience. The program was nothing short of excellent, offering a wealth of learning that I consider key takeaways.
The success of the course is undoubtedly a testament to the exceptional faculty, Prof. Rajesh Nanarpuzha and Prof. Ankur Kapoor. Their expertise and engaging teaching styles made complex concepts accessible and profoundly insightful. I left the program feeling enriched and equipped with a deeper understanding of cultural branding. It was an invaluable experience, and I highly recommend it.”
Sample Certificate
