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For its latest episode of The Master’s Voice, MediaBrief.com caught up with Rohit Paranjpe  - Co-Founder and CEO of SugarBox Networks - India, who spoke with Pavan R Chawla about the platform which is a first-of-its-kind worldwide, and enables internet services to work even in areas of bad or no network and empowers users to access them without an active data connection. This episode was recorded over a telephone call since Rohit was also speaking especially about how locked-down-by COVID-19 people can help fight the pandemic from their homes by cutting down on internet data consumption to help make maximum cellular data available for the frontline warriors. So for this episode, please pardon the occasional, slightly awry audio levels and glitches.  Rohit also speaks at length about SugarBox, which  creates a hyper-local data distribution ecosystem by installing CDN Edge servers at key places of interest (POIs), which users can connect to over a local Wi-Fi network. SugarBox POIs include public transport, public places, rural areas, hotels and co-living spaces, malls, etc. where a critical mass of users access a host of digital services.Rohit is one of the youngest CEOs in India, and under his leadership, SugarBox Networks is consistently scaling impressive heights with first-of-its-kind ventures across the digital content and media ecosystem in India. SugarBox was recently awarded the RailTel contract, and is set to transform the commute experience for more than 25 mn travelers  and 300 mn monthly unique users by mid-2022, unlocking an aggregate of 2.5 bn hours of monthly consumption in a near- captive environment,  where  access  to  internet  services  is  otherwise  limited  due  to uneven connectivity.SugarBox has also received a patent grant for Network Control and Optimization by the US Patent Office.Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. (ZEEL) has agreed to invest a sum of Rs. 5,220mn in Margo Networks Private Ltd  (SugarBox). With the investment from ZEEL, SugarBox will commence commercial operations across exclusive long-term contracts like L&T Metro, Chennai Metro, NMMT, Kolkata Metro and Indian Railways, and forge new partnerships to scale up its network.As Rohit has said, “SugarBox is at the forefront of revolutionizing availability, affordability and reliability of digital services for the next billion users globally – something that even Big Tech has struggled to achieve sustainably. This investment will provide a giant leap towards us achieving that goal.”

Listen to visionary titan of industry and enterprise, and of Social care, Vallabh Bhanshali, Founder & Chief Mentor of not-for-profit entity, Desh Apnayen Sahayog Foundation, Bhanshali is also a leading investment banker, investor, venture capitalist and capital markets expert of the country. He co-founded Enam Holdings, a privately managed principal investment group with a 30-year heritage of investing in the Indian capital markets.Bhanshali has a deep and abiding interest in many fields such as religion, behavioural sciences and economic development. And has been mentoring in a hands-on manner, the highly respected Desh Apnayen Sahayog Foundation, which has been inspiring students across hundred of schools to become alert and responsible citizens through its Citizenship Education drive.In this episode, Bhanshali expresses his deep and abiding belief in the school-going children of India as possibly the best harbingers of positive change that would jumpstart that highly desirable and critically important move from Swaraj to Su-raj (self-rule to good rule - or governance and citizenship).Bhanshali also speaks at length about what we believe has been one of the most relevant and necessary school initiatives ever seen in India - the ACTIZEN contest that his Desh Apnayen Sahayog Foundation rolled out in November of 2019, and the 2020 edition of which it is now gearing up to roll out again.  You can also read about the story from the launch event of November 2019 on www.mediabrief.com.Tune in to this episode of The Master's Voice to benefit from a visionary's insightful, eminently actionable wisdom - I invite you to listen to Vallabh Bhanshali's conversation with me on this episode on MediaBrief.com.  Don't forget to share this episode, and to subscribe to the newsletters of MediaBrief.com.  Our pillars are news and knowledge, and the strategic insights that these, combined with experience, can and most often will yield to transform businesses and lives. Stay home, stay safe. Work hard. And, as the name of Bhanshali's reputed foundation says, adopt your nation (and care for it). Desh Apnayen.

