Vidya Kailasam Hangal steps up to director, category planning and activation at Mondelēz International

CHICAGO: Mondelēz International has elevated Vidya Kailasam Hangal to director, category planning and activation (head, customer marketing), handing her a wider mandate at a time when the FMCG major is doubling down on data-led growth and sharper in-market execution.

With close to two decades of experience across Mondelēz, Britannia and Coca-Cola, Hangal brings a rare blend of large P&L leadership, brand-building muscle and digital transformation expertise. She has managed businesses exceeding $350m, built enduring equity for marquee brands such as Milk Bikis, Brand Coke, Diet Coke, Choclairs and Halls, and led frontline sales teams of more than 100 people.

In her expanded role, Hangal will steer customer and shopper marketing across channels, including general trade, modern trade, e-commerce and away-from-home, overseeing channel programme design, trade architecture, trade spend management and demand planning. She also retains independent responsibility for revenue delivery across the away-from-home and government channels.

Previously, she led Mondelēz India’s organised trade and e-commerce business. Before that, she drove the company’s consumer data and digital transformation agenda, building owned media platforms, first-party data capabilities and martech stacks at scale.

The message from Mondelēz is clear. As consumption fragments and channels collide, execution at the shelf and on the screen matters more than ever. With Hangal at the helm of customer marketing, the company is betting on precision, pace and performance.