AJAY KONALE
Professional Profile:
Over thirteen years of experience in category, brand and product management,
innovations & managing sales in the FMCG sector. Self-motivated and result
oriented with a diverse set of experiences. Especially skilled at working with and
leading teams having varied functional expertise across the entire value chain to
deliver complex assignments.
Career summary:
Fourteenth year of experience in managing categories brands, products, developing and
launching innovations & sales in the FMCG sector. Key experiences include 
Managing existing brands/products, developing & launching new brands in new
categories. Responsibilities include development of brand strategy, business plans,
consumer communications & all other aspects of marketing mix to deliver brand
health, business volume, market share and P&L objectives for existing brands &
innovations.

Managing sales in the FMCG sector. Responsible for forecasting & delivering sales
volumes, developing & implementing territory coverage plans, managing debtors,
people and a network of distributors.
The experience gained through
 More than Seven years of experience with Coca-Cola India across varying
profiles in the marketing function. Key experiences include - Managing a portfolio
of brands across various beverage segments, leading entry efforts in new
categories, managing various portfolio level business and marketing initiatives.
Repositioning and Re-launching of large beverage brands with help of mass
media campaigns. Presently working as General Manager – Marketing and
Commercial responsible for driving stronger integration of business and
marketing functions through development & alignment of business growth
strategies along with various category development activities
 More than two years of experience as Senior Product Manager in Cavinkare
Private Limited managing various personal care brands.
 More than two years of experience in FMCG sales as Area Sales Manager.
 One year pre-MBA experience as Production Engineer with
Corporation of India Ltd. a leading manufacturer of power cables.
ajaykonale@gmail.com
Cable
Page 1
Classified - Unclassified
Detailed Professional Experience:
Coca-Cola India Inc. (Mar 2007 till date):
General Manager-Marketing and Commercial (Apr2014 till date): Presently leading
the marketing and commercial function for Core Carbonated beverages business
comprising of Coca-Cola, Sprite, Thums Up, Limca and Fanta. Reporting to VPMarketing
Key achievements

Developed, aligned and put into execution a brand, pack, channel price strategy for
core carbonates business of Coca-Cola in India. This led to - launch of several new
packs targeting various consumer occasions and identification of key growth
opportunities that would drive the consumer marketing agenda.

For Portfolio, led a key business initiative around de-seasonalization of the business.
Developed a holistic program that involved consumer marketing actions ( new
occasion , insight, campaign and brand, pack channel strategy) as well as a set of
business initiatives including channel expansion and pack strategies that drove over
3% swing in H2 business contribution in activated markets. Initiative is now scaled up
nationally.

For Kinley water, developed a an evolved positioning idea & a new core creative idea
and mass media campaign along with new Visual Identity System that is based on
strong Category-Consumer Insights. Aligned the system and the brand has been
repositioned and re-launched with strong business and brand equity impacts.

For Packaged Water category, drove various costs, pricing and Pack initiative
resulting in strong business performance. Kinley now is no. 1 brand by market share
in India and has improved profitability significantly over past 3 years.

Motivated the KO system to launch Schweppes in cans thus re-igniting the growth of
the small niche brand – resulting in more than doubling of business over 2 years.

Spear headed marketing efforts for Commonwealth games. Developed & aligned a
marketing plan, IMC plan, all elements of consumer communication & a new game
time Visual Identity System (VIS) for brand Coca-cola. Also developed corporate
sustainability communications and led the engagement with CWG Organizing
Committee.
 Coca-Cola was the highest associated sponsor with commonwealth games
despite being at the lowest level of sponsorship.(42% sponsorship awareness
Vs 26% for the Indian Railways-lead partner, and Hero Honda - 21%).
 Significant improvement across Key Parameters : Volume: +26 % swing post
games, Market share: +0.6% post games, Preference + 5.7, BLS: + 0.32,
Top box CI : +16%

Launched Burn in India. The launch involved – developing product, packaging,
supply chain solution, marketing plan, developing and aligning a business case with
bottlers.
 A new field marketing organization was created to support the brand.
 Brand reached +40% awareness, 19% trial & + 5% preference in 6 months.
ajaykonale@gmail.com
Page 2
Classified - Unclassified

Led an exploratory collaboration project between Coca-Cola and GSKCH- a leading
multinational FMCG company .The project evolved into a full-fledged collaboration
effort with specific new projects.

Managed the roll-out of “CIF”- Stage-gate framework in Coca-Cola India.
Cavinkare Private Limited (June 2001 to Feb 2007):
Cavinkare is a Rs. 1000+ crore company primarily involved in the Personal care
products business. The company is known for being an innovator on many fronts and
taking on well known FMCG majors.
Senior Product Manager (June-2004 to Feb- 2007): Managed several large Haircare
and Skincare brands in the portfolio. Reporting to Marketing Manager – Haircare,
Skincare
Key achievements
 Led the marketing efforts on Chik Shampoo ( No.2 shampoo brand in India ).The
brand contributed to over 50% of company’s revenues.
 Planned and implemented marketing strategies and tactics that led to 2.5%
gain in market share for the brand. This involved new communication
strategy, several trade and consumer promotion programs.
 Led a cross functional team (Squeeze team) on COGS optimization that
identified and implemented initiatives resulting in increase of 2.5% GM for the
brand over the period of 1 year.

Led marketing efforts on Spinz-Skincare range (Deodarants and Talcum Powder)
 Re-staged Spinz with new packaging, supported with new communication.
Talc Market Share went up by +1.5% and the brand became number 2
talcum powder brand in Country.
Area Sales Manager (June 2001 to May- 2004): In charge of 7 north eastern states,
handling a team of 8 people. Reporting to Regional Sales Manager –East
Key achievements

Aggressively drove the team & network of stockists to deliver substantial business
volume growth. Territory volumes grew by over 112 % during the period.

Developed and Implemented a new territory coverage plan which reduced number of
stockists (from over 50 to 35), direct company representatives (from 7 to 5),
distribution subsidies (70% reduction) while driving the business volumes.
ajaykonale@gmail.com
Page 3
Classified - Unclassified

For several new products NE region showed the highest post launch market share
across India ( ex. Spinz talc 8 %market share in 6 months, Nyle Winter care ~ 20%
share).

Territory received the best territory award for two consecutive years.
Cable Corporation of India (June 1998 to May 1999):
Cable Corporation of India is a leading manufacturer of power cables in India.
Production Engineer (June-1998 to May- 1999): Responsible for PVC compounding
unit.
Key achievements
 Enhanced production volumes of the PVC compounding plant by 30% by work and
time study methods and by re-working process parameters.
Responsibilities
 Responsible for production planning, shift scheduling, delivering planned production
volumes for a department with over 50 workers and supervisors.
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION
Degree
Institute
M.B.A – Marketing
Symbiosis Inst. Of Business
Management,Pune (SIBM)
Year of passing
2001
%
66%
B.E – Polymer
(University of Pune)
Mah. Institute of Technology,
Pune
1998
61%
H.S.C
(H.S.C, Mah)
S.P College, Pune
1994
74%
S.S.C
(S.S.C. Mah)
MES High School, Baramati
1992
87%
PERSONAL INFORMATION
Marital status
: Single
Date of Birth
: Feb 23, 1977
Languages Known
: Marathi, Hindi and English
Interests and Hobbies : Running, Trekking, Swimming, Travelling
References
: Available on request
ajaykonale@gmail.com
Page 4
Classified - Unclassified