MAM
Cannes Lions 2012: McCann takes home India’s first Gold
MUMBAI: McCann Erickson takes home India’s first gold at Cannes Lion 2012, holding high the trophy for its Western Union Money Transfer campaign.
The agency’s win after a long gap at Cannes comes in the Outdoor category.
McCann’s was the solo win in a category where India enjoyed 22 shortlisted entries.
McCann’s win was expected as it converted a static into an interactive medium, communicating images of Abraham Lincoln to Gandhi and Queen Elizabeth II on a billboard that represented the change from Dollar or Pound to Rupee and demonstrated the strength of Western Union in transferring the money of Indians working overseas to their folks in India.
The Outdoor category had two Grand Prix winners this year. Ogilvy Shanghai won for the Coke poster, created by 19-year-old artist Jonathan Mak. The campaign used the traditional media, showing the Coca-Cola logo as the bootle of drink passed on to a couple of hands.
The other Grand Prix victor was the Mercedes Benz campaign that used technology by showing the invisible car from Germany. LED tiles covered the car to make it appear invisible. The basic communication was to stress on the zero emission proposition of the car.
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.
