Balaji Vaidyanathan

Balaaji Vaidyanathan is a passionate marketer with over two decades of experience turning ideas into impactful, result-driven marketing strategies. Based in Dubai since 2019, he leads marketing for Franklin Templeton for the CEEMEA region and is responsible for marketing strategy, planning and execution.

Balaaji has been one of the early adopters of leveraging gamification, content marketing and storytelling in the mutual fund industry to promote investor and adviser education in the online space. His deep understanding of consumer marketing and customer life-cycle journeys have won him dozens of awards globally across creativity, content, innovation and effectiveness.

Prior to this, Balaaji was Deputy Head - Marketing for Franklin Templeton India based out of Mumbai, managing multi-million-dollar budgets and leading brand, advertising, consumer marketing, events and adviser engagement. In the early part of his career, he was associated with the Edelweiss Group, Lotus Mutual Fund and the Aditya Birla Group, all based in India.

A Kellogg Executive Scholar and alum of Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management Chief Marketing Officer Program, Balaaji is also a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing, UK. and holds an M.B.A. from the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade (IIFT), New Delhi.