The Master's Voice podcast series from MediaBrief.com is delighted to bring you a deep dive with Sandra Stahl - a thought leader, practitioner, author, speaker and trainer in strategic communication, in conversation with Pavan R Chawla, Founder-Editor of MediaBrief.comSandra is a distinguished thought leader on PR and Marketing communications, co-founder of full-service global communications agency jacobstahl marketing communications New York and a highly respected PR professional for three decades now. Sandra is also on faculty in the Brand & Integrated Communications master’s degree program at City College of New York and has been a workshop instructor in the Strategic Communications program at Columbia University. Sandra has shaped communications strategies and campaigns for companies of all sizes, from leading multinationals to start-ups, as well as non-profit organizations and academic institutions.Her first book, The Art and Craft of PR, which she wrote after three decades of illustrious service in strategic PR and Marketing communications, has been extremely well received and is a must-read for anyone working in Public Relations and Marketing communications.You can read more about -- and also an extract from -- the book on MediaBrief.com   

This episode of MediaBrief.com’s popular podcast series, The Master’s Voice, features one of the most respected marketers in Indian Media & Entertainment – Prathyusha Agarwal, Chief Consumer Officer – Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd, or ZEE, in conversation with Pavan R Chawla – Founder of MediaBrfief.com. This is Prathyusha’s first in-depth interaction with anyone from Indian media after she was made CCO at ZEE. What makes this episode, published to also commemorate Women’s Day, is Prathyusha’s presence in it. Listen to it for the insights of this passionate marketer who is driven by the ZEE group’s obsessive focus on Consumer and Culture and getting it into the craft of storytelling to empower business associates. Apart from extremely helpful business insights, also get to know the person behind the accomplished professional.

This episode of MediaBrief.com’s very special podcast series, The Master’s Voice, features Akash Banerji, Business Head of AVOD at VOOT, and one of the top professionals in the OTT space, with Pavan R Chawla, an expert in Media, Marketing, Advertising and Digital, and Founder-Editor of MediaBrief.com.Akash is a launch specialist and turnaround expert who launched VOOT in May 2016 as the premium digital video on demand platform clocking spectacular platform engagement numbers and driving high acquisition numbers.Prior to VOOT, Akash also led the impactful marketing launch of the Hotstar app, leading to the fastest adoption of a digital service anywhere in the world, and helping truly create the category of OTT for the mass viewers in India.  Prior to that, Akash, also a very successful broadcast marketer,  drove the impactful marketing of the launch of the new Star Sports network in November 2013.Here are some nuggets from Akash Banerji in The Master’s Voice:Regional for us is now mainstream. Regional is the new national.My monetization on the back of regional content is 22-23%, which mirrors the consumption contribution as well.We've realized that if you try doing all the heavy lifting yourself, you'll be left alone. This age is about closely collaborating with varied, multiple partners.We live in a world of clutter. If it's not seen, if it's not pushed, if it's note promoted, it's not going to be consumed.Everyone in media is in the business of driving habit. Everything else is riff-raffWe’re moving away from the metric of mesurement from being MAU or DAU or even Watch time, to CLTV - Consumer Lifetime Value30... 35... 40 OTT platforms for a diverse market like India, is a very small number.Instead of adopting smart segmentation, the OTT category generally has been trying to do everything for all. I think this madness about VC funds being brought down, and a lot of consolidation stories that we hear, are a good sign for the industry.It tells them that if you're not going to segment your target audiences any more, you're not going to be in this business at all.You cannot be in this (OTT) business if you're in it only for the optics of it. A lot of platforms are in the business to drive the valuation game -- the billboards on the western express Highway (in Mumbai are examples of this)The accessibility of conversion, from the offline world to the online world (in India) will happen via the AVOD route. There is no abatement of growth that we see on the AVOD side.

