Brands
SBI hands over media mandate to DDB Mudramax
MUMBAI: Indian bank, State Bank of India (SBI), has appointed DDB Mudramax as its media agency for media duties.
The account was won post a multi-agency pitch and will be handled out of the agency’s Mumbai office.
It will be led by Navin Kathuria, EVP and principal partner, DDB Mudramax.
State Bank of India CMO Dinesh Menon says, “We at SBI are committed to providing innovative financial solutions to our wide base of customers and prospects. We needed an agile strategic media partner who can work closely with our brand marketing team to facilitate greater consumer traction for our brands. Our esteemed agency evaluation panel felt that DDB Mudramax can help us unlock our true potential.”
DDB Mudramax president Sathyamurthy Namakkal adds, “We have been associated with SBI for several years as one of their empaneled agencies. With this mandate to be the sole Media AOR, we are now entrusted with more responsibility to grow our relationship to the next level. We look forward to some business impact solutions through interesting customer initiatives.”
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.
