MAM
Weekend Unwind with: Thought Blurb Communications managing director & chief creative officer Vinod Kunj
Mumbai : With yet another weekend upon us, it’s once again time to unwind with our special series ‘Weekend Unwind’. Where we take a peek into the mind of a corporate head through a fun lens in an attempt to get to know the person behind the title a little better.
In this week’s edition, we have Thought Blurb Communications managing director & chief creative officer Vinod Kunj sharing with us his musings on the daily rigmarole that life and work has to offer. Having worked with a clutch of big names in adland like Saatchi & Saatchi, Enterprise Nexus (now Bates), FCB Ulka, Lowe Lintas and Rediffusion DY&R in a span of thirteen years, Kunj was ready to take the entrepreneurial plunge. His last stint as an employee was in the Mumbai office of Capital Advertising, a Delhi-based ad firm, heading its creative department.
Kunj then teamed up with his life partner, Razia, even as the couple leveraged their individual strengths- his in advertising, and hers in design- to launch their own advertising agency, Thought Blurb Communications – “a one-stop shop for advertising, designing, strategy planning and activation services” in the year 2007.
So without further ado here goes…
Your mantra for life
‘You are what your deep driving desire is.’ From the Upanishads.
A book you are currently reading / plan to read
‘Daily Rituals’ by Mason Currey on the routine that more than 160 creative people followed throughout their lives.
Your fitness mantra, especially during the pandemic
Yoga for 30 minutes every day.
Your comfort food
Fish curry and rice. (like more than 30 million Malayalee brethren)
When the chips are down a quote/ philosophy that keeps you going
‘This too shall pass.’
Your guilty pleasure
A Single Malt with a dash of Perrier and a cube of ice.
When was the last time you tried something new?
I am in advertising, if I do not try something new everyday, I would be extinct!
A life lesson you learnt the hard way
That you lose a battle at the precise point you stopped trying.
What gets you excited about life?
People! Every single person I meet. Each one is such a mystery and it’s so much fun trying to figure them out knowing fully well that I won’t.
What’s on top of your bucket list?
Launch an app. I have been planning to for a long time now!
One thing you would most like to change about the world
Do we still need organised religion to bring us closer to God!
An activity that keeps you motivated/ charged during tough times
A nice long drive into the countryside, preferably the hills.
What lifts your spirits when life gets you down?
A good piece of creativity by one of my colleagues or a peer. A nature trail also has the same effect on me.
Your go-to stress buster
Classical Indian music or a Kishore Kumar song.
If you could give one piece of advice to your younger self, what would it be?
Leap before you look!
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.
