Brands
Happy mcgarrybowen to handle BharatBenz’s creative and media mandate
MUMBAI: Happy mcgarrybowen has been selected by Daimler India Commercial Vehicles (DICV) as the agency on record for its BharatBenz brand, known for its range of modern trucks and buses. The appointment followed a multi-agency pitch held in Chennai.
Happy mcgarrybowen, the creative agency from the Dentsu Aegis Network, has been brought on board to manage the integrated mainline and digital communication mandate for BharatBenz trucks and buses, along with the media duties for the brand. The brand will be handled out of Happy mcgarrybowen’s Bangalore office.
The BharatBenz brand is tailored for the Indian market and its demanding customer requirements by Daimler AG, the world’s leading commercial vehicles manufacturer with a global reach. First unveiled in February 2011, it celebrated its market launch in September 2012. By end of 2017, more than 60,000 BharatBenz vehicles had already been handed over to customers – an unprecedented ramp-up in the Indian CV industry. BharatBenz trucks and buses are sold and serviced through a pan-Indian network of more than 130 touch-points which is also continuously being expanded beyond the tier-2 and tier-3 cities.
On the partnership, DICV vice president of marketing and sales Rajaram Krishnamurthy says, “We are happy to have Happy mcgarrybowen on board. We will be reaching out to more and more customers in the coming years, and we are counting on their expertise to deliver successful integrated traditional and digital campaigns for BharatBenz.”
Happy mcgarrybowen chief executive officer Kartik Iyer adds, “It’s been a year of automobile account wins for us at Happy mcgarrybowen. First 2 wheelers, then 4 wheelers and now 14 wheelers. It’s an honour to be chosen to work on a brand like BharatBenz. Their patience to get the right solution and their appreciation for quality is something we have already enjoyed in the short span of working together. We are extremely positive about this partnership and we look forward to growing their market share in the country.”
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.