This episode of The Master's Voice features one of the select group of digital evangelists in Indian advertising and marketing, Anand Bhadkamkar, CEO - Dentsu Aegis Network India.He speaks with MediaBrief.com Founder-Editor Pavan R Chawla about the DNA of DAN, its growth course over its illustrious past, priorities for the new decade that's just begun, and industry issues, challenges and opportunities like the upcoming demise of Cookies-based marketing, about Programmatic advertising and providing brands a brand-safe environment, the great quality of digital talent in India, growth by acquisition and much more.Anand also reminisces about two mentors who have inspired him over the past several years. 

This episode of The Master's Voice, the podcast series from www.Mediabrief.com, features stellar professoinal Tarun Katial, CEO -ZEE5 India. Tarun truly redefines the term 'young veteran', with strong experience across advertising and marketing, and with some of the biggest brands in mass public broadcasting in Televison and FM Radio, and now a strong OTT video streaming platform, ZEE5,  from India's oldest and largest, and its first truly  Indian broadcasting conglomerate, Zee Entertainment Enterprises Limited (ZEEL). Even though it was virtually the last entrant in the Indian OTT ecosystem, ZEE5, under Tarun's leadership, has raced to speedy growth in India, driven by a great content policy, strong industry partnerships and alliances, smart, special solutions and thereby value for advertisers and marketers, and many other strategic initiatives that have also also delivered enormous value to the mother brand, ZEEL. In conversation with MediaBrief.com Founder Pavan R Chawla, Tarun Katiyal speaks of a war-chest of Original content, alliances, partnerships, and of using the three Vs to empower the great-Content-to-Technology-to-Data value chain that has seen Zee5 on a solid, steady growth course.Listen in, and tell us what you think. Write in to newsdesk [at] mediabrief.com. To reach Tarun Katiyal, message him on LinkedIN. 

In the latest episode of our podcast series  The Master’s Voice, we have the Maestro, legendary Hindustani Classical Vocal singer par excellence, Sangeet Martand and Padma Vibhushan Pandit Jasraj ji. It is also his 90th birthday today, the 28th of January 2020, and he has added a remarkable accolade to the innumerable awards and accolades he has won throughout his glorious life – a minor  planet has been named after him.The planet – originally named 2006 VP32 (number -300128), was discovered on 11 November 2006. It has now been named Panditjasraj to honour the legendary singer’s great accomplishments. The honour was bestowed upon him by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) which made it official on the 23rd of September 2101, followed by a citation.  The honour is the first for an Indian, and Pandit Jasraj is now in the august company of Beethoven, Mozart and Luciano Pavarotti.Pandit Jasraj ji spoke at length with Pavan R Chawla at his home in Mumbai, and the conversation ranged across a spectrum of topics including his favourite singers from Hindi film music, his early musical lessons learnt from his father (including a short rendition of the very lesson he learnt as a 4-year-old),  his memories of Atalji who gave him the title Rasraj, the great series of concerts like Aath Pahar and Panchatatva that have become the tentpoles of Indian classical music concerts for many years now, and much more.MediaBrief.com is both, humbled and proud, to present the wonderful Pandit Jasraj ji in THE MASTER’S VOICE.We hope you like what we loved putting together.Remember, you can listen to this episode on the top international global podcast directories, starting with Spotify, Google, Apple podcasts, and more.

