MAM
Virat Tandon roped in as Mullen Lintas CEO
MUMBAI: Creative agency Mullen Lintas, which will officially launch on 1 August, 2015 has appointed Virat Tandon as its CEO.
Tandon will return to India after a three year stint with Mullen Lowe Group in Singapore where he was global business director for the Unilever brands Lifebuoy and Fair & Lovely.
A part of the network for over a decade, Tandon first joined Lowe Lintas at its New Delhi office in 2004 and has undertaken numerous senior and leadership roles in the agency. A Unilever veteran of over 10 brands and 60+ countries, he has worked in India on clients including Maruti Suzuki, Nestle, Dominos, Sony Audio and Dabur among others.
Prior to joining Lowe Lintas, he worked with WPP agencies Rediffusion, Grey and Contract.
Tandon said, “Mullen Lintas is born ahead of the curve and intends to remain a mash-up of the enduring and the emerging. Our founding team has the pedigree and the class of massive brand-successes under their belt. Big agencies are today, dealing with the new marketing landscape and adapting their offerings to it. Our advantage is that Mullen Lintas has no such baggage and that allows us to leap-frog this need to change and adapt. We understand that a great brand needs a great narrative that flows seamlessly through screens, experiences, shopping environments and conversations. We will equip ourselves to play a pivotal role for our brands.”
Also joining the Mullen Lintas leadership team is Shriram Iyer, who takes on the role of national creative director.
Iyer said, “A great ambition for the agency and a wonderful team to work with, I am excited about what we can create. Our approach to enriching our capabilities is what we call ‘core plus one’. While we continue to practice our core skill sets, we will commit ourselves to adding people who bring with them a +1 skill or area of expertise. We believe this is critical and makes us ‘present ready’.”
Currently ECD and creative head for the Delhi offices of Lowe Lintas, Iyer moves to Mumbai in this new role. He has been with the group since 1998 and has played various roles in the creative team at Lowe Lintas’ Mumbai and Delhi offices.
Headquartered in Mumbai, the new agency will have offices in New Delhi (NCR) and Bengaluru.
Mullen Lowe Lintas Group group CEO Joseph George said, “India has birthed several big brands over the last two decades. However, for a long time, the top agency brands have remained largely unchanged. Mullen Lintas is a product of the evolving marketing landscape, and with our “big agency” ambition, we intend to partner brands whose ambitions are driven by a passionate pursuit of leadership by presenting ourselves as a compelling challenger to the likes of Lowe Lintas, Ogilvy and JWT.”
Mullen Lintas chairman and CCO Amer Jaleel concluded, “Virat has been a great business partner to me in managing the global mandate on Lifebuoy, and Shriram has been a driving force behind what Lowe Lintas Delhi has achieved in the past few years. I thoroughly enjoy working with both of them and couldn’t have asked for better friends to the start the Mullen Lintas journey with.”
Brands
Kwality Wall’s reports standalone losses following strategic HUL demerger
Ice cream major faces Rs 64 crore Ebitda loss amid commodity inflation and muted Q3 sales
MUMBAI: Kwality Wall’s (India) Limited (KWIL) has released its first set of financial results as a standalone entity, revealing a challenging start to its independent journey. Following its successful demerger from Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) on 1st December 2025 and its subsequent listing on 16th February 2026, the company is navigating a transition period marked by structural changes and high input costs.
For the quarter ended 31st December 2025, the company reported revenue of Rs 222 crores. Despite the revenue base, the bottom line was impacted by several factors, resulting in an Ebitda loss of Rs 64.2 crores. When calculated on a Pre-IND AS 116 basis, the Ebitda loss stood at Rs 83.8 crores.
Organic Sales Growth (OSG) declined by 6.5 per cent year-on-year during the quarter. Volume growth, however, saw a marginal increase of 1.2 per cent. The company reported a gross margin of 41.5 per cent. Additionally, exceptional expenses amounting to Rs 94 crores were recorded, primarily linked to non-recurring costs during the transition phase.
Performance across portfolios and channels was mixed. Within the impulse portfolio, brands such as Magnum and Cornetto recorded mid-single digit volume growth, indicating steady demand in on-the-go consumption. However, the in-home portfolio, which includes take-home packs, experienced muted consumption. The company is planning a relaunch of this category with improved offerings ahead of the 2026 season.
Quick commerce (Q-Com) continued to emerge as a strong growth driver, delivering robust double-digit growth during the quarter. Meanwhile, the company also expanded its physical distribution network by increasing the number of company-owned cabinets across markets.
Margin pressure during the quarter was driven by a combination of one-off factors and broader cost inflation. Gross margins were impacted by around 600 basis points due to trade investments made for stock liquidation. Additionally, cocoa price inflation contributed to another 400 basis points of pressure on margins.
Deputy managing director Chitrank Goel attributed the muted performance partly to prolonged monsoons and transitional challenges linked to the GST framework. Operating expenses also increased as the company invested in establishing its standalone supply chain, operational systems and corporate infrastructure following the demerger.
Looking ahead, the management remains focused on a volume-driven growth strategy. To restore profitability, the company has initiated a cost productivity programme aimed at reducing non-consumer-facing costs. It is also working on building regional manufacturing networks to optimise logistics expenses and improve operational efficiency.
The commodity outlook for the near term remains mixed. Dairy prices are expected to remain firm due to tight supply conditions and rising fodder costs. Sugar prices may also move higher following increases in the Minimum Selling Price (MSP). While cocoa prices have moderated recently, currency depreciation has offset some of the potential cost relief for the company.
