Shruti Bajpai is a marketing professional and has dealt with exciting brands and challenges in her career. She joined HBO in November 2000. Prior to this, she was Brand Marketing Manager at Nestle India Ltd. An Economics (Hons) graduate from St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai , the charming Shruti  went on to complete her  MBA degree from Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies. 

Shruti has been involved with HBO since its launch and is responsible for the overall management of HBO’s business in India. Her key responsibilities involve managing the commercials in all of South Asia, overseeing the distributor partnership and implementing a comprehensive communications strategy for the brand in the region.
She was in Bangalore recently to kickstart the seventh anniversary celebrations for the channel and in a brief chat with Yamini U, she shared her vision, plans for the future of the channel and how she has built up a successful career.


Tell me something about yourself – your career, and how has it been from marketing Nestle products to marketing a popular TV channel?

I  am a marketing professional and have dealt with exciting brands and challenges in my career. I have been lucky in that both my jobs as they have been ‘delicious’! Having said that, the competitive pressures and the frenetic pace at which the media industry is growing is mind blowing.

How has been your journey so far? What was the goal when the channel was started and how do you see its growth so far?

The past seven years have been a dream run… Steering the channel through its launch and consolidation phase with the objective of establishing a long standing relationship – with the viewers, and the affiliates.  It makes me proud to see that in a short span, we have managed to become one of the most popular English entertainment channels. HBO has been given the ‘Best English Movie channel’ award for three years in succession at the Indian Telly Awards.

Why only Hollywood movies, why not movies from film-making countries in Asia?

HBO is a Hollywood entertainment channel! We bring the best of Hollywood by premiering the top blockbuster movies on television. But, in addition to the blockbusters, we also feature a plethora of HBO original productions. In fact, in December 2006, HBO in association with BBC brought an Original special presentation titled –‘Tsunami- the Aftermath’, a two part mini series that examines the after effects of the Tsunami that hit South Asia on December 26, 2004.

In the past we have featured themes like “The Japanese Connection” where we showcased some of the best horror movies from Japan and “Masters of World Cinema” where we showcased works of European & Asian directors.