Brands
Mumbai City FC teams up with Cisco
NEW DELHI: Mumbai City FC has signed on global technology leader Cisco as its official network technology partner. Cisco will feature on the club's matchdays in the Indian Super League, and at the Islanders' training facility at the Nagoa Village Panchayat Football Ground.
During this three-year-long association, Cisco will support all aspects of the club's business through their networking solutions, and connect the first team to fans in Mumbai and across the country via Cisco Webex.
Cisco director of global sponsorships Brian Eaton said, "The pandemic is giving rise to a low-touch, digital economy, where even the future of sports must be reimagined with technology at its heart. This partnership represents an opportunity to leverage our technology to make a positive impact, not only on the business and operations of Mumbai City FC but on the local community as well. Over the past year, our solutions have helped numerous clubs around the world stay connected to each other, their fans and their local communities during a season unlike any other, and we are excited to work to forge new ground together in Mumbai."
Mumbai City FC co-owner Bimal Parekh said, "We are delighted that Cisco will be a part of the Mumbai City FC family and will partner with us for the next three years. Cisco has shown, especially in the last six months, how valuable its strategic technology solutions are to the future of connecting fans to teams and the sport they love. We look forward to achieving excellence with their support both on and off the pitch for years to come."
City Football Group brokered this partnership as part of its consultancy services to the club. Cisco has a relationship with City Football Group and last year became an official technology partner for five City Football Group clubs – Manchester City, New York City FC, Melbourne City FC, Yokohama F. Marinos, and Sichuan Jiuniu FC – for which it provides networking and video collaboration solutions.
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.
