MAM
Kiran Anthony, Mahesh Gharat step down as Ogilvy South CCOs
Mumbai: Ogilvy India (South) has announced changes in its creative leadership with chief creative officers (CCOs) Kiran Anthony and Mahesh Gharat having put in their papers and deciding to move on from the agency. Gharat will be moving into a full-time direction and Anthony will continue to lead Vi in a consultant’s role while he also pursues directing, said the agency in a statement.
The agency also announced its new creative leadership in Bengaluru, and across the South markets. Puneet Kapoor will join Ogilvy in March 2022 as Ogilvy India (South) chief creative officer, and will work with Ogilvy India’s chief creative officers and the president of Ogilvy India (South). Prior to this, Kapoor was with Lowe Bengaluru, where he was regional creative officer.
“Kiran Anthony and Mahesh Gharat have led some of the most memorable campaigns this industry has seen. They have won critical pitches, built terrific teams, and put Ogilvy on the world stage more than once,” said Ogilvy India chief creative officers Kainaz Karmakar, Harshad Rajadhyaksha and Sukesh Nayak about the creative duo. “Having contributed a great deal to Ogilvy, they now want to go after their dream of becoming film directors. This means we still get to keep them close, just in a different role.”
Kapoor’s advertising career spans 24 years across Lowe, Ogilvy, McCann, BBH and as a founder of Eleven Brandworks. His most celebrated recent work includes campaigns for Unacademy, Swiggy, Fastrack, Titan, Myntra, Udaan, Xiaomi, Redbus, Flipkart, Cleartrip, Britannia, ITC Foods and TVS.
“I salute and thank Mahesh Gharat and Kiran Anthony for their stellar contribution to Ogilvy for a very long time,” commented Ogilvy chairman global creative and executive chairman India Piyush Pandey. “It’s never easy to see your bright stars leave. However, when they step out to actualise their dreams, you can only cheerlead and wish them fulfilment in what they have chosen as their next journey and destination.”
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.
