The Marketing Guy

Search is no longer just about ranking on Google. AI engines like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google’s AI Overviews are changing how people discover brands, compare products and make decisions. In this episode of The Marketing Guy , I break down the rise of GEO — Generative Engine Optimization — and why marketers now need to think beyond keywords and blue links. We’ll cover: (a) Why SEO is shifting fr...

Allbirds was once the ultimate Silicon Valley shoe: simple, comfortable, sustainable, and almost the anti-Nike in the most premium way possible. Then the market changed, as it always does. Sustainability became less ownable. Performance brands such as Hoka and On became stronger, and their margins came under pressure. The brand stretched beyond its original magic. And eventually, Allbirds went fro...

We spend 12 hours a day touching cold, unresponsive glass. In this Digital Desert, visual perfection is a commodity. If every brand has AI-perfect aesthetics, then no brand has an advantage. In Episode 27 of The Marketing Guy , Rachit Kapoor breaks the glass to reveal The Haptic Hook. This is the strategy used by the world's most elite brands, from Rolls-Royce and Mastercard to Teenage Enginee...

AI is no longer waiting for your click. We are entering a shift from touch to thought, where AI agents anticipate decisions, filter choices, and increasingly act on our behalf. In this episode of The Marketing Guy , we explore what happens as AI moves from assistant to decision-maker. From agentic AI systems to brain–computer interfaces (BCI) and humanoid robotics, the interface between humans and...

Marketing Dashboards look sturdy today, but they look as healthy as GLP-1s! They leave a feeling that "something is missing." There are more ADS on the internet today than at any time in history. 💵 AD spending is rising every year, with 🥏 creative production becoming almost zero dollars. But this may sound impressive unless it is actually the "AI AD Apocalypse!" Then there are AI agents and the...

Patagonia is a true marketing lesson that every brand, new or existing, should muster. It has won by choosing harder paths and sometimes at the cost of "growth," "convenience," and even "profit." In this episode of The Marketing Guy, tag with me to unpack the real story behind Patagonia. You’ll hear how its founder, Yvon Chouinard, almost accidentally built one of the...

Disclaimer: This episode is not about a fighting game. It is about discipline, mastery, and marketing strategy that every brand should closely watch. Using Street Fighter as the lens, this drop explores how competition is embedded in culture, why honesty magnetizes fan following, how characters evolve into archetypes, and what brands today misunderstand about longevity. Presenting The Street Fight...

Boredom is not laziness. (You read it right!) It is not a lack of ambition either. It's a human state that drives some of our strangest behaviours. One of them is "buying" things we haven't planned for. In this episode of The Marketing Guy, we will explore:(a) What boredom really is (b) Difference between the two types of boredom (c) How it is used in business and marketing(d) Wh...

From hot-rod culture and its garage-born rebellion, to the rise of Hot Wheels and the physics of play, this podcast explores how small sparks of imagination turn into global obsessions. This is genuinely a story about meaning, identity, nostalgia, adult collectors, cultural symbols, and the strange truth that some brands don’t just sell products, they spark behaviour. Mattel Hot Wheels didn’t grow...

Marketers love talking about creativity, but rarely about Creative Velocity. Creative Velocity is the speed at which great ideas actually turn into something real. In this episode of The Marketing Guy, I bring together two worlds that seem miles apart: Pixar’s storytelling magic and Formula 1’s obsession with precision and speed. It turns out, both operate on the same underlying engine: a repeatab...

Why do most brands struggle with their value proposition? Because they’re busy describing the product, instead of describing what the customer becomes. This episode of The Marketing Guy breaks that mindset wide open. From Apple’s “1000 songs in your pocket” to why even a simple chips or waffers brand can make you feel healthier, this episode's drop dives into how great marketing transforms ide...

In this episode of The Marketing Guy, explore the real story behind Web3: how it began, why it surged, why it collapsed, and why it might still influence nearly 10% of global GDP in the coming decade. We examine (a) the journey from Web1 to Web2 and then to Web3, (b) revisit how 2021 became the year of NFTs, meme coins, and overnight millionaires, (c) why brands like Reddit, Nike, and Starbucks ha...

What do a fried-chicken shoe, a rotting burger, and a gothic dance have in common? They all broke the "rules of marketing" and won big. In this episode of The Marketing Guy, I introduce you to three real stories that prove how weirdness, imperfection, and even a little absurdity can outperform strategy. The three stories are:🐔 Crocs × KFC: The chicken-scented shoe that sold out in minut...

