Girish Hingorani: Building relevance for a legacy brand, season after season

Some marketing careers are defined by frequent reinvention across companies. Others stand out for the ability to continually reinvent a brand from within. Girish Hingorani’s journey at Blue Star belongs firmly to the latter.

As Hingorani celebrates his birthday, his career offers a compelling study in long-term brand stewardship. Over more than 25 years with Blue Star, he has worked across marketing, corporate communications, product management, e-commerce and new business creation, helping the company remain relevant as both the cooling category and the Indian consumer have evolved.

Currently Vice President – Marketing, Unitary Cooling Products Group & Corporate Communications at Blue Star Limited, Hingorani operates at the intersection of business strategy, consumer insight and reputation management. His mandate extends beyond creating campaigns. It involves translating Blue Star’s engineering heritage into a proposition that is contemporary, aspirational and meaningful to consumers.

That transition has been central to Blue Star’s consumer journey. Long recognised for its technical expertise and institutional presence, the company has steadily strengthened its standing as a modern consumer brand. Hingorani’s contribution has been to bridge these two worlds—retaining the credibility associated with Blue Star while giving it a sharper and more accessible consumer voice.

An important chapter in his career came in 2016, when he was entrusted with setting up Blue Star’s water purifier business as its Chief Marketing Officer. Building a new category required far more than advertising. It meant understanding consumer anxieties, shaping the product proposition, creating trust and establishing a distinct identity in a highly competitive market.

The assignment reflected a recurring quality in Hingorani’s approach: an ability to combine the discipline of an established organisation with the curiosity and agility needed to enter new areas.

The air-conditioning market itself has changed considerably during his tenure. Consumers today research extensively online, compare features and energy ratings, evaluate reviews and expect brands to remain available across multiple touchpoints. Smart products, energy efficiency and digital convenience are increasingly influencing purchase decisions alongside price and cooling performance.

Hingorani’s marketing approach has evolved with this consumer. E-commerce is no longer treated merely as a sales channel but as an important part of the entire purchase journey—from discovery and evaluation to conversion. At the same time, he continues to recognise the role of television in creating broad-based awareness and demand.

Blue Star’s 2026 summer strategy captured this balance. The company chose to stay away from IPL advertising and placed around half its media investment in digital platforms, while continuing to use television, news and YouTube to build reach. The decision demonstrated a willingness to look beyond high-visibility properties and allocate money according to the role each medium could play.

The company also continued to draw upon its Virat Kohli-led creative assets while investing in year-round performance marketing. Hingorani has spoken about using generative AI in performance marketing—an indication of how he is integrating emerging technology into practical business outcomes rather than treating it simply as an industry buzzword.

His emphasis on measurable marketing was recognised at the Laqshya Pitch Best CMO Awards 2026, where he received the CMO Data-Driven Marketing Award. The recognition underlined his ability to connect creativity with consumer data, media efficiency and commercial impact.

Yet, numbers represent only one part of his leadership. His parallel responsibility for corporate communications places him at the centre of how Blue Star speaks to employees, consumers, investors and other stakeholders. In an environment where corporate reputation can shift rapidly, maintaining clarity and consistency across audiences has become as important as building product preference.

Hingorani’s longevity at Blue Star is particularly noteworthy in an industry where senior marketing tenures are often brief. It has given him a deep understanding of the company’s culture and legacy, but his career has not been about preserving the past unchanged. Instead, it has been about deciding what must remain constant and what must evolve.