Brands
boAt high-flyer Siya Wadhawan steers her way to Boldfit
MUMBAI: Siya Wadhawan has jumped ship from audio giant boAt to take the helm as head of brand marketing at sportswear challenger Boldfit. The savvy brand builder, who played a blinder in scaling boAt from a modest Rs 800 crore operation to a whopping Rs 3,000 plus crore behemoth during a four-year stint, will now attempt to work her magic on India’s fastest-growing sportswear and sports equipment brand.
During her tenure at boAt, Wadhawan cut her teeth on product launches across the audio and smartwatch categories, masterminding partnerships with heavyweights like Netflix, cult.fit, and Dolby that helped propel the brand into the stratosphere.
Before making waves at boAt, the MICAn spent nearly two years at Bajaj Electricals, where she spearheaded the digital transformation of the kitchen appliance category during the Covid pandemic—no mean feat for a legacy brand facing unprecedented market disruption.
Her clever rebranding of Nirlep and category expansion efforts for both Bajaj and Morphy Richards in south India caught the eye of boAt’s top brass, who snapped her up in January 2021 as they embarked on their ambitious growth trajectory.
Boldfit, which has been quietly building a name for itself in the fitness equipment and sportswear space, appears to be gearing up for a major push with this strategic hire. The brand is rumoured to be plotting an aggressive expansion that would put it on collision course with established players like Decathlon and homegrown challenger Cult.Sport.
Wadhawan’s knack for “weaving stories, designing strategies and mining breakthrough ideas” will be put to the test as she attempts to navigate Boldfit through the crowded sportswear market, where brand positioning and community building are as crucial as the product itself.
With a track record of turning digital-native brands into cultural phenomena, all eyes will be on whether Wadhawan can help Boldfit muscle its way to the top of India’s fitness brand podium.
Brands
Hardik Jhaveri named senior director marketing at Colgate-Palmolive Asean hub
Former Hill’s Pet Nutrition general manager returns to the company to steer marketing for South Asean from Kuala Lumpur
KUALA LUMPUR:Â Hardik Jhaveri has been appointed senior director marketing for the South Asean hub at Colgate-Palmolive, marking a return to the consumer goods major after a three year stint with Hill’s Pet Nutrition. He will be based in Kuala Lumpur and will lead marketing strategy for the region.
Jhaveri joins the role after serving as general manager at Hill’s Pet Nutrition in Taipei, where he led a cross functional team and oversaw the business with full profit and loss responsibility. The role placed him at the helm of operations in Taiwan, managing growth in what he described as a start-up style environment within a global multinational.
Before that, Jhaveri spent over a decade with Colgate-Palmolive across several marketing and innovation roles in Asia. As associate director innovation for Apac excluding China, based in Hong Kong, he led new product development and launches across multiple markets.
His portfolio ranged from developing specialised oral care products such as a diabetes focused toothpaste for the Indian market to launching premium oral care experiences under the Colgate Total brand in Australia. Alongside innovation, he also worked on launch planning, brand strategy and communications for the company’s oral care portfolio.
Earlier in his Colgate-Palmolive journey, Jhaveri held roles including marketing manager innovation, senior brand manager and brand manager. His work spanned urban and rural markets in Mumbai and customer development responsibilities in the Greater Kolkata Area.
Prior to his long association with Colgate-Palmolive, Jhaveri worked as brand officer home care at Unilever, where he helped drive marketing initiatives for the Rin detergent brand, including nationwide relaunch and on ground activation campaigns.
He began his career in advertising with Bates David Enterprise, working on brands such as IDBI Bank, The Leela Hotels and The Times of India.
Jhaveri holds a post graduate programme in management from the Indian School of Business and has also completed a level 4 diploma in wine from the Wine & Spirit Education Trust.
Announcing the move, Jhaveri said he is excited to begin his new chapter at Colgate-Palmolive’s South Asean hub and thanked colleagues and mentors who supported his journey at Hill’s Pet Nutrition.
