Balancing Brand, Growth, and Experience
Kadambari Bendre
Marketing Head
Pharma Now
Balancing Brand, Growth, and Experience
Kadambari Bendre
Marketing Head
Pharma Now
Marketing within the pharmaceutical ecosystem operates under a very different set of expectations, where credibility often outweighs visibility, and every message carries regulatory, scientific, and ethical weight. Growth, in this space, is not driven by aggressive outreach alone but by how well trust is built, communicated, and sustained over time.
Kadambari Bendre has shaped her approach within this reality. Early roles in performance-led environments at Mi Airit and MiDigiWorld built a strong understanding of metrics and scale, while her work at OnestopNDT and 12Grids shifted that focus toward content depth, audience relevance, and long-term engagement. Those experiences now come together at Pharma Now, where marketing decisions are guided as much by credibility as by reach.
TradeFlock spoke with her to discuss her marketing approach, key challenges, and the road ahead.
When did you first realise you were naturally wired for marketing?
It hit me in college through failure.
I wanted to build something of my own. The research was done, and the gap was identified. But nothing moved. And one day I asked myself, what’s actually missing?
The idea was fine. I just wasn’t telling anyone about it.
That’s when it clicked: if your product has potential but your marketing is weak, you’re invisible. But if your marketing is exceptional, people will at least give you a shot. That asymmetry fascinated me and never stopped.
Today, whether I’m shaping editorial direction at Pharma Now or working on brand strategy at 12Grids, I’m still chasing that same question. Just at a very different scale.
What's your belief about people, brands, or communication that you'd defend in any room?
Always think about what your users are thinking. That’s it.
No matter what technology enters the picture, the person receiving your message is still a human being. Humans think before they act. My entire job lives in that space.
At Pharma Now, our audience quality directors, regulatory professionals, and plant heads don’t want to be entertained. They want to be understood. Everything we build starts from that question: what is this person actually thinking right now? Get that right, and the rest follows.
What would you say to a young woman in India right now, sitting in a mid-level marketing role, who is talented but hasn't yet been given the room to lead?
You don’t need to wait for the room. Lead from exactly where you are.
Leadership shows up in small things first: how you own a task and how you think beyond the brief. I’ve been the youngest in the room. The only woman in the room. And every time I had a choice between waiting to be invited into the conversation and contributing at a level that made the invitation irrelevant. I chose the second option. Every time.
In marketing, we say: the product comes second; market yourself first. Show that you want it so badly that not giving you the room would be their loss. That’s the only pitch that always works.
You chose an entrepreneurial marketing path over a conventional one. What did it cost, and would you choose it again?
Every single time.
Safe lanes exist in marketing social media, performance ads, and influencer campaigns. But I chose to do everything deliberately. My thinking was simple: if a junior ever asks me how something works, I should never have to say I don’t know because I never did it. Safe space didn’t exist in my dictionary.
Strategy is where I truly want to live, because anyone can execute it. Strategy means getting inside what people are actually thinking before the market gets there.
Today, that looks like building Pharma Now into a genuine voice for pharma professionals globally, while leading brand and customer experience work at 12Grids across startups and enterprises. That range didn’t happen by accident. It happened because I refused to stay in one lane.
What's the campaign or strategy you were most confident about that completely humbled you? What did it teach you that no textbook would have?
The “Know the Process” campaign. Complete failure entirely on me.
I was excited during the shoot, convinced our audience would love it. When we launched, almost no one watched. That broke my confidence for a while.
The honest answer was: I had been marketing something they already knew. Nothing new. No extra edge.
The lesson I carry into every brief now: if people want a mango, you cannot hand them an apple. And if you give them something they already have, show them something about it they’ve never seen before. No textbook teaches you that. You only learn it by watching something you believed in quietly fail.
