BT Mindrush 2023, one of India's premier conferences on entrepreneurship and business transformation, is scheduled to take place on April 26, 2023, at the Taj Lands’ End in Mumbai.

This year's discussions will feature a line-up of prominent leaders from the business world, including N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons; Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of Infosys and Ajay Piramal, Chairman of Piramal Group, among others. Shri JyotiradityaScindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation & Steel, Government of India, will represent the policymakers.

The conference will begin with a session titled ‘The Entrepreneur’s Playbook: Managing Conflict. Grooming the Next-Gen. Innovation,’ by Sougata Ray,Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship (Practice); Chair Professor and Executive Director, Thomas Schmidheiny Centre for Family Enterprise, Indian School of Business.

A deep dive conversation on ‘The World as India’s Oyster: The Reshaping of Global Supply Chains. China Plus One. India’s New Fortune. Or Missed Opportunity,’ will feature Praveer Sinha, CEO & MD of Tata Power, Shashi Kiran Shetty, Founder and Chairman, Allcargo Group, S. Suresh, MD of EID Parry, Sajjan Bhajanka, CMD of Century Plyboards, and Parmod Sagar, MD & CEO of RHI Magnesita.

Ajay Piramal, Chairman of Piramal Group, will share his thoughts on “Animal Spirits: The Investment Drought. The Growth Binge. The Skill of the Entrepreneur.” Mr. Piramal will speak on entrepreneurs' challenges and opportunities, particularly during the current investment drought.

The session titled Leverage Play: Appetite for Growth, Lure of Easy Debt, Managing Leverage Risks: How India’s Best Corporations Strike the Right Balance will focus on the balance between growth and debt management, featuring insights from Suresh Narayanan, CMD of Nestlé India, T.V. Narendran, CEO and MD of Tata Steel, Suneeta Reddy, MD, Apollo Hospitals Enterprise and Sanjeev Krishan, Chairman of PwC India. These industry experts will discuss businesses’ challenges and opportunities in managing debt and maintaining sustainable growth. Attendees can expect to gain valuable insights into how to strike the right balance between leveraging for development and managing debt risk.

The Business Today Mindrush2023 will also host Nandan Nilekani, the Chairman of Infosys, who will speak on "The Transformer: National Identity Creator. E-commerce Evangelist. India’s Tech Conscience." Nilekani's speech promises to offer insights into the role of technology in shaping India's identity and how e-commerce can help drive economic growth. Later in the evening, N. Chandrasekaran, Chairman of Tata Sons, will share his perspective on "Reinventing Tata: Redirecting the Colossus. Connecting with the Consumer. Successes and Failures." The session will delve into how Tata Sons navigate the rapidly changing business landscape and build a stronger connection with consumers.

The “The Path to the Trophies” session at the Business Today Mindrush2023 will explore India's journey to becoming a global economic power. Vivek Prasad, Leader-Markets at PwC India, will provide insights into the economic factors contributing to India's growth with a talk on ‘The Path to the Trophies.’

Shri JyotiradityaScindia, Union Minister of Civil Aviation and Steel in the Government of India, will also speak on the platform to provide a policymaker's perspective. He will discuss the government's role in achieving India's economic goals, and attendees can expect valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities on the path to economic success. Mr. Scindia's "India as a Global Economic Power" speech is not to be missed.

The conference will conclude with a special address from Aroon Purie, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of India Today Group, followed by the highly anticipated "India's Best CEO Awards" segment, presented in partnership with PwC India. With a line-up of the industry's top minds, BT Mindrush 2023 promises to be an exciting and insightful event that brings together some of India's brightest minds to discuss the future of entrepreneurship and business transformation.

Game Changers with MJ only on Bharat24- Revolutionizing the Hindi News Talk Show Genre with Accomplished Leaders

The term ‘Game Changers’ refers to a significant shift from the current way of doing things. ‘Game Changers with MJ Bharat24’ is a prime example of this, as it has revolutionised the industry by offering a unique take on talk shows in the Hindi news genre. The talk show challenges the status quo by featuring accomplished leaders from different walks of life while bringing out new aspects of their experiences. Hosted by Manoj Jagyasi, Chief Business Officer at Bharat24, the show's engaging style of hosting makes it relatable to the audience. The guests also find it easy to connect with the audience in a conversational manner.

