MAM
WPP Media loses Rs 750 crore media account to Publics Groupe’s Starcom
MUMBAI: Starcom India has bagged itself a rather handsome prize: Walmart-owned Flipkart’s Rs 750 crore integrated media mandate, one of the plumpest account wins in Indian advertising this year.
The victory gives Publicis Groupe’s media arm control over the entire Flipkart empire—fashion platform Myntra, bargain bazaar Shopsy, travel site Cleartrip and fintech upstart Super.money. EssenceMediacom, part of WPP Media, has been shown the door.
Starcom will now juggle both traditional and digital media duties, crafting what the industry likes to call a “full-funnel strategy”—essentially making sure Flipkart’s ads pop up everywhere consumers look, shop and scroll.
The pitch was a proper scrap. Omnicom Media Group, WPP Media and Madison World all threw their hats in the ring, but Starcom emerged victorious after what insiders describe as a bruising multi-agency evaluation.
For Publicis Groupe, this is a serious coup in India’s cutthroat media market, particularly as big-spending advertisers hunt for partners with serious digital, data and commerce chops.
Flipkart, locked in an e-commerce death match with Amazon and Reliance Retail, remains one of India’s most prolific advertisers. It splashes cash across television, digital, social and emerging platforms—especially during festive shopping frenzies.
In advertising, as in e-commerce, fortune favours the fleet of foot. And right now, Starcom is sprinting.
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.
