Fire bullets before cannonballs: Shivam Puri’s playbook for marketers

Marketers must adapt quickly to change, test ideas before scaling them and measure outcomes rigorously, Shivam Puri, CEO, Cipla Health, said during his keynote address at the Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2026 unveiling (PMAR 2026).

Introducing his session as a perspective on how boards evaluate marketing, Puri told the audience he would focus on decisions that determine long-term relevance and professional longevity. “Let me use this session to give you a bird’s eye view of how the board looks at marketing,” he said.

Adapt, adopt and accept change

Puri began by emphasising adaptability. Drawing a comparison between dinosaurs and cockroaches, he said survival depends on the ability to adjust to changing conditions.

Referring to media shifts, he recalled that in 2020 digital overtook print and many believed it would settle down. He noted that digital has since grown further and now accounts for 60% of the business.

He urged marketers to personally experience emerging tools and platforms, stating that these tools could begin defining marketing within six to twelve months.

Fire bullets before cannonballs

The second decision Puri outlined was to test ideas before deploying large budgets.

“First, fire bullets and then cannonballs,” he said. He described bullets as precise, targeted pilots in smaller geographies or microcosms to test a thesis before committing significant resources.

He cited an example of a brand that spent Rs 35 crore in the first year and Rs 25 crore in the second year before reducing spends sharply in the third year, adding that premature large-scale spending can have consequences. 

According to Puri, marketers should test assumptions at a smaller scale and scale up only after validation.  

Measure before and after deployment

Puri stressed the importance of defining success metrics before launching campaigns. He said discussions in boardrooms include questions around the sales translation of marketing spends.

“You have to stand there and relentlessly answer that question,” he said. “Don't blame the person who's asking the question. He's doing it for the right reason.”

He advised marketers to be clear on the indices and metrics they expect to move before triggering a campaign and to measure the impact at the end of it. While encouraging imagination, he said it must be followed by correct interpretation of outcomes and the money being spent.

Decide how to approach new trends

Addressing emerging channels such as quick commerce and connected TV, Puri said marketers should decide whether they intend to lead, follow or consciously abstain.

For every new trend, he said, companies must be clear on their thesis and keep testing their assumptions regularly. “Keep testing our assumptions. Every month, every quarter,” he said, adding that pivoting is necessary in the current environment.

Flash versus effectiveness

Puri cautioned against being influenced by “flashy” media vehicles. While acknowledging that digital now accounts for 60% of the business, he said not all investments translate into outcomes.

He contrasted linear television and connected TV, stating that linear television can offer low cost per reach when communicating with large audiences, while connected TV can be effective when targeting specific cohorts. The decision, he said, depends on whether the objective is to “whisper to many” or “shout to a few.”

Preparing for the next five years

Concluding his address, Puri urged marketers to project trends forward rather than focus only on the immediate term. He said people often overestimate the short term and underestimate the long term.

By extrapolating recent trends over the next five years, he said marketers may be surprised at how the landscape could look and should prepare for that future.