Some marketing experiments end after a campaign. This one has been running for more than a century, and it is still teaching us everything about meaning, memory, and emotion. It began in a small pharmacy in 1886. A medicinal mix became a symbol. Along the way, it stopped just selling a product and won people's hearts. In this episode of The Marketing Guy, I share how a 139-year-old brand maste...

There was a time when marketing didn't run after clicks and performance. It truly created wonder.  In this week's episode, When Marketing Had Magic, I talk about what made Walt Disney, the Disney we know, and additionally bring to you a few great brands of all time. What we can learn from them, and why "AI is Folly!" Maybe now is the best day to feel something real again.  #TheMa...

AI isn't just changing creative tools, but it is also changing the way we use data in marketing. Most of us are familiar with anonymised data, but a new frontier is emerging, and that is synthetic data powered by AI. In this episode of The Marketing Guy, I break down: (a) What is synthetic data, actually, and what does it mean for marketing (b) How it compares to anonymised data (c) And why it...

Cookies (not the ones you eat) once powered a $600 billion ad industry, fuelling retargeting, endless tracking, and personalisation at scale. But Safari and Firefox already block them. And by 2025, Google Chrome (with 60% to 65% of global browser share) will phase them out completely. So what happens when the cookie deprecates? In this episode of the Sun Root Podcast, I look at the biggest shift i...

Every time we see the word FREE, something unusual happens! 🫨 It’s not like “70% off” or “Buy one, Get one.” Zero or 0 has a magic of its own. So much so, that we stand in "queues" waiting for a free cup of coffee or for that free tote 🛍️ bag! (I'm equally or more guilty of it 😬 )In this new short episode of Sun Root Digital, I bring this strange psychology of zero forward, and how...

🛒 Why do we buy more than we plan in stores? In this short episode, I break down the psychology behind retail shopping, from store layouts and shelf placement to subtle design tricks that guide what we pick up. Whether it’s the smell of fresh bread at the entrance or the placement of essentials at the back, every detail is designed to influence your buying decisions. Host: Rachit Kapoor #RetailPs...

Netflix used to be $7.99, now it's $24.99. But you are still paying for it! Why? Because psychology takes over logical thinking.(1) Tiny price hikes do not scare you. (2) Cancelling feels painful.(3) You don't want to miss the next Squid Games episode.(4) $7.99 per month feels cheap until you bundle it together per year. So, Netflix is not just a streaming business; it is much more than th...

We have all heard of the 4Ps of Marketing: Product, Price, Place, Promotion. Many believe they are outdated. But here’s the reality: the 4Ps are still the foundation. The difference? The way we apply them today looks completely different.(a) Product is about solving problems, not just creating things(b) Price is about perceived value, not discounts(c) Place is digital ecosystems, not shelves(d) Pr...

The easiest way to stand out in marketing? Be the one that breaks the pattern. That’s the Isolation Effect (or Von Restorff Effect): a simple psychology principle that explains why we remember the “odd one out.”And no brand shows this better than Oatly. While dairy ads normally showed green fields and cows 🐮, they scribbled “Wow, no cow.”.So the question is:💡The science behind the Isolation Effe...

Ever walked past a shelf "full of products" and you kept going until the moment you saw “Only 2 left,” 🔔 and something made you stop 💡?Suddenly, that product wasn’t just an item; it was the "last chance."It is the reason why hashtag Nike’s limited drops 👟 cause overnight queues, why hashtag Starbucks’ 🥤 seasonal drinks feel like a festival. In this mini episode of Sun Root...

#ProductMarketers shape hashtag#habits, not just messaging, personas, and GTM strategy. In this episode of Sun Root, I'm attempting to address how "Product Marketers" can ensure to address those habits. You see, it's complicated to make hashtag#users switch from a product that they have been using for years. But if there is a thoughtful construct, a mental model, then wild things...

SEO, as we know it, is not dead (of course). But it’s no longer the entire game. In 2025, search looks more like answers than links. And if your brand is not showing up inside those answers, you're 'literally' invisible. In this podcast, we'll explore:💬 AI Optimization (calling it AIO): what it is, why it matters, and how small adjustments to your product pages can shift you from...