Brands
Bengaluru’s Fastrack Music Run attracts 8,000 footfalls
BENGALURU: Braving torrential rain, 8,000 people came to the Bengaluru leg of the Fastrack Music Run on Saturday, 19 August 2017. The event creators Fresh Events Global, The Music Run™, managed to rope in a r of sponsors – these included Titan Company Limited’s funky brand Fastrack as the title sponsor. Other sponsors were ACT Fibernet, Harman, Nokia, United Colours of Benetton, Pringles, Sofit, Pepsi Black, Budweiser Experiences, Radio Indigo, Clarks Exotica, Vh1, INOX and Himalayan Water.
The event promoters, Baseline Ventures, say that the Bengaluru event has been one of the best they’ve seen with the crowd really getting into The Music Run spirit. The event paid good dividend to the sponsors.
A Fastrack spokesperson said through a press release, “We are really bowled over with the response The Music Run by Fastrack has received this year. A seamless blend of music and fitness, today’s event is truly what Fastrack stands for – energy, excitement and self-expression. We received huge waves of entries for Fastrack’s first of its kind service, #Bookmyshoulder where concert goers booked a shoulder to get a better view of the performances on stage. The adult ball pit and life size beer pong was just as much in demand, with the customised tunnel night club experience being the highlight on the soundtrack. The vibe today was infectious and we’re really thrilled to have delivered a full blown experience, like no other.”
Baseline Ventures co-founder Vishal Jaison said, “We’ve had such a positive response since announcing that The Music Run by Fastrack was coming back to Bengaluru for the second time that we always knew this was going to be a great event – and the crowd today was fantastic. It was amazing to see people of all abilities running, dancing and partying together and enjoying great music every step of the way. People in Bengaluru have shown that they love this format and it represents the new generation of fun running events, where crowd sourcing and social media are used to enable people to actively shape and share the experience they have. The response we’ve seen to The Music Run, both here and overseas, demonstrates that there is a real appetite for it and we look forward to bringing an even bigger and better The Music Run by Fastrack event back to Bengaluru next year.”
Launched in 2014 by Fresh Events Global, The Music Run™ is claimed to be the ultimate 5k running and music festival. The creators say that for music lovers, casual runners and fun seekers, The Music Run™ is more like a party than a run – it is the only 5km fun run that puts music at the heart. The Music Run™ empowers participants to control the soundtrack of the run by voting for their favourite songs in the build up to the Event. Voting is via a bespoke ‘Music Voting App’ and the songs with the most votes make the official run playlist
Bengaluru is one of over 15 cities across three continents that The Music Run™ will be introduced to in 2017, making it one of the fastest growing fun run events of its kind worldwide. The Music Run™ was first held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2014. The event creators claim that The Music Run™ has already been experienced by more than 185,000 participants across 22 events and 11 countries from Singapore to Shanghai. In 2017 The Music Run™ has inaugural events in Europe, Africa & the Middle East and expansion plans across Australasia, North & South America.
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.
