Brands
MEC India wins at 2013 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards
MUMBAI: MEC India has bagged an award for the ‘Most Effective Location-based Service/Campaign’ at the recently concluded 2013 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards ceremony held on 28 November in London.
The agency received the award for one of its campaign designed for Colgate at Kumbh Mela. Centered around the Maha Kumbh Mela held in Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh, the campaign was aimed at connecting with audiences at the festival, that is one of the world’s largest religious gatherings witnessing over 80 million people in attendance this year.
Speaking on the occasion, Red Fuse Communications CEO Shubha George said, “We feel honoured to be recognised on a renowned global platform like the 2013 Effective Mobile Marketing Awards. Executing and implementing the campaign was a challenging task for the team, especially for a mammoth project of the scale of the Maha Kumbh Mela. The prime objective at the Maha Mela was to attract and engage consumers in a highly competitive environment, which inspired us to think beyond traditional methods. The award encourages us to push further boundaries in the future.”
Mobile phone was selected as the medium to connect with the large audiences at the Maha Kumbh Mela. “This was the very first time in India that a brand had used location-based voice communication to convey the desired message and generate direct response from the audience” said George.
A total of over 700,000 pilgrims visited a specially erected Colgate stall during this whole Maha Kumbh Mela promotion.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
