Brands
Femina salutes women achievers
MUMBAI: Femina, a leading women’s brand in the country, has always realised and celebrated the astounding prowess of women from different walks of life.
Femina Power List North 2017 felicitated nine winners namely, the gorgeous actress Kriti Sanon who made a smashing debut with Heropanti followed by the blockbuster movie Dilwale alongside Shah Rukh Khan, Riddhima Kapoor Sahni, a successful fashion and jewellery designer, Bhavana Reddy, an acclaimed Kuchipudi dancer, Neeti Palta, one of the few English stand-up comediennes, Karuna Nundy, supreme court lawyer and champion of women’s rights who helped draft the Womanifesto, Sharmistha Mukherjee, a Kathak exponent and daughter of Pranab Mukherjee, Lakshmi Rana, one of the best ever faces to have walked the Indian ramp, Namrata Joshipura, India’s leading designers and Tania Sachdev, Arjuna Awardee Grand Master who currently holds a world ranking of 43. She also holds the record of being the youngest to win a Gold Medal at an International event, the British Chess Championship, 1993.
Femina editor Tanya Chaitanya said, “Femina’s association with powerful women forms the core of the brand. Being the most widely read women’s brand in the country, we feel it is essential to honor and celebrate the undying spirit of women from all walks of life. We look forward to more such initiatives and keep up with the essence of the brand.
Sanon said, “I would like to dedicate this award to my parents.”
Sahni decided to take the reins of her career and create her own identity. She said, “I launched my own jewellery brand exactly a year ago from today. Throughout the journey, my mom (Neetu Kapoor) has been my biggest inspiration and my husband, a guiding force.”
Rana said, “Recognition of women power is the first step to building a healthy progressive society.”
Sharmistha Mukherjee said, “I believe if a person is passionate and has conviction, they can achieve anything.”
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.
