Brands
This International Men’s day, The Man Company celebrates #GentlemanInYou
MUMBAI: Homegrown men’s grooming brand, The Man Company has rolled out the ‘Gentleman kise kehte hai’ campaign – an extension to their 2019 campaign, that celebrates the core idea of every individual realising their self-worth.
The campaign launched ahead of the International Men’s Day recognises that ‘real gentlemen’ struggle with possessiveness, insecurities, vulnerability, and stacks of self-doubt while yearning to show compassion and empathy for one’s inner self. Singer Sona Mohapatra has delivered the video voiceover while ‘Article 15’ fame writer, poet, and lyricist Gaurav Solanki penned down the content for the ‘Gentleman tumhi toh ho’ campaign executed by What Works.
“Men are often expected to hide their emotions or vulnerability and to behave in a certain way. It damages their relationship with themselves as well as with other people. We wanted to celebrate men who don’t care about stereotypes and defy this pressure, men who are in love with themselves in a healthy way, and how that makes them more compassionate and fun,” said Solanki.
What Works video agency and production house founder Imran Shamsi said, “We wanted to pay an ode to the gentleness in men. And, since the focus was on self-acceptance and self-love, ordinary men became the heroes of our film.”
Vibhav Ameta who directed the video said the narrative demanded simplicity, a free-flowing viewing experience, and visuals that connect emotionally and bring smiles. “Picturing men in their daily life through the scope of ‘self-love’ was tricky, not something we see in campaigns that often. We used mirrors to show a different perspective, a new reflection, another side of a gentleman,” he added.
The Man Company has released the video campaign on YouTube in nine different languages: English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Punjabi, Bengali, Marathi, Kannada, and Gujarati. It also has a section describing the video content in sign language.
“This International Men’s Day, as a men’s grooming brand, we are equipped and responsible for empowering today’s men so that they can feel the best version of themselves at any given point in life,” The Man Company founder Hitesh Dhingra said.
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.
