Aruna Jathar, a seasoned marketing strategist and retail transformation leader, brings over two decades of experience across iconic brands like Dell Technologies, Titan, airtel, and Ogilvy. Today, as Fractional CMO at Vir Tech Consulting, she partners with CXOs and founders to bridge brand thinking and business execution—across industries, growth stages, and platforms.
“Each stint was a crash course in consumer psychology. Airtel taught me scale, Titan taught me aspirational marketing, Dell was youth-tech energy. But TenderCuts? That was my MBA in agile, real-time brand building.”
As CMO at TenderCuts, Aruna led one of the most lauded full-funnel campaigns in the fresh meats category—balancing regional insights with digital-first thinking. The 360-degree initiative spanned TV, GEC, in-app, BTL, PR, and performance marketing. The campaign not only won awards but shifted perceptions in a trust-deficit category.
But after years of steering large ships, Aruna pivoted.
“After years steering corporate liners, I wanted to pilot both speedboats and spacecraft.”
That pivot led to Vir Tech Consulting—a platform where Aruna now helps established brands, legacy family run firms , scaling D2C brands and startups drive marketing excellence—without the full-time CMO overhead.
She draws a clear distinction between working with startups and legacy businesses. “Startups need scrappy, scalable marketing—duct tape meets dashboard. Larger firms need orchestration—think symphony, not solo.”
She adds that the key lies in three areas:
1. Guidance vs. Governance: Startups often need help figuring out how to market. Established players need help deciding when and how much.
2. Mindset: Startups chase ROAS. Legacy brands fear chaos. Both must stay strategic.
3. Lifecycle Thinking: “AI, automation, personalization—they’re not just for campaigns. They must serve the entire customer lifecycle.”
Aruna’s entrepreneurial stint with Eersha – Creations that Spark Envy deepened her empathy for founders. “Every customer mattered. Every review counted. It taught me branding from the inside out.”
As AI revolutionizes marketing, Aruna is both pragmatic and optimistic.
“CRM without AI will soon be like driving without GPS. AI predicts churn, personalizes at scale, and now even creates video ads. But it still needs the human touch to feel like marketing—not just math.”
To aspiring marketers, Aruna offers five truths:
“Be a storyteller and a scientist. Adapt constantly. Own the full funnel. Be bold enough to experiment—rigorous enough to iterate. Serve first—sell second.”
In a world chasing metrics and automation, Aruna Jathar stands out as a leader rooted in insight, empathy, and narrative precision. Her playbook is part logic, part intuition—and fully human.