Team Pumpkin Navigates AI Disruption in Marketing with Human-Centric Creative Approach

"AI has already disrupted marketing a lot," admits Swati Natani, co-founder and Chief Business Officer at Team Pumpkin, one of India's leading independent marketing agencies. With 300+ people across six global offices, the agency is at the forefront of navigating the AI revolution that's reshaping the marketing landscape. While AI tools are generating content and optimizing campaigns at unprecedented speed, Natani reveals a surprising truth: premium brands are increasingly demanding 100% human-created content, recognizing that audiences can instantly spot artificial work.

The dichotomy defines the new reality of marketing agencies: AI as an efficiency tool, not a creativity replacement. As Natani puts it, "Today possibly making 10 videos, tomorrow we'll be able to make thousand videos in the same time. But the kind of human intervention that is needed will possibly still remain the same."

From a girl who swore never to join business despite her family background, to building a 300-person agency serving giants like ITC, Nestle, and Taj Hotels, this is a story of finding creativity in constraints and humanity in automation.

The Unconventional Journey: From Business Family to Corporate Executive

Born and brought up in Patna to a business family, Natani's early relationship with entrepreneurship was defined by rejection. "In the growing up years one thing I was extremely sure of was not getting into business because it came with a lot of unpredictability," she recalls. "I was like really wanting something stable to come through in my life."

This quest for stability led her to NIFT Hyderabad, where she pursued fashion management studies—a specialized MBA focused on the fashion industry. Her campus placement landed her at Future Group, starting as a merchandiser. But fate had other plans.

The Accidental Career Pivot

Six months into her merchandising role, Future Group underwent restructuring. Someone recognized her analytical capabilities, and she was moved to the business intelligence department, reporting directly to the CEO of Pantaloons. This began a series of role transitions that seemed random at the time.

"I started helping him take care of a lot of personal projects—target achievements, margin reduction, and so forth," Natani explains. When the CEO moved to Big Bazaar, she followed. Then came another pivot: she became the operations head for Clark, a footwear brand.

The Origin: Team Pumpkin's Fruitful Beginning

The story behind Team Pumpkin's name reveals the entrepreneurial mindset—pragmatic yet playful. There are two versions: one for clients, one real.

The client-friendly version positions pumpkin as an extremely versatile fruit—used for decoration, cakes, beer, health foods—mirroring how the agency merges into client organizations to provide whatever they need.

The real story? "One day Ranjit and I really, really had to get our visiting cards done and we really needed a company and we definitely needed a dotcom," Natani confesses. "Very few dotcoms were available and one of us went like if Apple can be so big, just let's pick up a fruit name and get done with it."

Building the Agency: From Social Media to Full-Service Powerhouse

What started in 2012 as a social media agency has evolved into an integrated marketing powerhouse. The strategy was simple: listen to client needs and build capabilities accordingly.

"We kept on looking after what all clients needed from marketing perspective and we kept on adding it into our service vertical," Natani explains. Today, Team Pumpkin offers everything from strategy and branding to mobile app development and AI applications.

The In-House Content Engine

Recognizing early that graphic-based content was losing its appeal, Team Pumpkin made a strategic investment in production capabilities. "We have a huge, huge content engine in house where all our offices are equipped with studios and content creators," Natani shares.

This production capability—which includes creating reels, podcasts, videos, and product photo shoots—represents their answer to AI disruption. "At least till now cannot be driven by AI," Natani emphasizes. "That's the real human value offering that we are giving to clients."

The D2B2C Pro Initiative

One of Team Pumpkin's newer verticals addresses a critical market gap: helping brands scale. The D2B2C Pro team supports brands throughout their growth journey—from marketplace listing to revenue scaling and international expansion.

"Any support a brand needs for scaling up, Team Pumpkin will be able to provide you that," Natani states. This end-to-end approach has made them particularly valuable to both new D2C brands and established companies looking to accelerate growth.

The AI Reality: Efficiency Tool, Not Creativity Killer

The conversation about AI in marketing agencies often centers on job displacement, but Natani's perspective is more nuanced. "AI has already disrupted it a lot," she acknowledges, but the disruption looks different than expected.

Team Pumpkin discovered their teams were using AI far more than leadership had planned during an internal workshop. "AI is now everywhere, of course," Natani notes. The agency uses AI for content generation, video creation, photo shoots, and even ideation—getting target audience feedback on scripts.

The Premium Brand Paradox

Perhaps the most revealing insight is how premium brands are responding to AI. "Some of the really premium brands that we work with have specifically instructed us not to use AI at all," Natani reveals. "They just wanted every imagery to be human based, to be real in nature so that no artificialness comes to their content."

This trend reflects growing consumer fatigue with AI-generated content. "How many mails you get right now that you see and you look at the longer dashes and the bold paraphrases and you know that okay it's AI generated?" Natani asks. "People have started identifying AI work and people now know the difference."

The Pricing Question: Are Clients Paying Less for AI-Enhanced Work?

With AI dramatically reducing production time, the logical question is whether clients expect to pay less. Natani's answer is revealing.

"If we've sent a first quote and the client says that we are finding it way too high and then we go back to them saying that, okay, we'll reduce it. Let's say we'll reduce it by half, but we'll do everything AI. What do you think the client says?" Natani poses. "The answer is no. They don't want products done by AI."

