Brands
Century Ply transforms CNBC news studio into virus-free zone
NEW DELHI: To support the community of broadcast journalists and other content creators during the Covid2019 pandemic, Century Ply has transformed the CNBC news studio into a virus-free zone with its new product Virokill. The sustainable solution was developed using nanotechnology to terminate pathogens from surfaces of plywood and laminates.
The brand has now forged partnerships with India's top media brands like Republic Network, Times Now Network as well as Radio Mirchi, Red FM, Radio One, Big FM, and several others.
Century Plyboards ED Keshav Bhajanka commented, "The multi-media campaign Raho Befikar was to reach out to all the three key stakeholders – trade, influencers (architects/interior designers) and the end consumers. We were delighted when Lodestar UM suggested that Virokill could be further enhanced through innovative but apt contextualization to drive home the product efficacy.”
Lodestar UM SVP Anindya Rai added, "This is a media-first initiative. When we approached CNBC with this proposal, the contextualisation manifested into this path-breaking yet simple idea. CNBC readily came on board, and the rest is history,"
He continued, "We started using a virus-free news studio to develop content that allowed us to share the idea with the global audiences. Both long-and short-format content was created to tell the story and efficacy of Virokill. Long-format shows looked at the challenges of urban India in fighting the pandemic from infrastructure, real estate, home building perspective, and brought together town planners, interior designers along with Century Ply senior representatives to think, ideate and discuss newer and safer ways of urbanisation."
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.
