The International Gemological Institute (IGI), a Blackstone portfolio company, has announced the appointment of Pooja Sahgal as its Global Chief Marketing Officer. With over 35 years of experience in marketing, branding, and digital strategy, Sahgal brings a wealth of expertise to IGI, having led initiatives for some of the world’s most recognized consumer brands.

Prior to joining IGI, Sahgal served as Vice President & Head of Category Direction, Innovation, and Equity at Godrej Consumer Products, where she played a pivotal role in shaping brand strategies. Before that, she was the Chief Marketing Officer at Raymond Consumer Care, driving brand growth and innovation across various consumer segments.

Her illustrious career spans leadership positions at renowned organizations such as Kaya, L’Oréal India, and Kellogg UK. She has been instrumental in spearheading marketing efforts, leading product development, and managing profit and loss responsibilities. Her expertise in talent development further underscores her ability to build and lead high-performing teams.

Sahgal’s appointment at IGI signals a strategic move towards strengthening the institute’s global presence and reinforcing its commitment to excellence in gemological services. With her deep understanding of consumer behavior and market dynamics, she is poised to drive IGI’s brand evolution in an increasingly digital and competitive landscape.

Titan Company has reinforced its collaboration with Qoruz, a leading influencer marketing intelligence platform, to drive more effective and data-driven influencer campaigns. This strategic partnership is set to enhance Titan’s digital presence and engagement, leveraging Qoruz’s cutting-edge technology and expertise in the influencer marketing domain.

By integrating Qoruz’s platform into its marketing framework, Titan is streamlining influencer discovery, accessing insightful analytics, and executing high-impact marketing strategies. The AI-powered tools provided by Qoruz, including campaign management, competition analysis, and a comprehensive campaign library, empower Titan to optimize its influencer marketing efforts with greater precision and efficiency. This synergy enables Titan to make informed decisions, cultivate meaningful partnerships with influencers, and strengthen brand engagement across digital platforms.

Sheetal Mishra, Marketing Communications Manager at Titan Company, highlighted the significance of this collaboration, stating, “Qoruz has been a game-changer for us at Titan International Brands department, empowering our team with actionable insights and streamlined campaign management. It has elevated our influencer marketing efforts, allowing us to create meaningful connections and deliver impactful results in the ever-evolving digital landscape.”

Echoing this sentiment, Praanesh Bhuvaneswar, Co-Founder and CEO of Qoruz, emphasized the value of their partnership, saying, “Our relationship with Titan has grown over time, built on a shared vision of leveraging data and technology to drive impactful influencer marketing. This extended collaboration is a testament to the trust and value we bring to brands looking to scale their digital presence. We look forward to continuing our work with Titan and supporting their journey in shaping meaningful consumer connections.”

A new LinkedIn study highlights the growing pressure on India’s B2B marketers to justify their marketing budgets, with nearly half required to report their spending to C-suite executives every month. The ‘B2B ROI Impact’ research, which surveyed over 1,000 B2B marketers across the US, UK, France, and India, found that 84% of Indian B2B CMOs believe proving return on investment (ROI) has become more critical over the past two years.

Despite the growing importance of ROI measurement, B2B marketers face several challenges in demonstrating campaign effectiveness.

The study identifies three major barriers: lack of standardized industry benchmarks (42%), difficulty in attributing conversions to specific campaigns (39%), and integration issues between marketing and sales data platforms (39%). These challenges make it difficult for marketing teams to prove their contributions to business revenue.

Sachin Sharma, Director of LinkedIn Marketing Solutions, India, points out that 9 in 10 B2B marketers are already using AI tools to improve campaign performance and measure ROI more accurately. He emphasizes the need for marketers to shift their focus from volume-based metrics, such as Return on Ad Spend (RoAS) and Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), to value-driven indicators like Marketing Qualified Leads (MQLs) and Sales Qualified Leads (SQLs), which provide a clearer picture of campaign success.

Looking ahead, the research finds that understanding buyer intent will be the biggest challenge for B2B marketers in 2025. As buying cycles become longer, 53% of Indian B2B marketers are shifting towards a buyer group marketing strategy, focusing on Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) to better influence purchase decisions and drive conversions.

The role of AI in B2B marketing continues to expand, with 94% of marketers reporting improved ROI when using AI for campaign optimization. AI is primarily being leveraged for audience segmentation and targeting (65%), predictive analytics for lead scoring (61%), personalized content creation (57%), and real-time optimization of ad spend and creative content (55%). Marketers believe AI will be most valuable in measuring ad effectiveness (62%), content personalization (60%), and predictive analytics (53%) over the next five years.

To support B2B marketers in better tracking campaign performance, LinkedIn is enhancing its measurement capabilities with Conversions API (CAPI) and the Revenue Attribution Report (RAR). CAPI enables marketers to connect first-party data to LinkedIn, improving audience targeting and ROI measurement. Meanwhile, RAR allows businesses to link marketing campaigns to actual sales outcomes by measuring revenue influenced, return on ad spend, and pipeline impact.