MAM
Sleepy Owl appoints Aseem Sood as VP of sales
Mumbai: Sleepy Owl, a Delhi-based D2C company in the innovative coffee space, has announced the appointment of Aseem Sood as vice president of sales. His appointment aligns with the brand’s plan of solidifying the core leadership team.
In this role, Sood will be responsible for leading the brand’s sales division with a focus on driving customer and business growth and increasing the company’s foothold across India. “He will also be responsible for setting up the demand creation and fulfillment eco-system along with building the team to drive and deliver the ambition for the coming phase of growth,” said the brand in a statement.
“Since inception, our vision has been to disrupt the at-home coffee industry in India, and give our patrons the best quality coffee in a convenient format and we are very excited to have Aseem join us in our growth journey,” stated Sleepy Owl Coffee co-founder Ajai Thandi. “Given his expertise in sales and a proven track record of breakthrough growth for a business across the offline channels for some of the most respected and popular global & Indian brands, I am confident that we will further strengthen our reach and help us in our vision of making India a country of coffee lovers.”
Sood brings with him over 15 years of diverse leadership experience across business and customer development, sales transformation, capability building, strategy formulation and implementation, and people leadership. He brings with him a deep understanding of the consumer goods segment of the Indian market.
An MBA in marketing from Xavier Institute of Management – Bhubaneswar, Sood previously headed Modern Trade for Mars Wrigley and also drove the strategic reinvention across import business and supply and supply chain in his tenure of eight years. He started his career with Cavinkare Pvt Ltd in 2005 and has also been associated with Marico Ltd, where he served as regional sales head.
“With the changing market dynamics and ever-evolving consumer needs, Sleepy Owl continues to innovate to define how India brews up to enjoy coffee as a product and a category and I am excited to be a part of their vision of making India a coffee-loving nation,” said Aseem Sood on his new role. “I hope to further transform the business with a refreshed strategic vision that embodies multi-channel strategies. My vision for Sleepy Owl is to make the products more relevant and more accessible for consumers in India. The emphasis would be on driving a coherent demand and distribution strategy across channels/geographies where consumers and shoppers engage with our brand.”
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.
