MAM
Anjali Madan named consumer experience lead for Southeast Asia at Mondelēz International
The marketing and digital leader, with 20 plus years of experience and nearly nine years at the snacking giant, takes her consumer experience agenda across the region
MUMBAI: From Mumbai to the whole of Southeast Asia, and not a moment too soon. Anjali Madan, also known as Zahra, has been named consumer experience lead, Southeast Asia, at Mondelēz International, a role that began in October 2026. She announced it with her trademark enthusiasm: “Excited to share that I’m starting a new chapter.”
Anjali is a senior marketing and digital leader with 20 plus years of experience shaping consumer experience and accelerating digital transformation. At Mondelēz International she leads the consumer experience agenda, driving enterprise-wide strategy across media, digital, data and commerce to strengthen brand competitiveness and fuel sustained growth. Her focus is on elevating marketing effectiveness, embedding data-led decision-making and scaling digital capabilities that future-proof the organisation. She is known for building strong partnerships across functions and markets, bringing together insight, creativity and technology to deliver meaningful consumer impact and measurable business value. For a snacks maker fighting for attention on shelves and screens alike, that is a useful blend.
Her new brief is a wide one. Looking ahead, Anjali says she is keen to work with incredible teams across the region, explore new opportunities and create meaningful consumer experiences across Southeast Asia. “Here’s to the next chapter,” she adds.
The ascent at Mondelēz has been steady. She has spent 8 years and 10 months with the company, starting in January 2018 as senior manager, consumer experience, based in Mumbai, where she drove consumer experiences for brands to unlock business opportunities, led digital excellence and data-driven marketing strategy, and delivered profitable and sustainable growth by improving marketing return on investment. In August 2022 she became director, consumer experience, for India. The Southeast Asia post, an on-site role, is the latest rung.
Her roots lie in the agency world, where she spent the best part of two decades. From January 2015 to December 2017 she was partner, strategy, at Mindshare, heading strategy for the personal care category of Unilever in India, addressing challenges to drive business outcomes and championing projects across media, consumer and market. Before that, from June 2013 to December 2014, she was general manager at Madison Media (Pinnacle), leading integrated channel communication for Mondelēz International and managing a team of 50 plus individuals. An earlier stint at Madison Media, from July 2011 to January 2012, saw her as business director, strategy, in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region. It is a neat loop: she once served Mondelēz from the agency side and now runs consumer experience from within.
The client-side years were equally varied. At Virgin Mobile India, in Delhi and Mumbai, she was media manager from June 2008 to March 2010, leading strategy and implementation of above-the-line budgets. At TVS Motor Company, in the Hosur area, she was manager, media, from June 2006 to June 2008, leading media to drive business value creation. Before that, at Lintas Media Group in Bangalore, she was media director from May 2005 to June 2006, creating and implementing strategic media recommendations to drive business growth for ITC Foods, with an emphasis on value realisation through creative thinking and sharper execution.
Her early career was built on planning. At Mindshare Fulcrum, in Mumbai and Bangalore, she was media planning manager from September 2002 to May 2005, developing annual brand strategies and plans for Unilever’s laundry and beverage categories and driving their implementation through media-led brand activation. She began at Grey Worldwide, Mediacom, in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, as senior planner from September 2000 to July 2002, building cross-category skills in media planning and implementation across various brands.
Few careers cover telecoms, two-wheelers, foods, personal care and snacking, across both agency and client. Anjali’s does, and the common thread is a knack for turning media and data into business growth. For Mondelēz, it is a bet on a leader who knows the brands, the consumers and the numbers. For Anjali, it is a bigger stage, and the region is about to find out what she can do with it.
