MAM
Yogesh Saini joins WAVES Bazaar as head of marketing and business development
MUMBAI: Yogesh Saini has joined the World Audio Visual and Entertainment Summit (WAVES) Bazaar, under the National Film Development Corporation (nfdc), as head of marketing and business development, signalling a renewed push to position India’s creative industries on the global stage.
Based in Delhi, Saini will lead marketing, branding and international outreach for WAVES across films, OTT, gaming, animation and the wider AVGC ecosystem. His mandate includes building global partnerships with studios, platforms and broadcasters, scaling B2B markets and roadshows, and strengthening industry engagement through initiatives such as Creatosphere and WavesX.
Saini brings nearly two decades of experience across India’s media and entertainment landscape. Most recently, he was head of marketing at Civic Studios, where he worked on international and Indian film and OTT projects, blended pop culture with social impact storytelling, and integrated AI-led marketing solutions to scale reach and engagement.
Earlier, he headed marketing at The Viral Fever, steering campaigns for breakout shows such as Panchayat, Gullak, Tripling and Pitchers across multiple OTT platforms. Before that, Saini spent close to six years at Fox Star Studios, leading marketing for both Bollywood and Hollywood slates in India and overseas markets, working on franchises including Deadpool, Kung Fu Panda, X-Men and Ice Age.
His career also includes stints at Walt Disney India, Sony DADC and Moser Baer Entertainment, spanning theatrical releases, home entertainment, consumer products and international distribution.
At WAVES Bazaar, Saini is expected to play a central role in aligning government, industry and global stakeholders as India seeks to expand its creative economy footprint worldwide.
New city, new mandate, bigger canvas — and the race to take Indian storytelling global is firmly on.
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.
