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Ritvik DeshanliChief Marketing Officer

Personal correspondence

A familiar city can still be a new audience

Chief Marketing Officer India

I market cycling experiences by making the route, the company and the commitment understandable before somebody decides to join us.

The resident did not want to be photographed as a tourist in his own city. That was one of the questions raised in our 2023 exploratory conversations, and it stayed with me because our campaign images had made a visitor’s first encounter the default story. Twelve of the twenty people interviewed were residents and eight were visitors. The conversations did not establish a market forecast, but they gave us a reason to test an invitation that began with familiarity rather than arrival.

An invitation is useful when the person can recognise the experience they are choosing. I would rather lose a booking before the ride than win it through a description our guides must explain away at departure.

Ritvik Deshanli

Open to Board appointments · Advisory roles · Executive opportunities

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Marketing function
25 colleagues
Three leads across audience, partnership and campaign work
Annual function expense
₹5.3 crore
Includes ₹2.1 crore paid campaign spending
Visitor and audience career
29 years
Services support through cycling-experience marketing leadership

A record of service

2022-04 — present
Chief Marketing OfficerMelravi Cycle Journeys
2017-04 — 2022-03
Head of MarketingMelravi Cycle Journeys
2011-04 — 2017-03
Marketing ManagerMelravi Cycle Journeys
2004-04 — 2011-03
Partnerships CoordinatorDarselvi Visitor Services
1997-06 — 2004-03
Visitor-Services AssistantDarselvi Visitor Services
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A familiar city can still be a new audience

For years our campaign images showed visitors discovering Jaipur. A 2023 set of twenty exploratory interviews included twelve residents and eight visitors, and the resident conversations opened a different question: could someone join to see their own neighbourhood differently, without buying the identity of a tourist? We did not treat twenty conversations as a market-share forecast. We funded a defined resident programme and learned through the experience we could actually offer.

I am Ritvik Deshanli, chief marketing officer of Melravi Cycle Journeys. Our 146 colleagues provide guided cycling experiences and bicycle rentals, with ₹61 crore FY 2025–26 revenue. Three leads coordinate my 25-person marketing function. Meera retains enterprise authority and Iqbal owns operations. I shape the invitation and the audience strategy; qualified owners decide route conditions, group capacity and participation requirements.

My earlier work also includes a description I should not have approved. In 2019 we called six selected routes gentle even though only two were predominantly flat and four included mixed gradients. We replaced the blanket phrase with route-specific surface, duration and gradient descriptions, without claiming that descriptive copy could certify somebody’s fitness or accessibility needs. Later, a proposed sixty-person launch required six groups of ten under the operating plan rather than the four groups of fifteen assumed in the campaign. We changed the offer and timetable instead of asking guides to deliver the original creative arrangement. I want the customer’s choice and the operating owner’s judgement to meet before the invitation goes public. My executive role carries neither a statutory appointment nor personal equity. A potential first outside contribution would require further preparation and assessment, with twenty-two proposed annual days. I would bring experience of making an attractive experience specific enough for the person choosing it and the team delivering it.

Residents became a distinct programme question

Twenty exploratory interviews included twelve residents and eight visitors; the resulting two-neighbourhood pilot did not turn that small group into a population forecast.

Six routes needed more than one reassuring adjective

Two predominantly flat routes and four with mixed gradients received specific descriptions after the blanket gentle claim was withdrawn.

The launch followed the operating group limit

A proposed sixty-person event was reorganised as six groups of ten instead of four groups of fifteen, with timetable and delivery resources revised.

Marketing scope with an operating counterpart

Three leads coordinate 25 colleagues within ₹5.3 crore annual expense, including ₹2.1 crore paid campaigns; route and participant suitability remain separately owned.

Current focus

Experiences people can recognise before they choose to ride

Conversations I welcome

Marketing leadership and preparation for one considered outside appointment

The leadership record

Trusted with consequential decisions.

Formation

  • Bachelor of Arts in HistoryNervathi Arts College · 1997
Ritvik made the resident programme a question we could test rather than a market forecast inferred from a small set of conversations.
Meera TelsarkarFictional Chief Executive, Melravi Cycle Journeys
The full record ↗

Contact

Marketing leadership and preparation for one considered outside appointment

  • Board appointments
  • Advisory roles
  • Executive opportunities
Write to Ritvik Contact page