Nike ropes in Siddhant Narayan as Head of Marketing (India)

Career trajectories for each person take a distinct path, and may or may not be linear. For some, however, it can be defined by a single-minded pursuit of reaching the top and being involved with the best in the business.

For Siddhant Narayan, having worked at Nike for over seven years early in his career in multiple marketing roles and now returning to the sports industry giant as Head of Marketing (India), it would seem his career has come full circle.

Along the way, however, in addition to his first Nike stint, the award-winning and prolific marketer has also held various leadership marketing positions at Jio, Swedish watch brand Daniel Wellington, and global technology brand OnePlus. He has now rejoined Nike India with a robust industry experience spanning 15 years in the aforementioned roles.

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Awards and achievements for Siddhant Narayan

An ardent athlete from his early days who identifies deeply with Nike’s consumer base, he has previously worked with the sports marketing, product, and brand teams at the sports apparel giant. He has also stayed connected with sport as well as gaming throughout his other roles as well, such as via Daniel Wellington’s #OurMomentIsNow campaign from 2019 involving Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, and Ayushmann Khurrana, and via the Domin8 campaign by OnePlus which brought together traditional athletes KL Rahul, Smriti Mandhana, Yuzvendra Chahal, and popular gamers Scout, Dynamo, and GodNixon in another highly successful campaign.

Further, in an extension of his marketing leadership role, Siddhant was also previously part of the core team to launch the Reliance Jio brand from scratch in India.

As someone always inspired by sport and tech, Siddhant has aligned his career journey with these two streams and the lifestyle space over the years. Inspiring consumers to "Just Do It" and adopting sport as an X-factor in their lifestyle is something that he is well-versed with, given his previous Nike stint and since his previous role with OnePlus also involved inspiring consumers through the power of tech.

These experiences mean that he has a keen understanding of changing consumer trends, engaging with elite athletes, and the power of sport and communities, including the trust as well as personalized interactions involved, to help grow a sports and fitness-oriented lifestyle in India. Additionally, having shown great resilience by overcoming several injuries in the past to compete again in sport, Siddhant can also relate well with the needs of everyday athletes.

While this would already read like a storied list of achievements for most, the achievements and accolades hardly stop there for the new Nike India marketing head honcho though. In a further commemoration of his marketing prowess and as a testament to surpassing the challenges posed by the pandemic, he was also bestowed withhonoronour of being included in the list of the Top 50 Marketers and India’s Most Influential Marketing Leaders 2021 by BW Businessworld early last year.

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Siddhant Narayan’s career as a reflection of increasing career options in sport in India

For the longest time in India, sport was never really considered a suitable career option except as an athlete, and even that option took a while to be considered socially and commercially acceptable. While careers in sport off the field in India are still evolving, the situation has vastly changed over the past decade or so, with Siddhant Narayan’s career trajectory reflecting the changing times and positive developments in the industry.

For Siddhant Narayan himself, the new chapter at Nike heralds yet another opportunity where the marketing stalwart can continue promoting sport and "Just Do It."