Logitech: Placing a Marketing Head to Drive Commercial Growth in India
1. The Challenge
Logitech's India business was on an ambitious growth trajectory. Reporting to Manoj, Country Head India, the newly defined Marketing Head India role sat at the heart of that growth plan — but it was not a conventional marketing mandate.
The business needed a leader who could operate with a strong commercial orientation, splitting focus roughly 60/40 between trade marketing and brand marketing, and who could work hand-in-hand with the sales organization to convert marketing investment into measurable revenue impact. Any candidate presented would need to be credible not only to the India leadership team, but to Logitech's broader regional leadership structure.
The core difficulty was profile scarcity: candidates with genuine trade-facing commercial experience are rare among marketing-titled leaders, and those with the right pedigree often carried compensation expectations that priced them out of the role's band.
2. Profile Needed
LS International worked closely with the MD to define a precise, commercially weighted profile:
12–17 years of experience
An FMCG background
Demonstrated commercial and sales exposure alongside marketing capability
Category-relevant experience from consumer durables or comparable brand-side businesses viewed positively
The ability to operate credibly across a matrixed structure
3. The Search Process
Given the specificity of the brief and the compensation sensitivities involved, LS International ran a disciplined, multi-stage process designed to filter for commercial substance rather than marketing polish alone:
A detailed intake with the MD to calibrate the commercial-to-marketing weighting and agree on non-negotiables on category background and seniority
Structured first-round interviews assessing commercial grounding, followed by a second interview stage to test strategic depth
A live case study exercise, requiring shortlisted candidates to present their thinking directly to Logitech's India and regional leadership
Compensation benchmarking throughout, against a defined budget ceiling that ruled out several otherwise strong candidates from Tier 1 FMCG backgrounds
Introduction of the new Regional Director into the final stages, ensuring sign-off from the reshaped regional structure before any offer was extended
4. The Outcome
Vikrant was appointed Marketing Head India. He joins Logitech from Haleon, bringing a commercially grounded marketing background that matched the 60/40 trade-to-brand weighting the role demanded.
His appointment reflected the precision of the brief: a candidate with credible FMCG marketing pedigree, genuine commercial fluency, and the profile needed to operate confidently in a newly restructured regional environment.
5. The Key Learnings
Commercial fluency is the differentiator, not marketing pedigree alone. The strongest-looking CVs on paper were often the weakest fits in practice. Screening explicitly for trade and commercial exposure — not just brand credentials — was what surfaced the right shortlist. Compensation banding needs to be tested early and often.
Organizational change requires search agility. The disbandment of the Emerging Markets region mid-search meant a new stakeholder — the Regional Director — had to be brought into the process at the final stage. Building flexibility into the interview and sign-off sequence ensured this didn't derail momentum.
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State 1: Logitech's India business needed a Marketing Head who could operate as much like a commercial leader as a marketer — someone with genuine FMCG pedigree, credibility across a newly restructured regional leadership, and the trade-facing discipline to convert marketing investment into measurable revenue growth toward Logitech India’s target.
State 2: Vikrant was appointed Marketing Head India, a leader with the commercial fluency and category credibility to deliver against the role's 60/40 trade-to-brand mandate.
Time Frame: 9 Weeks
