Brands
Mondelez moves veteran to crack Asia’s snack market
INGAPORE: Mondelez International has handed the keys to its south-east Asian kingdom to Abhiroop Chuckarbutty, a battle-hardened consumer goods veteran who spent more than two decades navigating the treacherous waters of emerging markets from Mumbai’s bustling bazaars to Dubai’s gleaming malls.
The 22-year industry stalwart, who orchestrated the messy separation of a $500m tea business from Unilever’s sprawling empire in 2024, will now steer the American snacking giant’s charge across a region where Oreos compete with local delicacies and Cadbury chocolate battles tropical heat.
Chuckarbutty’s appointment as president comes after a year running Mondelez’s African operations from Johannesburg, where he cut his teeth on the company’s complex multi-market dynamics. Before that corporate musical chairs routine, he spent two turbulent years as president of ekaterra’s Africa, Middle East and Turkey tea business, shepherding the venture through its acrimonious divorce from Unilever in 2022.
The executive’s résumé reads like a corporate fire-fighting courseware. At Unilever, where he spent 16 years climbing the ranks, Chuckarbutty wrestled with everything from sluggish west Asian markets to the herculean task of digitising India’s advertising landscape. He juggled profit-and-loss responsibility for a bewildering array of brands—from Lifebuoy soap bars to Kissan ketchup—across markets as diverse as Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates.
His new perch in Singapore puts him at the epicentre of Asia’s snacking revolution, where rising incomes and urbanisation are fuelling an insatiable appetite for packaged treats. The region’s young, mobile-savvy consumers present both opportunity and headache for western brands trying to crack local tastes whilst fending off nimble domestic rivals.
Chuckarbutty’s knack for “business turnarounds and accelerating scale businesses”—as his corporate biography modestly puts it—will be tested against south-east Asia’s fragmented markets, where regulatory tangles and supply-chain snarls can derail even the slickest marketing campaigns.
The appointment signals Mondelez’s intent to double down on a region that represents one of the fastest-growing snacking markets globally, even as trade tensions and economic uncertainty cloud the broader Asian outlook
Brands
Aptronix unveils ‘Big & Beyond’ campaign, opens largest store in Hyderabad
Naga Chaitanya, Sobhita front push as retailer expands premium Apple experience
HYDERABAD: Aptronix has rolled out its most ambitious brand push yet with the launch of the ‘Big & Beyond Aptronix’ campaign, alongside the opening of its largest retail store in India.
The campaign features actors Akkineni Naga Chaitanya and Sobhita Dhulipala as brand faces, signalling a sharper focus on aspirational, experience-led retail as the company scales its presence in the premium Apple ecosystem.
At the centre of the rollout is a new 8,000 sq. ft. flagship outlet at Sarath City Capital Mall, now the largest Aptronix store in the country and among the biggest Apple Premium Reseller formats in India. The space is designed to offer immersive product discovery, personalised guidance and integrated service support, positioning the store as more than just a point of sale.
The campaign itself leans into themes of scale, ambition and accessibility, aiming to connect with a younger, increasingly design-conscious generation of Apple users. By pairing celebrity appeal with in-store experience, Aptronix is looking to deepen emotional engagement while reinforcing its premium positioning.
A key pillar remains its ‘Limitless Aptronix Exchange’ programme, which offers customers simplified upgrade paths, transparent pricing and wider access to Apple devices. The initiative has been central to driving adoption by making high-end technology more approachable for a broader audience.
Premium Lifestyle and Fashion founder & owner Sutinder Singh said the new store reflects a long-held belief that Indian consumers should have access to the best Apple retail experience without compromise. He added that the campaign’s celebrity faces mirror the brand’s core values of elegance, ambition and confidence.
Aptronix CEO Meghna Singh said the ‘Big & Beyond’ theme reflects how the company operates, with a focus on building a best-in-class retail experience. She noted that the Hyderabad launch and the campaign together signal Aptronix’s intent to set new benchmarks in the category.
With this dual push of scale and storytelling, Aptronix is not just expanding its footprint but also redefining how premium tech retail is experienced in India.
