Balaji Vaidyanathan is a seasoned marketing leader with over 17 years of insightful global experience in brand, advertising, digital, content and mainline. In his current role as Marketing Director, CEEMEA for Franklin Templeton based out of Dubai, Balaji is responsible for all strategic marketing initiatives for the CEEMEA region. He leads a team across multiple geographies, covering over 20 countries across Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa and focusing both on institutional and retail businesses. Prior to this role, Balaji was Deputy Head – Marketing for Franklin Templeton India and was responsible for leading all key brand initiatives and investor education programs. In his initial part of his career, he has also been associated in various capacities with the Aditya Birla Group and the Edelweiss Group. Balaji has been one of the early adopters of leveraging gamification, video content and storytelling in the mutual fund industry to promote investor education in the online space. His deep understanding of consumer marketing and customer lifecycle journeys have won him several awards in India and globally across creativity, content, innovation and effectiveness.