Asia-Pacific Power List 2022: Ravi Santhanam, HDFC Bank

Ravi Santhanam

Chief marketing officer; head of corporate communications; head of liability products and managed programs
HDFC Bank
India
Member since 2021

Returning to the list for the second year, Ravi Santhanam is CMO of HDFC Bank—India’s largest private sector bank. His role was expanded last year to include overseeing liability products and managed programmes. 

In the last 12 months, the key focus for Santhanam and his team has been promoting the bank’s social and environmental initiatives under its flagship programme, Parivartan. To mark World Environment Day, a national ad campaign was launched with four unique films, each focusing on a different cause with which HDFC Bank is associated to show how the future becomes better if we change things today. It's all part of the bank's commitment to deliver large-scale positive impact.

Other standout campaigns in recent months have included a non-intrusive, influencer-led festive campaign, 'Festive Treats 3.0', where the brand collaborated with 67 influencers across genres in the age group of 20-30 to garner over 80 million views.

Santhanam has also expanded the bank’s use of technology and analytics to deliver a better customer experience and make marketing more of a direct revenue contributor. He initiated the net promoter system (NPS) and journey analytics to measure dropoff and overall customer experience and satisfaction rates, and the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to deliver personalised campaigns. 

Sanathanam acknowledges the importance of DEI within and outside his remit as CMO for HDFC Bank. He says he ensures a mix of gender, ethnic and industry backgrounds are interviewed for any open position—but Campaign wasn’t provided with any concrete metrics on this.