MAM
Aston Villa secures record sponsorship deal with Macron
MUMBAI: Premier League club Aston Villa has inked a record new sponsorship deal with Macron, Italy‘s premier technical sportswear label and official kit manufacturer for the start of the 2012-13 season.
Although the financial details of the deal, which will see Aston Villa become Macron‘s flagship club in the Premier League, were not revealed, the partnership is expected to be in the region of ?20 million.
In addition to Macron supplying the club with official match kit and training apparel for players and management staff to May 2016, Macron will offer a full range of fashion wear – featuring over 100 product lines – including home and away replica kits (also providing a choice of two goalkeeper kits), training and travel apparel, accessories and extensive labels for females, children and infants.
The new home kit will be launched in mid-June at Villa Park and will go on sale immediately. A full range of apparel and accessories will be available from early July, distribution of which will be managed by the Club‘s merchandising department. The away kit will also be available in July.
Villa CEO Paul Faulkner, in announcing the new partnership, said: “Commercially, this is the best deal the club has ever secured with an official kit partner. Macron has established its credibility in the development of high-quality performance football apparel and the sales and distribution of licensed products and this new partnership will significantly benefit Aston Villa in the years ahead.”
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.
