MMA Global India and GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, unveiled the Modern Marketing Reckoner 2025: The CMO’s Guide to Growth Hacking at the 14th edition of MMA IMPACT India, held on 7–8 May in Gurugram.
Now in its fifth edition, the Reckoner is a flagship publication designed to equip modern marketers with strategic foresight to navigate the complex, high-velocity world of modern business where disruption is constant and growth is no longer guaranteed.
This year’s edition signals a decisive evolution in the marketing function from brand guardianship to business acceleration. In today’s high-velocity, high-stakes environment, growth hacking is no longer a trend but a non-negotiable mandate. Harnessing insights and expertise of 50+ senior leaders, strategists, and digital trailblazers, the report delivers a bold blueprint for CMOs shaped by the seismic forces transforming marketing today: from Gen Z’s shifting loyalties and Generative AI’s creative disruption, to the velocity of quick commerce and the rise of premiumisation all within a landscape demanding speed, precision, and performance-driven impact.
The central theme of the 2025 edition is clear: Growth hacking is not about shortcuts. It’s about being sharper, faster, braver. It’s about leading with curiosity, embracing calculated risk, and building organizations that value agility as much as ambition.
Key themes explored in the report include:
- Gen Z’s disruption of brand engagement norms-loyalty, relevance, and values all redefined
- The emergence of quick commerce and new distribution models challenging traditional value chains
- The accelerating trend of premiumization as a lasting shift in consumer behaviour
- The transformation of brand purpose from campaign narrative to organizational philosophy
- The strategic need for sharp segmentation and precision targeting in a post-mass-marketing era
- The impact of Generative AI in redefining personalization, speed, and decision-making
- The growing expectation for CMOs to think like CFOs- leading with financial discipline, ROI focus, and frugality
Rooted in rich boardroom dialogues with MMA Global India’s leadership, the Reckoner captures the collective wisdom of a marketing community steering change not merely responding to it. It calls on leaders to prioritise action over analysis-paralysis, experimentation over assumption, and tangible outcomes over inertia.
This report also sets the stage for a broader industry reckoning on what modern marketing success truly looks like. With over 800 MMA member organisations worldwide and GroupM’s deep, cross-agency expertise, the insights reflect a panoramic view across industries, audiences, and emerging technologies.
Prasanth Kumar, MMA Global India Co-Chair and CEO- GroupM South Asia, said, “In a world where technology is disrupting faster than what businesses can adapt to, the marketing function today stands at a defining inflection point. Amidst an environment where consumer behaviour is constantly evolving and expectations growing sharper, this Reckoner reflects a growing consensus: that growth must be engineered, not expected. It calls for a new kind of leadership, one that balances creativity with accountability, experiments boldly, and always keeps business outcomes in focus. At GroupM and MMA Global India, we see this report as more than a publication, it is a leadership guide for CMOs, built for a new era where growth is not just a goal, but a shared responsibility across the boardroom.”
Moneka Khurana, Country Head and BOD, MMA Global India said, “Growth hacking is now the CMO’s core responsibility- it is not about shortcuts, but about bold action, rapid experimentation, and measurable impact. In today’s fast-changing market, real growth comes from curiosity, courage, and mastering the art of duality at every stage between diverse audiences and brand and performance at every stage. Shaped by the expertise of over 50 practitioners and thinkers across the MMA member ecosystem, a must consume collective offering tools, insights, and provocations CMOs need to lead with purpose and agility. Because in a world defined by change, the ultimate hack is how we choose to lead.”