Manoj Jagyasi is a well-known figure in the media and entertainment industry, having worked with renowned organisations such as Zee Media, Network18, and Hindustan Unilever. With years of experience, he is a complete leader with in-depth knowledge of various industries and a proper understanding of the current changing media landscape.

One of the unique aspects of ‘Game Changers with MJ’ is the research process that goes into each episode. The show ensures that the hidden gems share their personal and professional experiences with the audience. This has led to a lot of buzz around the show, which is being broadcasted on television and available on YouTube.

Several prominent leaders have been featured on ‘Game Changers with MJ,’ including former Managing Director of AMUL- RS Sodhi, and Dr. Sanjeev Juneja, who revealed unknown facts about the Emami deal which was the second highest deal of the period. Interestingly, one of the episodes featuring Bollywood superstar Govinda has crossed 7 lakh views on YouTube and is amongst the top trending ones.

The latest episode ‘Game Changers with MJ’ has been an insightful one featuring Mr. Shashank Srivastava, the Executive Director of Maruti Suzuki India Limited. The show touched upon his journey from Bhopal-Ahmedabad-Delhi to an inspiring senior leader at Maruti Suzuki. He shared his experiences and real-life examples that were very relatable to the audience. For instance, when asked about switching jobs in today's world, Mr. Srivastav believes that it is not common to stay in one job for 34 years. However, he has been passionately working for Maruti Suzuki since the company was well-established, and his passion for cars has kept him connected with the organisation and its consumers.

Mr. Srivastav shared an interesting story about the iconic Maruti 800 car's first-ever customer, Sardar Harpal Singh ji. The company tried several times to retrieve the car, but it was not until Harpal Singh ji agreed to give it back that they were successful. The car was then put on display in the Maruti Suzuki office. He also discussed the differences between the features and prices of Fronx and Jimny. Both cars are 4 metres in length, making them one of the largest segments in the passenger vehicle industry. The lifestyle segment, which is focused on off-roading and portraying an image, is suited for Jimny. The segment, which is focused on technology and experiencing something new, is best suited for Fronx. The pricing for both cars will be competitive, with Fronx's pricing between Baleno and Brezza.

Regarding Maruti Suzuki's marketing strategy, Mr. Srivastav shared that the company's total budget is around Rs 1100-1200 crores. The distribution for media includes digital, TV, print, and radio, with the majority of the target group in three effective genres: news, sports, and general entertainment.

Furthermore, when asked about the controversy surrounding the broadcasters opting out of the BARC, Mr. Srivastav shared that Maruti Suzuki has found a solution by conducting ground research to determine the discrepancy between ratings and the response from spends. He also believes that broadcasters should not have opted out of the rating system and instead remained to find a possible solution.

Overall, ‘Game Changers with MJ’ on Bharat24 has made a significant impact on the industry by offering a fresh take on talk shows in the Hindi news genre. Its unique approach to featuring accomplished leaders from various fields has been well-received by the audience, making it a popular show on both television and YouTube.

To Address Industry Talent Gap

TikTok serves as a founding partner, program branding by COLLINS,applications now being accepted.

The One Club for Creativity, in partnership with TikTok, has taken the next step in helping agencies and brands meet the growing demand for relevant branded content with the launch of ONE Creator Lab, an intensive, nearly cost-free 20-week training program that combines advertising fundamentals with the maker skills and tools needed to bring effective short-form, video-first campaigns to life at the speed of culture.

The program bridges the gap between creators and agency creatives, and helps agencies and brands find talent with the soft and hard skills required to create effective branded content across media platforms that’s relevant to the current social conversation. The benefits run both ways, as graduates will also help agencies to better understand and adapt to the new content landscape.

ONE Creator Lab will initially accommodate 50 students – up to 10 per pod – with involvement from 20 agencies and brands. Applications are now being accepted for classes starting in July, deadline to apply is May 21, 2023. The program launches in the US and Canada, with potential expansion to other regions.

The idea for The Lab began last year when The One Club hired program director Jerrod New, whose education technology background includes developing training content and launching new learning programs.

He engaged with a group of more than 150 agency CCOs and related subject matter experts from around the world to identify the skills and capabilities critical to emerging creators roles at ad agencies, design studios, production firms and in-house brand teams, and worked with them to develop learning content.

Target applicants include those currently outside of advertising, such as people making engaging TikTok videos who want to build that ability into a career to help brands connect with customers. They may be creating their own personal content now but struggle to grow their audience and meet potential brand sponsors, often leading to burnout.

