New Delhi : One of India’s fastest growing D2C personal care brand, Pilgrim, announced the appointment of Konark Gaur as Chief Marketing Officer. Konark, ex-Business Head at Marico Limited, brings almost two decades of experience in effectively building successful businesses in India and global markets. His expertise in scaling up businesses from the ground up will bolster Pilgrim’s journey to be a strong player in the Personal Care space. As the Chief Marketing Officer, Konark will spearhead Marketing & Commercial Strategies to unlock the next phase of growth for the company.
With Pilgrim eyeing 3x the current run rate in 2023, Konark will closely lead the marketing efforts in introducing new categories in the beauty and personal care ranges. He will also be focusing on building a multidisciplinary team and plans to hire critical positions in the next 2 quarters.
Commenting on this development, Anurag Kedia, Co-Founder and CEO, Pilgrim, said, “We are thrilled to have Konark onboard, who’s expertise and proven success in building leading brands makes him the ideal partner to channel our business goals into a robust marketing strategy. 2023 will be a crucial year in our growth journey and with Konark at the helm of our consumer-insight driven marketing strategy, we are geared up to build a credible brand in the personal care industry.”
On his appointment, Konark Gaur, Chief Marketing Officer, Pilgrim said, “Pilgrim is committed to providing Beauty Secrets from around the world to Indian consumers in an accessible way. Anurag and Gagandeep have built a truly differentiated brand and a relevant idea that meets the unmet desire of millennials to experience global beauty offerings affordably, at their doorstep. Pilgrim is curating and innovating “native” global experiences and not merely importing global ingredients. This is what excites me the most about the company, the founders and their vision. At this crucial juncture, I aim to scale awareness and growth across multiple channels that can help fast-track Pilgrim’s journey to being the most preferred and loved brand in the beauty and personal care industry.”
Konark’s striding career spans over 18 years having built strategy and innovation for leading Indian and Global consumer brands for blue chip FMCG companies. Prior to increasing the food footprint of Marico as their Business Head, he worked with Sebamed as the Chief Marketing Officer and led the brand to achieve 3X growth in a short span of time. In his expansive career, he has also worked with Nestle & General Mills leading business strategy, Innovation and go-to-market execution. Additionally, he co-founded Jazz up Salon, a leading professional salon chain and hijinny.com, an internet start-up.
Pilgrim further aims to accelerate its momentum in this year from 2022. In 2022, the brand onboarded Kalki Koechlin as the brand ambassador for their France-based Vinotherapie range. Furthermore, they entered two new categories in the personal care range—lip care and body care and have introduced three new international ranges from Spain, Australia, and the Amazon Rain Forest. The brand also plans to go on a hiring spree for positions in the first half of the year, amidst major layoff announcements in the startup ecosystem.
About Pilgrim:
Founded in 2019, Pilgrim is an innovative, homegrown D2C Beauty and Personal Care brand which offers native beauty secrets from around the world, right at your doorstep. It brings together unique global cultural experiences, connecting with the wanderlust spirit of a modern millennial. Hence, the name – Pilgrim. The brand is devoted to “clean beauty”, is strictly against Animal Testing, and provides its customers 100% vegan products. All Pilgrim products are FDA Approved and are free from toxins like Parabens, Sulfates, and Mineral Oils, which are otherwise commonly used in beauty products. The brand has partnerships across the globe to drive R&D and innovation. Pilgrim has raised around INR 13 Crores in a Series-A funding round led by Fireside Ventures, Rukam Capital, and Angel Investors including founding teams from Boat, NoBroker, and Founder-CEO of Bewakoof.com.
