Member Interview with Sandeep Bhara

We are delighted to bring you a Member Interview with Sandeep Bhara, Head of Digital & Content Marketing

What’s your golden rule?

Give First, Take Second, Transform Always

Who has been your biggest influence?

My earliest mentor, Raj, encouraged me to take risks and constantly challenge oneself.  

What is your most hated business expression?

Let's take this offline 

What’s the smartest business idea you’ve ever had?

AI Agent vs Analytics Pivot

Instead of building another analytics dashboard that shows what happened, I conceived an AI agent that does things - auto-responds to social comments, scores leads, and captures revenue while you sleep. That shift from "here's your sentiment score" to "I captured $2,840 in revenue from comments while you slept".

Which leader do you admire most and why?

Elon Musk - In business, his approach to first-principles thinking is something we need to remind ourselves to continue doing. His example at X, when he needed to reduce cloud servers and his team said it would take 6 months, but he drove to the data center himself and cut the connections, shows how we can get held back by ourselves.

What is on your mind the most right now as a marketing leader?

The shift from marketing departments to marketing ecosystems powered by autonomous AI agents.

We're at an inflection point where traditional campaign cycles are becoming obsolete. I'm seeing AI agents that can identify leads, personalise content, and capture revenue 24/7 without human intervention. The question isn't "should we use AI?" but rather "how do we lead when the machine can execute better than humans?"

My focus is on three critical challenges:

- First, the talent transformation - we need marketers who can architect systems, not just create campaigns. The skillset is shifting from creative execution to strategic orchestration of AI capabilities.

- Second, the authenticity paradox - as AI becomes indistinguishable from human interaction, how do we maintain genuine brand connections? We're solving this by using AI to amplify human emotional intelligence, not replace it.

- Third, the speed of obsolescence - strategies that took months to develop can be outdated in weeks. We need frameworks that evolve as fast as the technology.

Why is being part of The Marketing Society important for your career?

At my level, it's about shaping marketing's future in the UAE, not climbing ladders.
I'm seeing how the region is leapfrogging traditional marketing evolution straight into AI-powered systems. The UAE market is uniquely positioned - ambitious digitisation goals, diverse demographics, and openness to innovation that doesn't exist elsewhere.

The Society connects me with senior marketers actually driving transformation here. While Silicon Valley debates ethics, Dubai is building. I need to understand local adoption barriers from peers at Etihad, Emirates NBD, and other regional giants to build systems that work for this market.

Marketing's future in the UAE won't mirror the West - it'll be something entirely new. The Society provides the platform to shape that regional vision collectively.
My success is measured by how quickly we can establish the UAE as the global benchmark for next-generation marketing. That's why this matters.

Why does marketing matter to you?

Marketing is the only discipline where psychology, technology, and business strategy violently collide - and I'm addicted to that chaos.

It matters because it's never just about selling. It's about understanding human behaviour at scale, then building systems that respond to those patterns. When I see AI agents identify purchase intent from subtle comment patterns, or watch content shift perceptions about what's possible in the desert, that's not marketing - it's applied behavioural science with measurable impact.

What truly excites me is pushing beyond screens into genuine immersion. I've developed Apple Vision Pro (spatial) experiences where viewers don't just watch content - they feel it. We timestamp emotional peaks, track when hearts race during key moments, and build narratives that adapt to physiological responses. When someone remembers not just what they saw but what they felt at exactly 2:47 into an experience, that's marketing transcending into memory creation.

Marketing matters because it's the bridge between what companies create and what humans actually need. In the UAE especially, where ambition meets execution, marketing determines which visions become reality.

Tell us something that’s not on your CV

I have built 2 fully functional digital products that can generate revenue