How to merge Brand and Performance on a budget | Nikhil Kant (Uber, FlixBus, Coca Cola)

In this episode of ExperiMENTAL, Sundar Swaminathan sits down with Nikhil Kant (Uber, FlixBus, Even Health) to break down why modern marketing has lost its magic and how over-relying on performance marketing is silently killing long-term brand value.

You’ll learn:
✔ Why performance marketing is losing its creative edge
✔ How brand creates the only sustainable moat in saturated markets
✔ Tactical frameworks: Get-To-By, Think-Feel-Do, and Hero-Hub-Hygiene
✔ Why startups confuse product-market fit with growth loops
✔ Lessons from political marketing and hyper-local segmentation
✔ How brands like Liquid Death, MoCabara, and Adidas play the long game

Nikhil shares real-world stories from startups, unicorns, and political campaigns to show how the best marketers blend emotional connection with business outcomes. If you’re building a consumer startup or running growth at a scaling company, this episode will change how you think about brand.

🎧 ExperiMENTAL is hosted by Sundar Swaminathan, Head of Data Science at Bounce and former Uber leader. This show is your behind-the-scenes look at how top marketers and data scientists make smarter decisions.

🧠 Expect unfiltered conversations, mental models, and case studies that help you cut waste, build conviction, and grow your B2C business.

📬 Subscribe to the ExperiMENTAL newsletter for deep dives and frameworks: https://experimental.beehiiv.com/

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