Marketing today is no longer measured only by creativity or campaign execution. It is increasingly expected to drive business growth, shape strategy, create customer value, build enduring brands and deliver measurable commercial outcomes.
The CII Marketing Leadership Awards have been created to recognise this broader and more strategic role of marketing. The Awards will provide a peer-led platform created by the marketing community, for the marketing community — where India’s marketers are recognised, celebrated and elevated by their own.
Past President, CII
Chairman & Managing Director, ITC Limited
Organisations participating in the first edition will be recognised as Founding Members — a distinction that acknowledges their role in shaping a new national benchmark for marketing excellence in India.
Position your organisation against some of India's leading marketing organisations and establish a credible benchmark for marketing performance.
Showcase how marketing has contributed to measurable outcomes such as revenue growth, market share, customer acquisition, retention and ROI.
Be recognised by an independent, practitioner-led jury comprising senior marketing and business leaders.
The Awards create a dedicated platform for B2B and industrial marketing — recognising marketing excellence across strategic accounts, industrial brands, customer value, solutions and ecosystem development.
Use the recognition to strengthen your organisation's positioning as a leader in marketing excellence, innovation and customer value.
Winning and highly commended organisations will have opportunities to contribute to CII's knowledge-sharing initiatives, including case studies, thought leadership, webinars and the CII Marketing Leadership Compendium.
Select the category that best represents your marketing initiative, business impact or sector leadership.
Build your submission around the business challenge, customer insight, strategy, execution and measurable outcomes.
Strong entries should:
Entries may be supported by:
Supporting materials are supplementary and do not replace the written entry.
All entries must be submitted through the online Awards portal within the submission window.
A curated publication featuring case studies and insights from winning and highly commended entries, distributed to CII members and made available digitally.
Co-authored with the Technical Partner, providing a state-of-marketing perspective across sectors, based on submissions and jury deliberations.
Webinars or roundtables featuring award winners sharing their marketing journeys with the broader CII community.
Short-form content (videos, articles) profiling winners for CII’s digital and social channels.
Beyond the ceremony, the awards will help create an industry platform for knowledge sharing and marketing excellence. The following are proposed for the inaugural edition:
Each entry fee entitles the participating organisation to submit one entry covering:
Yes. There is no minimum revenue threshold for entry. Entries are evaluated on the quality and impact of the marketing initiative relative to context, not absolute size. The jury is briefed to assess performance in context.
An initiative may be entered in one Sector/B2B category and one Marketing Impact / Special Recognition category under a single-entry fee. It cannot be entered in multiple Sector categories or multiple B2B sub-categories simultaneously.
Commercially sensitive data should be clearly marked in the entry. The jury will treat all entries as confidential. Percentage-based metrics are acceptable where absolute figures cannot be disclosed, provided a clear indication of base and context is given.
Any CMO or senior marketing leader may be nominated — by their organisation, by a peer, or by a CII chapter. A 400-word nomination statement is required. The Grand Jury makes the final selection based on the nomination and any publicly available supporting evidence. Peer-nominated CMOs will undergo reference checks and CII’s internal screening based on parameters such as organisation size, tenure and relevant experience. Shortlisted nominees will then be presented to the Grand Jury for final consideration.
Agencies may co-submit entries jointly with their client organisations, but the primary applicant must be the client organisation. The marketing initiative must have been implemented on behalf of and in partnership with the client.
The word limits are guidelines, not hard cutoffs. However, entries that substantially exceed the recommended word counts will be asked to revise. The intent is to ensure the jury’s time is well-used and that entries are focused and impactful.
Winners will be informed confidentially approximately four weeks before the Awards Ceremony. Finalists will be notified at the point of shortlisting. The public announcement will be made at the Awards Ceremony.
