This update on my original elective course for MBA students was first posted on LinkedIn on November 14, 2026. (c) Priya Narayanan, Associate Professor of Marketing, Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.
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“No firm can survive without marketing. Marketing is the most important function in a firm.” I was mildly surprised to hear these words from myself in a recent session. Naturally, students questioned it. I questioned myself as well. I conceded that it is probably just as important to have something to market!
Of course, finance, operations, HR, information systems, all of these become just as important as product and marketing. And yet, the importance of the marketing function in the organization is only growing, as communication channels multiply, consumer preferences diverge, and technology evolves rapidly. This made my MBA elective course ‘The CMO’s Playbook’ – running successfully for its sixth consecutive innings – even more meaningful this year.
As a course that combines case discussions, a multi-round team-against-team simulation, a guest speaker session, a student “CMO roundtable”, a capstone project of building a playbook for a real CMO, and a reflection note, The CMO’s Playbook has been exhilarating each year. Thanks to my staunchest supporter and academic associate for the course Dr. Anupriya, you made this possible!
The wealth of learning experiences filling the classroom was of two kinds: students’ experience of decision making and learning from experiences of 15 real CMOs. Yes, you read that right, we had 15 groups in a class of 62 and we prepared playbooks for 15 CMOs! By the time the course was completed, by the time we spent 30 hours together in the absence of phones, our truest electrical device – the brain! – went through an exercise that typically warrants two courses!
Manas Gupta visited our class and spent time discussing decision making in industries ranging from soaps to laptops and customers ranging from regional to gen Z. We learnt first hand how the CMO is not merely the Chief Creative Officer or the Chief Communications Officer, but the Chief Commercial Officer as well – a lesson that resonated well with what Harit Nagpal taught just a year ago!
The completion of the course also marked a different milestone: completion of writing my research-driven academic- cum practitioner-oriented book ‘The CMO’s Playbook: Marketing Strategy for Success’, expected to be published in 2027! Anything the book has of value will be what I learnt from hundreds of marketing researchers who generously publish their work, the amazing faculty members and classmates at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, and all the marketing professionals that I have had the privilege of interacting with.