The real value proposition has shifted from production efficiency to creative strategy and human touch. "If at all the clients have to pay a little more but get that human value, then compromise it by using AI in it," Natani explains.

Performance Marketing in the Age of AI Automation

One area expected to see significant AI disruption is performance marketing—the data-driven optimization of ad campaigns across platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Google. With companies like Meta developing AI-driven optimization platforms, the role of human performance marketers is evolving.

Natani acknowledges the shift but sees continued need for human expertise. "My brands are definitely getting that advantage [from AI], but so are million other brands," she notes. "It's a platform thing and therefore if every other brand is optimizing using AI, that means I'm still fighting with my brands for the same space."

The playing field might be level with AI tools, but winning requires human ingenuity. "I still have to do something additional that no other brands are doing using AI so that my ads get shown more to my more relevant target audience," Natani explains.

Cultural Adaptation: Learning AI at Breakneck Speed

Perhaps the most telling indicator of AI's impact is how Team Pumpkin's team is adapting. Natani, who recently completed a comprehensive AI course at ISB, finds herself constantly learning from her younger team members.

"The kids of today in my office—oh my god, every day they come up with a new tool, they learn it on the go because that's how the AI model is supposed to be," Natani says with admiration. "They come to me with newer use cases. They come to me with newer examples of how they have pulled off stuff."

The ISB Learning Experience

Natani's decision to pursue formal AI education at ISB reflects her commitment to leading through disruption. The nine-month course focused on transforming organizations into AI-friendly entities, particularly traditional companies facing significant change.

"How I understood was far more potential and impact of AI than the class tech," Natani reflects. "But the kids of today in my office... they're learning at a much faster pace than I am."

The Future Vision: Creativity Amplified, Not Replaced

Looking at the future of marketing agencies, Natani sees AI as an amplifier rather than a replacement. "All the manual hours are definitely going to be saved," she predicts. "The hours that we spend in making the animation, rendering the video, all that is going to be saved."

But the core human elements remain irreplaceable. "The imagination and the creativity and even linking it with some data insights is something that will continue to be human bound," Natani emphasizes.

The agency of tomorrow will produce dramatically more content but require similar levels of human creative intervention. "Today possibly making 10 videos, tomorrow we'll be able to make thousand videos in the same time," Natani illustrates. "But the kind of human intervention that is needed will possibly still remain the same."

The Entrepreneurial Wisdom: Showing Up Every Day

Natani's journey from avoiding business to building a 300-person agency offers valuable lessons for entrepreneurs. Her perspective on entrepreneurship has evolved significantly.

"If you asked me this question a couple of years back, my answer would have been: don't go into entrepreneurship until you are really ready to die and do everything," Natani admits. The early years were demanding—"I have worked from hospitals, holidays, mountains of Switzerland, everywhere."

Her advice to aspiring entrepreneurs reflects this matured perspective: "There'll be multiple moments you think why did you take it up? Job would have brought in so much of stability to you. Is it going somewhere or not? Are you just doing it without any purpose?"

"My advice really is to just you just have to do one thing: show up every single day and eventually you realize that this is the best life you were made for," Natani concludes.

Key Takeaways

Swati Natani's journey with Team Pumpkin offers crucial insights for navigating the AI disruption in marketing:

For Marketing Professionals: Focus on what AI can't do—strategic thinking, emotional storytelling, and creative refinement. The ability to enhance AI-generated content with human insight is becoming more valuable than ever.

For Agency Leaders: Build AI literacy across all levels, but emphasize human creativity as your premium offering. Invest in production capabilities that can't be easily automated.

For Brands: Recognize that while AI can increase efficiency, audiences still crave authentic human connection. Premium positioning often requires rejecting AI in favor of human-created content.

For Entrepreneurs: The entrepreneurial journey is exponential, not linear. The difficult early years of showing up consistently create the foundation for later exponential growth.

For Everyone Facing AI Disruption: Learn faster than your competition, but recognize that human creativity, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking remain irreplaceable. Use AI to amplify these human capabilities, not replace them.

As Team Pumpkin demonstrates through their evolution from social media specialists to integrated marketing powerhouse, the key to thriving in the AI era is balancing technological efficiency with human creativity. The agencies that succeed will be those that use AI to handle the repetitive while humans focus on the remarkable.

About the Guest

Swati Natani is the Co-founder and Chief Business Officer at Team Pumpkin, one of India's leading independent marketing agencies. With a diverse background spanning merchandising, analytics, operations, and business intelligence, Natani brings a unique perspective to building and scaling marketing organizations.

Under her leadership, Team Pumpkin has grown from a social media agency to a 300+ person integrated marketing powerhouse with offices across India and in Toronto. The agency serves some of India's biggest brands including ITC Foods (managing 26 of their food brands), Nestle, Taj Group of Hotels, and Securities.

Natani recently completed a comprehensive AI course at ISB, focusing on transforming traditional organizations into AI-friendly entities. She's particularly passionate about balancing AI efficiency with human creativity, ensuring that technological advancement amplifies rather than replaces human imagination.

Team Pumpkin represents the evolution of modern marketing agencies—combining technological capabilities with human creativity to deliver integrated marketing solutions. Their recent expansion into international markets and development of proprietary AI applications demonstrates their commitment to leading rather than following marketing's transformation.