Saswat Deb Barman

About · Bengaluru

The engineer who markets.

Mechanical engineer by degree, marketer by experience, designer by practice and a speaker at heart. For nine years I've taken big, messy creative ideas — festivals, launches, documentaries, communities — and broken them down into plans that actually ship.

I started in community at OnePlus, where a forum of fans became a music festival headlined by Katy Perry and Dua Lipa. That taught me the thing I still work by: build the community first, and the brand and the IP follow.

Since then I've run digital and innovation for a festival, founded and run a creative production network, launched festival IPs for BookMyShow and Gener8, built campus programmes for The Pokémon Company and Myntra, and now lead business at Alchemist Inc.

The engineer in me breaks problems into parts. The marketer in me makes sure people care about the result.

Journey.

  1. Present

    Alchemist Inc.

    Head of Business

    • Leads business, client strategy and creative production across real estate, hospitality, film and brand identity.
  2. From Aug 2024

    Spectal Management

    Senior Creative Strategist

    • Designed and ran Niantic India's (The Pokémon Company) college programme — 7 lakh+ students across 7+ campus festivals, including Mood Indigo (IIT Bombay) and Rendezvous (IIT Delhi).
    • Designed and executed Myntra's BTL campaign in Dehradun, Indore and four more markets, reaching 3 million+ people.
    • Built student-market solutions for Hero, The Pokémon Company and Myntra with a team of 10+.
  3. Sep 2023 – Jul 2024

    Gener8 Experiences

    Head of Marketing

    • Conceived Gener8's first IP and scaled it into four sub-IPs: Music, Arena, Collaborations and the Annual Experience.
    • Raised ₹50 lakh+ in sponsorships from Beam Suntory, Jim Beam, Jacob Steiner, Simba and more.
    • Sold out Gener8 with Nina Kraviz — 4,500 tickets, 5 million+ organic and 25 million+ media reach — while owning P&L across tickets, sponsorship and F&B.
  4. Jul 2023 – Feb 2024

    Bandland · BookMyShow

    Festival Project Manager

    • Ran India's biggest rock festival end to end: artists, production, partnerships, outreach and ticketing — a 12,000 sell-out.
    • Managed Deep Purple, Goo Goo Dolls, The War on Drugs, Amyl and the Sniffers, Parikrama and Skrat.
    • Directed the festival's identity, branded collateral and the Bandland Forever documentary.
  5. Jan – May 2023

    Coto

    Project Manager

    • Helped build a women-only social and commerce platform on Web3.
    • Shipped its first 10 NFT collections and its first airdrop to 5,600 community members.
  6. From Jan 2022

    HyperMesh Innovations LLP

    Founder & CEO

    • Built a creative talent network for brand and campaign production.
    • Worked with 50+ brands and organisations including Universal Music Group, OnePlus, Johnnie Walker, the Prime Minister's Office and Vespa.
    • Created the visual language for Badshah's album Retropanda and a 10,000-piece NFT project; 50+ campaigns and 200+ projects in all.
  7. Mar 2021 – Feb 2022

    Echoes of Earth · Swordfish

    Digital Marketing & Innovations Lead

    • Led Johnnie Walker's ReVIBE the Night: 80+ concerts across India and the launch of JW Red & Ginger in 800+ outlets.
    • Led content for India's first branded consumer drone show — 550 drones over Morjim beach, Goa.
    • Ran digital campaigns with 25 million+ impressions and 25,000+ tickets sold.
  8. Mar 2019 – Mar 2021

    OnePlus India

    Community Marketing Lead

    • Project lead for the OnePlus Music Festival: Katy Perry, Dua Lipa and seven Indian acts for 24,000+ people at DY Patil Stadium.
    • Built 'Road to OPMF' — 23 activations with five bands, in partnership with Hard Rock Cafe.
    • Grew a 4 million+ member community to a 9.5% engagement rate; ran the Student Ambassador Programme and OnePlus Domin8.

Selected work.

Body of work

The next decade: the global Indian.

Over the next ten years I want to build the global Indian — Indian stories, music, festivals and brands made for a world audience without losing where they come from. Everything on this site is a step towards that.

What I do, and what I use.

What I build for founders

  • Music festivals
  • Documentaries
  • Music videos
  • Brand IP strategy

Capabilities

  • Community building
  • Event & culture programming
  • Campaign planning
  • Sponsorships
  • Go-to-market
  • Project management
  • Web3 & NFT launches

Tools

  • Figma
  • Framer
  • Webflow
  • Claude Code
  • ElevenLabs

Have something big to build?