The Lab offers a supportive environment to learn the skills and build relationships needed to achieve creator influencer status while solving marketing challenges for brands.

ONE Creator Lab is a modern alternative to traditional ad schools which haven’t fully adapted their curriculum to fit the new digital ecosystem, typically take two-to-six years to complete, and can be cost prohibitive at $40,000 or more in tuition.

To make the program as accessible as possible, The Lab is nearly cost-free for students. Once accepted, they pay only a tax-deductible $95 fee to reserve their enrollment, and make a pay-it-forward pledge to give back the equivalent of a $10,000 tuition. Students can do that by agreeing to donate 100 hours of their time towards mentoring, teaching, creating learning content, fundraising for scholarships and future programs, and other community building activities.

The program is much shorter and more affordable than ad schools, providing participants with the fundamentals of what it takes to work in advertising, and the production skills to concept and make content at the speed of culture – work that’s timely, relevant, and resonates with the current cultural moment – without incurring the burden of costly tuition and loans.

“Agencies and brands face a creator talent gap because traditional ad schools aren’t set up to produce grads with that skill set,” said Kevin Swanepoel, CEO, The One Club. “We’ve worked directly with agencies and brands to understand what they need, and developed courses that train students on the insights, strategies, ideation and tools they need to produce effective content at the speed of culture that can live across media platforms”.

"At TikTok, we always empower brands and creative agencies to trust creators and think about them as if they're part of the in-house creative teams,” said Krystle Watler, Head of Creative Agency Partnerships, North America, TikTok. “We're proud to partner with The One Club to bring that advice to life in a way that serves creators, brands, and agencies alike."

The brand work for The Lab was developed by brand transformation consultancy COLLINS, based in New York and San Francisco.

"One Creator Lab is beyond timely, given not only the explosion in costs for a creative education, but also to take the dazzling technological change happening all around us and turn it to creative people's advantage," said Brian Collins, co-founder, COLLINS. "The Lab faculty is not only on the field every day, but they are on the very, very top of their games. So students will accelerate like crazy here. We are thrilled to be an early supporter."

Sessions will be led by agency, creator, and tech industry experts, and curriculum will continually change as tech tools, platforms, and consumer habits evolve. Students will spend two days per week meeting with instructors and mentors online, and one day where they will travel to a participating agency or brand in their area to present work and get in-person feedback.

Students will work on real-world assignments and present their ideas and prototypes to instructors and peers for feedback. Course topics include making short form video first campaigns, developing your personal voice, and how to work with creative teams at brands and agencies.

Graduates will have the skill sets needed to develop a professional portfolio to interview for entry-level roles, apprenticeship and paid internship opportunities at agencies and brands, as well as do freelance work. Allies in Recruiting (AIR), which recently became part of The One Club, will provide mentorship on developing a professional brand, portfolio and interviewing skills.

The program will be supported by a campaign created by R/GA, launching soon.

ONE Creator Lab follows on the success of ONE School, The One Club’s groundbreaking free portfolio program for Black creatives that, in just two years, has an 82% hire rate at 90 top agencies and brands for its 154 grads – 66% of them women.

For more information and to apply before the May 21, 2023 deadline, please visit the ONE Creator Lab website.

Ramesh Menon joins HT Media Group with over 3 decades of experience across family-owned businesses and global corporations in the FMCG, retail, manufacturing, telecom, and media sectors.

HT Media Group, one of India's largest media and entertainment conglomerates in India, today appointed industry veteran Ramesh Menon as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of its audio business as it continues to innovate with broadcast formats across channels and platforms. The Group's popular radio brands like Fever, Radio One, Radio Nasha, and Punjabi Fever.

Menon is a business leader with over three decades and has held general management positions in family-owned businesses as well as global corporations in the FMCG, retail, manufacturing, telecom, and media sectors, including Future Retail, HyperCITY Retail, Reliance Communications, Airtel, and PepsiCo. Most recently, Menon was the Group CEO of packaged food and beverage company Wingreens Farms. This is Menon's second stint at HT Media Group.

Praveen Someshwar, Managing Director and CEO, HT Media Group said, ""At HT Media Group, we strive to provide insightful and relevant content to a diverse audience. I am delighted to welcome Ramesh Menon back to the team. I am confident that Ramesh's ability to create engaging and compelling content will resonate with our audience and help unlock the potential of our audio business as it innovates to stay relevant to our ever-changing audience preferences."

