Brands
Smartivity’s new ad urges parents to swap screen time for curiosity time
MUMBAI: Curiosity may have killed the cat, but screens are slowly smothering the kids. Smartivity, India’s leading Stem-based educational toy brand, has launched a poignant new commercial that spotlights a growing parenting dilemma: children losing their natural sense of wonder as screens take over their days and their questions.
Released in November 2025 and crafted by Motima Films, the ad captures the quiet heartbreak of curiosity fading. A child asks questions, a distracted parent half-answers, and the spark dims. With no one left to respond, children retreat to passive screen content: bright, noisy, and endlessly distracting, yet offering little to think about or explore.
Smartivity’s film flips the script by showing what happens when screens give way to screws, gears and hands-on play. As the child assembles a Smartivity Stem toy, curiosity returns: eyes widen, fingers move, gears turn and wonder comes rushing back in. The brand’s philosophy, “build. play. learn.”, shines through every frame.
The film nudges parents to rethink screen habits and choose experiences that encourage discovery, presence and purposeful play. Because, as the film gently reminds, curiosity grows when children feel heard, engaged and free to tinker their way into understanding the world.
Co-founder Ashwini said the film mirrors what many families witness daily.
“Kids’ curiosity is being diverted to screens. Smartivity was created to change that. Our toys help children explore, build and discover answers through hands-on play, the way curiosity is meant to grow.”
Marketing head Sumedha added, “Children now turn to screens for answers. Through this film, we want to inspire a shift from passive screen time to purposeful play. Smartivity’s toys give kids a hands-on way to stay curious.”
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.
