MAM
AkzoNobel strengthens management team with two key appointments
Mumbai: In a bid to strengthen its management team, AkzoNobel India has appointed Neelima Kataria as country HR manager for the India sub-continent and Vandana Krishnia is named new marketing head for the company’s paints business.
Speaking on the change in leadership, AkzoNobel India managing director Rajiv Rajgopal said they need the leadership of high performers. “To this end, I am delighted to welcome Neelima and Vandana – two very strong leaders who enrich the organization with their sheer breadth of domain expertise, entrepreneurial passion to innovate, cross-sectoral experience and people-centric approach,” added Rajgopal.
As the new marketing head for AkzoNobel’s paint business in India, Krishnia will spearhead the strategising and execution of a long-term marketing roadmap aligned with the company’s profitable growth ambitions for India. Her key priorities will be to bolster the relationship between consumers and Dulux by strengthening the brand and shaping consumer-centric innovations.
She joins AkzoNobel after most recently serving as chief marketing and passenger experience officer at DIAL, GMR group. In her professional journey spanning 18 years, Krishnia has driven marketing management, consumer products, pricing strategy, consumer research for organisations including Hindustan Times and State Bank of India among others.
As country HR manager for AkzoNobel India, Kataria will work closely with the India leadership team and board of Akzo Nobel India towards crafting a meaningful employee experience that augments its business growth ambitions for India. “Among her key priorities will be to drive AkzoNobel’s HR strategic plan to attract the right talent, develop high-performance teams in a fast-evolving business landscape, helm people-centric policies, oversee rewards & recognitions, and embrace employee wellbeing, diversity, and inclusion to strengthen AkzoNobel as an employer of choice,” said the statement.
Kataria brings with her over two decades of HR expertise and best practices across geographies and industries. Before joining AkzoNobel, she was the head of HR at Apollo Tyres for Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. Previously, has worked in HR leadership and expertise roles at HT Medias, Fullerton Securities, Bharti Walmart, IBM Daksh and TNT Express.
MAM
VML India lands two finalist spots at Cairns Hatchlings 2026
The Mumbai agency is back in Australia with two teams, a UN brief and 24 hours to impress
MUMBAI: VML India is heading to Australia again. The Mumbai-based creative agency has secured two finalist spots at the Cairns Hatchlings 2026 competition, one in the Audio category and one in Design, making it the only Indian agency to have reached the finals in both editions of the contest since its launch in 2025.
Four people will make the trip. Senior copywriter Shilpi Dey and senior art director Raj Thakkar will compete in Audio. Art directors Shabbir and Shruti Negi will go head-to-head with the world’s best in Design. The finals take place at the Cairns Convention Centre from 13th May, culminating in an awards ceremony on 15th May.
The work that got them there is worth examining. For the Audio category, Dey and Thakkar tackled a brief for LIVE LIKE MMAD with a campaign called Inner Voice, Interrupted. Using spatial audio techniques, the campaign recreates the overwhelming self-doubt that descends after a long workday, physically panning negative thoughts left and right before cutting the noise entirely to reveal a confident inner voice. Strategically targeted at commuters via Spotify during evening rush hours, the campaign reframes the hours after work as an opportunity for personal growth and charitable action.
For the Design category, Shabbir and Negi worked on a brief for Canteen’s Bandanna Day, a campaign highlighting how cancer pushes teenagers out of their own defining moments. Using a pixelated design language to create stark contrast between a blurred world of isolation and a focused world of connection, the campaign, titled The Flipside of Cancer, shows teenagers fading into the background of birthdays, skateparks and school proms. As a Canteen bandanna appears, the blur flips and the teenager snaps back into sharp focus.
Kalpesh Patankar, group chief creative officer of VML India, made no attempt to disguise his satisfaction. “We are immensely proud to see our teams consistently excel on the Cairns Hatchlings platform since its inception,” he said. “They have masterfully tackled challenging briefs across diverse categories, demonstrating both layered storytelling and a unique creative approach. This exceptional teamwork is truly inspiring.”
Dey and Thakkar, returning to the finals after last year’s run, were candid about the demands of the audio medium. “It’s one of the most demanding mediums, where we only have a few seconds to capture a listener’s world with sound alone, so absolute clarity is essential,” they said. “The true measure of creative work is its ability to create positive change, and our audio submission was made to help those who need it most while encouraging people to silence the inner voices that hold them back.”
Shabbir and Negi, competing in Design for the first time, described the experience as “a completely different beast.” “We see it as an opportunity to showcase our expertise, raise the bar, and challenge ourselves in new ways, while also learning from creative minds from across the globe,” they said.
In Australia, the four finalists will face a live 24-hour brief from the United Nations before presenting in a live pitch session. Twenty-four hours, one brief, one shot. VML India has been here before. It knows exactly what is at stake.