Ramesh Menon, CEO – Audio, HT Media Group, said, “I am excited to join HT Media Group and look forward to contributing to our sustained efforts to scale growth sustainably and profitably.”

Menon was CEO of HT Media Group's Radio Business, where he changed and pivoted the business to become a digital-led audio and music organization. Before that, he was Chief Business Officer – Digital Innovation & New Business, where he launched many new products and platforms for HT Media Group.

HT Media Group enjoys wide-reaching popularity and has built reliable credibility across its Print brands Hindustan Times, Hindustan, and Mint. It runs top-rated Internet businesses, including Shine.com, OTT Play, Shine.com, Slurrp, Healthshots, TechCircle, and VC Circle. It also operates news and research platforms VCCircle, TechCircle, and EdgeInsights focused on serving the investment and enterprise technology communities.

BBC Earns Broadcaster of the Year, HarperCollins Publishers is Radio Production Company of the Year

Grands go to BBC Sounds & BBC Radio 5 Live, HarperCollins Publishers, and The Outlaw Ocean Project New York Festivals® 2023 Radio Awards competition announced the award winners.

New York Festivals® 2023 Radio Awards competition announced the award winners.

Creative audio entries from storytellers around the globe captivated listeners and were recognized by the 2023 Radio Award Grand Jury. Winning entries include podcasts and audiobooks, masterful dramas, and documentaries, up to the minute news coverage, entertainment, and music specials all created by world renowned storytellers. Visit the complete 2023 Radio Awards winners’ showcase.

The BBC was honored with the 2023 Broadcaster of the Year Award. Compelling award-winning entries were honored with both the prestigious Grand Award and 7 Gold trophies including “Burn Wild,” “Gangster: The Story of Curtis Warren (S2)” and “You, Me and the Big C: Putting the Can in Cancer.”

“It’s an absolute delight to accept the award for Broadcaster of the Year 2023. It’s testament to the incredibly talented teams here at the BBC and those we work with across the audio industry, and I want to say thank you and congratulations to everyone involved.

“We are committed to creating impactful public service radio for audiences around the world, whether that’s listening live to your favourite BBC radio stations, catching up on demand, or accessing our incredible range of podcasts.”—Charlotte Moore, Chief Content Officer, BBC HarperCollins Publishers UK was honored with the 2023 Radio Production Company of the Year Award. This is the second year in a row that HarperCollins Publishers were recognized for their outstanding audiobooks. Award-winning entries include Grand and Gold-winning “The Trials of Life,” Silver winner “Marple: Twelve New Stories,” and Bronze “Bombs on Aunt Dainty.”

“When we won “Radio Production Company of the Year” at last year’s New York Festival Radio Awards, I was delighted for our wonderful Audio team at HarperCollins, and for our roster of writers, producers, editors, and performers. But to win it again? It just goes to show that the people who work on our productions – from the extraordinary acting talents, the studio professionals, and the small dedicated in-house team who work to transform our authors’ great books into truly amazing audiobooks – really are the best in the business.” – Fionnuala Barrett, Audio Publishing Director, HarperCollins UK

2023 Grand Awards

Grand Award winning “Burn Wild” from BBC Radio 5 Live & BBC Sounds – Documentary/Best Nonfiction Series. Driven by a strong narrative and a cast of incredible, complex characters, Burn Wild is an eco-thriller that gets to the heart of today’s environmental movement and authority’s response to activism. “Burn Wild was honored with an additional 4 Gold trophies and a Bronze.

“The Trials of Life” from HarperCollins Publishers – Audio Books: Best Audio Book – Nonfiction was honored with the Grand Award. The Trials of Life, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, is the third and last of Sir David Attenborough’s great natural history books based on his TV series and completes his survey of the animal world that began with Life on Earth and continued with Living Planet. “The Trials of Life” was recognized with an additional Gold trophy.

“The Outlaw Ocean Podcast” created and produced by The Outlaw Ocean Project, From CBC Podcasts and the L.A. Times – Podcasts/Narrative Documentary earned the Grand Award for this seven-part podcast series. The Outlaw Ocean, chronicles the laws, lore and lifestyles of a hidden realm populated by traffickers, mercenaries, wreck thieves and repo men, vigilante conservationists and elusive poachers, oil-dumpers, shackled slaves, and cast-adrift stowaways. Through their stories of astonishing courage and brutality, the series uncovers a globe-spanning network of crime and exploitation on the high seas. “The Outlaw Ocean Podcast” also earned 2 additional Gold trophies.

