MAM
Havas Group India forays into Eastern India; collaborates with Kolkata-based agency QED
Mumbai: Paris-headquartered global advertising conglomerate Havas Group India has announced its foray into eastern India through a strategic tie-up between Havas Worldwide India and Kolkata-based digital marketing agency Quite Easily Done (QED).
The new entity, Havas QED, will partner with Havas Creative Group India, which has agencies, including Havas Worldwide India (creative), Havas CX (customer experience), Think Design (UI/UX), Conran Design Group Mumbai (design) and Shobiz (experiential). The agency will be led by QED founder & CEO Anisha Singh Motwani who will report to Havas Worldwide India (Creative) managing director Manas Lahiri. This collaboration aims to further drive the creative and digital excellence of Havas Creative Group India, the group stated.
Havas Group India has been strengthening and expanding its core products over the last three years through acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances. To add to this momentum, Havas Group India is now expanding its geographical footprint in India, with eastern India as the next stop to pursue potential opportunities.
Talking about the expansion, Havas Group India Group CEO Rana Barua stated, “Over the previous two years, we went from three to 10 companies through acquisitions, joint ventures, and strategic alliances, adding agencies such as Conran Design Group, Havas CX, Think Design, and Shobiz Havas under the creative umbrella. Media saw the addition of verticals including Havas Content, Havas Sports and Entertainment, Havas Market, and a strategic alliance with Tribes. This has resulted in tremendous growth and has propelled our reputation in the industry. Eastern India, without a doubt, offers unexplored commercial potential. This strategic alliance, I believe, is the first resolute step in the market and opens the door to the possibility of our fourth village in India, in the future.”
“We’ve been working with Anisha and the QED team for the past two years, and she’s one of the most promising entrepreneurs in India,” said Manas Lahiri. “This partnership is the best cultural fit for us, and I’m certain that our collaboration will help us add many new clients and write a new chapter in our growth journey,” he further added.
Founded in 2015, QED specialises in crafting captivating brand stories through content, design, creative communication, social media marketing strategies, SMS and email business communication, digital advertising, SEO, and paid search advertisements. The agency handles a wide range of clients including Nicco Park, The Park Hotels, Flurys, Heritage Dining, Indo-British Scholars Association, and many others. With over 15 years of experience in marketing, Motwani’s strength and forte lies in brand-building. She has been featured by Entrepreneurs of India in their #StartupStories feature in 2019, and in the Leading Women Entrepreneurs of India 2020 by Insights Success. Recognised as one of the most influential businesswomen of the year 2022 by Innovative Zone, she was also awarded the Woman Entrepreneur Award in 2022 by Great Companies.
QED CEO & founder Anisha Singh Motwani stated, “Our collaboration with Havas Worldwide India has been moving from strength to strength. This strategic alliance is an organic step towards further strengthening our partnership with the agency. I am confident that we will continue to deliver ground-breaking work together.”
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.