Sumukhi Suresh – brilliant young stand-up comedian, actor, writer and director too -- is one of the heartwarming success stories from a combination of spontaneous comic talent, great spoken ability and acting talent, hard work and pure belief. She is perhaps the youngest of the masters we’ve featured on MediaBrief.com’s podcast series, THE MASTER’S VOICE in its brief history so far. We caught up with her to discuss her latest achievement with a fourth creative and performance presence on Amazon Prime Video – and this, her latest, is a one-hour stand-alone stand-up special called Don’t Tell Amma, which became available and has gained popularity since the 20th of December 2019 on Amazon Prime Video.In conversation with Pavan R Chawla, Sumukhi speaks of the episode, how she works on her scripts, routines, her managers OML (Only Much Louder), and her other series. She speaks of her gratitude to believers and supporters like OML’s Ajay Nair, the Amazon Prime Video platform, her experiences with international audiences of Stand Up Comedy across multiple international cities including Oslo and Copenhagen, one of India’s best comedy writers, Navin Richards, and her remarkable relationship with her mother. And much more.We’re still breathless after this remarkable conversation the irrepressible, phenomenally talented and creative Sumukhi, the motto of whose life seems to be the order she barked to herself a few years ago when she left her corporate job: Stand Up and Be Laughed With!Corporate’s loss is Comedy’s wonderful gain.

Vibha Chopra, Head - Global Syndication & International Film Distribution, ZEE Studios International, is the newbie who, in the 13 years since she joined ZEE Studios armed with just three things -- her experiences of having lived amongst Indians across the world, an international MBA, and her gut -- has rewritten the rulebook on global syndication and international film distribution for Indian professionals. She speaks with Pavan R Chawla, Founder-Editor of MEDIABRIEF.COM about her success and achievements, and how she went about scripting the ZSI success story in international markets.

This episode is in a mix of English and Hindi, and is the Yoga Special on The Master's Voice podcast series on MediaBrief.com. It features the pre-eminent Yoga Guru and in fact the First Lady of Yoga not just in India but across the world, Ma Hansa Jayadeva Yogendra, Director of The Yoga Institute in Santacruz East, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. This is the world's first, the oldest organized centre of learning of Yoga, and completed 100 illustrious years in December 2018.  Pavan R Chawla of MediaBrief.com speaks with Ma Hansa and also her dynamic son Hrishi Jayadeva Yogendra -- also a Director at The Yoga Institute. The discussion is about stress and combating it, and also the excellent programs that the Yoga Institute conducts to help thousands upon thousands of people all over the world. Know more about The Yoga Institute. And do visit MediaBrief for podcasts and stories about the space of media, marketing and  advertising, especially for professionals in the space in India and across the world. Write to us at newsdesk [ a t] mediabrief.com

In The Master's Voice podcast from mediabrief.com,  Rajesh Kerjiwal, the design evangelist globally renowned for his brilliant Design Yatra series, speaks with Pavan R Chawla, Founder-Editor of www.mediabrief.com about Design Yatra 2019, his favourite designers from India, the advantages and challenges for a designer in India, the space of professional design education in India, the need for an inclusive approach to media events around design and some very special initiatives to help young designers through his new initiative Switch, plus another remarkable idea from Kyoorius, Shortlist, with which Kejriwal aims to empower the creative industry in India by bringing the equivalent of the best creative juries to evaluate creative agencies' proposed entries to Cannes. And much more. This episode is a deep dive into Kejriwal's views on the space of professional design in India, and his remarkable initiative, Design Yatra -- a highly respected global coming together of the world's best designers and other professionals from great-design-driven world of marketing -- which has been an annual labour of love, dedication and great emotional investment  for Kejriwal. Come, listen to The Master's Voice, the MediaBrief.com podcast series featuring Rajesh Kejriwal of Kyoorius in Mumbai.

 Jim Egan, CEO – BBC Global News Ltd,  was in Mumbai to address FICCI Frames 2019, and Pavan R Chawla of  MediaBrief.com caught up with him for The Master’s Voice, MediaBrief.com’s new Podcast series. Egan spoke about his mandate at the BBC, the enduring values of the news organization, how it is constantly on high alert to sustain accurate, impartial and balanced journalism. Egan also spoke of the news space in India, and on how TRAI’s New Tariff Order has been impacting the BBC so far. So, here’s Jim Egan in conversation with Pavan R Chawla of MediaBrief.com. Listen in. For a transcript of the conversation, visit www.mediabrief.com