View the 2023 Radio Awards winners’ showcase: HERE.

New York Festivals Storyteller’s Gala honored “The Kalb Report” with the 13th annual New York Festivals® Lifetime Achievement Award. For nearly 30 years the Kalb Report, moderated by eminent journalist Marvin Kalb, has provided a forum for prominent newsmakers and journalists to discuss the news media’s impact on American democracy.

“Start Here” by ABC News in the News Podcast category earned the inaugural National Press Club Award. The new award launched in 2023, in partnership with the National Press Club, goes to the highest scoring entry in the following news program categories: Best Coverage of Breaking News Story, Best Coverage of Ongoing News Story, Best Nonfiction Series, and News Podcast.

Podcasts in all genres achieved Gold trophy status. Gold-winning entries include “Run, Hide, Repeat” CBC, “Died and Survived Ep 2: The Summer of 2016 (The End of Old Me)” Lionsgate Sound, “The Cruelty - A Child Unclaimed” BBC Scotland Productions, “Pink Card” and “A Streetball Mixtape” for ESPN, “Mother Country Radicals” Crooked Media,” Immersion Rwanda” Radio-Canada, “Abortion: The Body Politic, with Katie Couric” iHeart Media, “The Children in the Pictures” LiSTNR, “Please Protect Abraham” Whistledown, “Obscene: The Dublin Scandal” BBC Studios, “Bhaskar Bose” MnM Talkies, “You, Me and the Big C: Putting the Can in Cancer” BBC Radio 5 Live & BBC Sounds, and “Live from Mount Olympus: Demeter and Persephone” Onassis Public Benefit Foundation.

Top-scoring entries in Audio Books engaged listeners and earned Gold trophies including “What if Ganda had run away?” Radio Grenouille, and “Inside Voice: My Obsession with How We Sound” Pushkin Industries.

Documentaries dominated all trophy ranks and captured listeners attention with engaging stories and unique viewpoints. Gold winners include “Al Jazeera Investigates - The Truth Illusion” Aljazeera Media Network, “Bible John: Creation of a Serial Killer” BBC Scotland Productions, “Revolver: Painting In Sound” Howlett Media Productions Ltd. for The Beatles Channel Sirius XM, “Falsely Accused” Clare FM, “Powerplay: The House of Sepp Blatter” Whistledown, and “Genias in Music: La Lupe” Futuro Media Group.

Breaking News, Feature and Investigative Reports delivered provocative topics and covered up-to-the-minute events unfolding around the globe. Gold winning entries include “Ukraine Coverage” Al Jazeera English Online and “The First Interview with Lionel Messi as World Champion” Urbana Play 104.3.

Entertainment entries appealed to wide audiences of all ages. Among the Gold winners were “MINOTAN!” Radio-Canada / CBC, “Le 5 à 7 carré” Radio-Canada, “Noise” and “The Skewer” Unusual Productions, “Cereal” RTÉ Radio 1, “Intelligence Squared U.S. Debates” Open to Debate.

NYF Radio Awards Craft categories shine the spotlight on production and behind-the-scenes creativity. Winners in Craft are awarded for their talent, artistry, and technical skills that enhance the execution of the audio production. Gold winners include “My Noisy Passenger” SiriusXM for Best Editing, “Bono on Q with Tom Power” CBC Radio and Audio for Best Interview, and “Ka Pō Ka Ao - Rob Ruha and the Auckland Philharmonia” Radio New Zealand for Best Live Sound. BBC Radio 5 Live & BBC Sounds “Gangster: The Story of Curtis Warren (S2)” and “Burn Wild” each earned a Gold for Best Sound.

All Entries in the 2023 competition were screened online by NYF’s Radio Awards international Grand Jury of 200+ producers, directors, writers, and other creative media professionals from around the globe and judged on the following set of criteria: production values, creativity, content presentation, direction, writing, achievement of purpose and audience suitability.

New York Festivals announced the 2023 competition’s award-winning entries at the 2023 Storytellers Gala virtual event on April 18th at 6PM EDT. The virtual event featured global audio highlights, award winners’ acceptance speeches from around the world, and up-close and personal spotlights featuring some of radio’s most respected storytellers. View the 2023 Storytellers Gala.

Visit the 2023 NYF Radio Awards winners gallery, visit: HERE.