Ormax plots a new course with ‘WhatNext’ division

In a landscape where scale and agility often collide, brand marketers and agency leaders are increasingly looking for ways to unlock new growth levers and bring clarity to cluttered brand narratives. That’s the precise whitespace Ormax Consultants is eyeing with its latest move — the launch of Ormax WhatNext. This dedicated division will target MSMEs and promoter-led businesses that are at critical inflection points.

Ormax Consultants, which has expertise in consumer understanding and qualitative research, is repositioning itself as more than just an insight provider. With WhatNext, it is entering strategic advisory territory, where the stakes go beyond consumer insight and into the realms of category innovation, storytelling and brand reinvention. This shift aligns with what many agencies and brand leaders now require — nuanced, future-forward thinking that can navigate disruption without defaulting to generic playbooks.

Marketers in India are increasingly turning to brand consulting agencies to decode a market that’s as diverse as it is dynamic. With regional nuances, shifting consumer behaviours, and high digital clutter, these consultants offer the strategic clarity that internal teams may lack.

As independent entities, they bring an external, objective lens—grounded in data, cultural context, and trend analysis—to help brands define who they are, where they stand, and how they should evolve. Whether it’s crafting a distinct identity, planning a market entry, managing a crisis, or recalibrating post-growth, consultants provide the expertise and foresight required for every phase.

Importantly, they help brand leaders make sharper marketing investments—prioritising the right platforms, technologies, and storytelling formats to maximise return. As brands navigate rebranding, expansion, or repositioning, consultants act as sounding boards and growth architects, ensuring that every move aligns with long-term business objectives while also keeping pace with consumer expectations and competitive realities.

This is the space that Ormax WhatNext wants to entrench itself in. The brand and growth consulting division aims to work closely with businesses grappling with stagnation or preparing for scale. Whether it’s entering new markets, rebooting legacy brands, or differentiating in saturated categories, the division positions itself as a partner in navigating such turning points.

Vispy Doctor, chairman and managing director of Ormax Consultants stated that Ormax WhatNext came from a “much-needed gap” that the company identified in the Indian business ecosystem. “While giant firms across sectors have levers to sustain growth, the founders and owners of MSMEs sometimes struggle to innovate or arrest decline despite having a zeal. Our goal is to work closely with such promoters and appreciate the personal and instinctive nature of their businesses. We aim to bring in structure, strategy, and storytelling to complement that intuition — ensuring that their vision keeps pace with changing times,” he added.

Doctor will lead this division, which also includes a multi-disciplinary team of professionals across consumer behaviour, brand storytelling and category innovation. The collaborative model echoes a consultancy-meets-cofounder mindset — not entirely surprising, considering that both Ormax’s founders and their target clients are entrepreneurial in spirit.

A chance to course-correct or accelerate

For brand marketers, WhatNext could prove useful in decoding not just the “what” of consumer behaviour, but the “why” — and translating those motivations into brand architecture, innovation strategy, or repositioning ideas. For creative and media agencies working with such clients, the insights generated by WhatNext could offer a strategic springboard for briefs that need more business context than brand fluff.

The team has already begun working with a mix of businesses — from startups chasing breakthrough ideas to legacy brands in need of a refresh.

As Adnan Pocketwala, growth partner, Ormax WhatNext, puts it, “We have a ‘founder’s mindset’ ourselves, and it’s gone into creating Ormax WhatNext. We truly get someone who’s built a business with courage, conviction, and a lot of hard work. Our role is to step in as thought partners. With a few, it could only be about making tactical adjustments when things hit a snag, while with others it would be mapping out a bold new idea. ‘What Next?’ is a pivotal question that every founder inevitably faces at some point!”

This focus on context-specific strategy rather than formulaic consulting could appeal to the growing number of Indian MSMEs now facing scale dilemmas. For brands in hyper-growth mode, WhatNext can act as a partner in innovation, and for slowing brands, it may help identify fresh pivots or unearth overlooked strengths.

Adding depth to Ormax’s legacy

For a firm that’s historically been associated with qualitative research and media insights — and one that has contributed to brands like Fogg, Moov, Thums Up, Cadbury, Urban Company, and Titan — this move adds a layer of depth. Doctor’s own background, which includes launching Ormax Media and steering several successful ventures, adds credibility to the idea that this isn’t just a repackaging of research services but a genuine strategic expansion.

WhatNext also signals Ormax’s intent to move into advisory formats that demand market-making thinking — an increasingly valuable trait as media fragmentation, evolving consumer expectations, and regional diversity all make growth planning a less linear affair.

For the advertising and marketing ecosystem, the timing is apt. The rise of homegrown challenger brands, D2C players, and legacy firms looking to reinvent themselves has created a space where agile, insight-backed growth consulting is in demand. Unlike traditional strategy firms, Ormax WhatNext is likely to resonate more with founders who value storytelling and instinct, as much as frameworks and KPIs.

As agencies face pressure to deliver more than just campaigns — to influence upstream brand strategy or help clients find new relevance — having partners like WhatNext can enrich the conversation at the boardroom table.

Whether it evolves into a full-stack consulting force or remains a niche advisory for growth-stage firms, Ormax WhatNext is clearly built for those who aren’t satisfied with business as usual — and are asking that crucial, deceptively difficult question, ‘What next?’