Session on Marketing and Branding by Mr. Kashyap Shakya

On 16 December 2025, MBA September intake students received a focused guest lecture at Embark College at the Strategic Marketing Communications module, in which Mr. Kashyap Shakya, the CEO (Co-founder) of Pycus Holdings, attended. The theme discussed in the session was that of, Branding and Marketing where students were provided with relevant and contemporary view of how businesses develop and position their brands and communicate them in the competitive market especially in the changing business environment in Nepal.

The subject was introduced by placing students in the notion that branding does not only dwell in images or advertisement. Instead, branding was introduced as the cumulative experience and feeling that individuals have toward a company, product, or service – which is created through all aspects of a product such as product quality and customer service, all the way to the consistency of the messages and the values evoked by a brand. Mr. Shakya emphasized the power of strong brands that bring clarity in the market: they assist customers to identify value, believe promises, and make their decisions more quickly in overcrowded categories. In the case of MBA students who are going to be leaders in various industries, this framing brought the idea of branding face to face with strategic thinking, growth (long-term) and organizational identity.

Basing on his wide breadth of experience in the industry, Mr. Shakya explained how successful branding needs customer understanding and rigorous discipline to succeed. He has highlighted the need to know the customer motivations and action what customers want, what they fear, what they compare and what they are influenced by at the time of choice. This focus was close to the learning content of this module, which is strategic communication: marketing is most effective when it is formulated on the actual consumer insights in lieu of assumptions, trends or imitation.

One of the strongest points of the lecture was the connection between brand strategy and its practical use. Mr. Shakya talked about how a brand must establish their positioning well- brands must understand what they are about, who they serve and what value they contribute that is unique. He stated that without a crisp positioning, marketing can be diffused: campaigns can be creative but produce no compelling recall, preference and loyalty. As the students were encouraged to see marketing communications as a strategic system, each message, channel, and customer touchpoint was to be used to strengthen the same core promise.

The other main lesson was the connection between brand consistency and brand flexibility. Mr. Shakya observed that consistency generates trust, whereas rigidity may make brands irrelevant. It is in a fast paced market where the consumer behaviour is evolving with technology, economic forces and the culture influences and brands need to constantly evolve in the way they communicate without losing the meaning of who they are. This stability and adaptation balance was mentioned as a key skill that marketing leaders should have, particularly when their customer demands are getting more refined.

Mr. Shakya further brought up during the session how campaign execution is important- how the strong brand ideas can be a strong market outcome only when the campaigns are planned with good objectives, proper targeting and with a realistic perception of the distribution and customer experience. The students received a practical perspective on how branding overlaps with larger business objectives, that is, sales performance, market expansion, product innovation, and customer retention.

The speaker also contributed to the guest lecture due to his background. Mr. Kashyap Shakya is a Co-founder and CEO in Pycus Holdings, where he uses his interest and skill in brand management and consumer behaviour to explore and create new market and product opportunities. He has 13 years as a Co-founder of Allied Food industries, which provided him with a good understanding of operations in the manufacturing business and the reality of creating a business structure and growing it. He has worked as a leader and implementer of innovative branding and marketing campaigns in the case of multinational and national brands like Carlsberg, Dabur Nepal and Nepal Life Insurance that has exposed students to the application of brand strategy in various fields and customer segments.

The session ended with an interactive discussion that saw students interact in questions that revolved around brand differentiation, creation of trust in the competitive categories and ensuring that relevancy is maintained in the vibrant markets. In general, the lecture was a welcome addition to the concept of classroom structures and marketing in practice- offering an important reminder of the fact that Embark College is dedicated to the concept of industry-based learning, and the MBA students are prepared to apply the lessons they learned in practice during their time at the college and through internships, projects, and professional practice.