Brands
Cleartrip appoints Shubham Khurana as the head of brand marketing
Mumbai: Cleartrip announced the appointment of Shubham Khurana as the brand head on Thursday. In his new role, he will be responsible for augmenting Cleartrip’s brand presence across the country and further expanding its footprint in the newer markets, along with enhancing the customer experience.
Talking about the appointment, Cleartrip chief marketing officer Kunal Dubey said, “At Cleartrip, we strongly back the notion of scaling a business that will not only disrupt the OTA space through innovations but also build a brand that is loved and trusted by millions. We have the ambition to build the brand with a differentiated positioning. Shubham joined the marketing team at Cleartrip at a very exciting time as we were getting ready to take the category by storm. Shubham joins us with a unique experience in consumer marketing, travel, and digital marketing and will definitely add value to the team in our journey ahead.”
Speaking on his appointment, Khurana said, “I am excited about this mandate as it brings me back to the industry that I’m extremely passionate about. Travel is one of the most inspiring categories with some of the most uninspiring communication as of today, which is possibly why there isn’t any distinctive brand from India in this space yet. There is a great opportunity to create a contemporary and exciting brand, breaking the clutter of the price and discount-led communication that dominates the industry. Cleartrip has been able to create a niche and a loyal base of customers over the years, and I’m looking to take the goodness of the platform to the world at large with a renewed and refreshing brand identity and communication as my first priority. I am excited about being a part of Cleartrip and look forward to contributing to its renewed growth and success.”
Khurana joins Cleartrip with over 12 years of experience at corporates like Facebook India, Unilever, and startups like Treebo Hotels, where he played an instrumental role in accelerating the growth strategies of the brands.
At Unilever, he built a deep consumer understanding and a strong business acumen, having handled their largest sales area followed by a stint leading their coffee brand, Bru. He joined Treebo in 2015 as the Brand Head, where he built the marketing infrastructure from scratch. At Facebook, he managed India’s largest FMCG advertisers like HUL, Nestle, Mondelez, etc.
He also conceptualised and built Facebook India’s strategy for tier-two and tier-three towns. He has completed his engineering from IIT- Roorkee and his MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur. Amongst his many achievements, he has also been recognized at India’s top business forums with awards like ET Young Leader and IAMAI Digital Marketer of the Year.
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.
