MAM
Siddhartha Roy is ‘Happy’ COO
MUMBAI: Bangalore-based creative agency Happy has appointed Siddhartha Roy as its first chief operating officer in Siddhartha Roy.
Roy comes in from Phoenix Ogilvy, Sri Lanka where he set up and headed the strategic planning cell and also led account management.
The agency has recently started its Mumbai operations.
As part of his job profile, Roy will be responsible for Happy’s operations across branches. He has over 16 years in the business, of which 10 years were spent with Ogilvy in Mumbai, Bangalore and Sri Lanka. Besides Ogilvy, he has worked with Ambience & Everest as well as loyalty marketing specialists Direm.
Happy co-founder and CEO Kartik Iyer commented, “Praveen and I have done things by ourselves so far. We think it‘s time to take a more structured approach to reach our goals. He comes with the right level of experience combined with the hunger to do the unexpected – this is very much the DNA of Happy. Known as the ‘oldmonkster’ among friends, we think he is the perfect fit as our COO. We welcome him and are very confident this addition will take things to a whole new level. In fact, it already has.”
Roy said, “I think there are seismic changes taking place in the business of communications today. Gone are the days of agency imperialism. While marketers are looking for ‘ideas’, large network agencies are increasingly selling ‘processes’. And over the past few years, Happy has been successfully capitalising on this need-gap. This is the primary reason for me to join the Happy family – and I’m extremely excited about it.”
In his career of 16 years, Roy has been associated with brands across diverse categories like FMCG (Cadbury, ITC Foods, Nestle, Coke and Ceylon Tobacco Company), Telecom (Hutch/Vodafone, Reliance and Sri Lanka Telecom), Web (Yahoo) and Retail (Madura Garments).
Five-year-old Happy is responsible for the Flipkart campaigns featuring little kids which have been widely appreciated by the audiences and award juries. The agency also has a role to play in the ‘Lee – Never Wasted’ shopping bag design which has won them a Cannes nomination. Its other piece of work was the Incredible India tourism commercial titled the ‘post card’.
Brands
Radico Khaitan appoints Kunal Madan as chief marketing officer
Promotions signal focus on premium spirits, global expansion and homegrown leadership
UTTAR PRADESH: Radico Khaitan has elevated two long-serving insiders to its top leadership team, signalling a bold push into premium spirits and global markets. Kunal Madan steps in as chief marketing officer, while Sudhir Upadhyay takes charge as chief sales officer, both part of what managing director Abhishek Khaitan calls a consciously built next-generation leadership bench.
“At Radico Khaitan, our growth has always been powered by people,” Khaitan said. “True leadership is not imported, it is cultivated.” He added that empowering internal talent ensures continuity while keeping the company globally competitive and future-ready.
Madan, with over 20 years of experience across global sales and marketing, will drive brand architecture, marketing strategy, and the premiumisation agenda, including travel retail. Upadhyay, who has 25 years in the industry and was most recently national sales head, will oversee distribution expansion and execution across markets.
The leadership reshuffle comes amid Radico’s intensified focus on premium spirits, a segment driving higher margins and international growth. Last year, Ajay Kakkar was brought on to head the Premium On-Trade vertical, targeting modern and institutional channels to boost presence in high-growth segments.
Meanwhile, Amar Sinha stepped down as chief operating officer after contributing across multiple growth phases. Khaitan acknowledged Sinha’s role in supporting the company’s trajectory, while Sinha described his tenure as “an absolute privilege,” crediting Khaitan’s leadership for shaping the company’s strategic direction.
With a homegrown leadership bench and a clear premium agenda, Radico Khaitan is set to accelerate its global expansion while doubling down on brand elevation and market impact.
