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.

Generative AI can be used to create new content from scratch, such as news articles, product descriptions, or social media posts. However, it's important to note that while generative AI can produce high volumes of content quickly, the quality may not always meet the standards of original content, so bring in the human element to balance it.

1. Content augmentation: Generative AI can be used to augment existing content by generating additional content that complements or expands on the original. For example, a generative AI tool can be used to create blog post summaries or social media captions for existing content.

2. Personalization: Generative AI can be used to personalize content for individual users based on their interests and preferences. For example, a generative AI tool can be used to create customized email newsletters for subscribers based on their reading history.

3. Content suggestion & optimization: Generative AI can be used to optimize content for search engines and other discovery platforms. For example, a generative AI tool can be used to create headlines or meta descriptions that are more likely to attract clicks.

4. Idea generation: Generative AI can be used to generate new ideas for content creation based on trends, keywords, or other parameters. For example, a generative AI tool can be used to suggest new topics for blog posts or video content.

5. Translation Services: Generative AI can be used to automatically translate content into multiple languages, allowing publishers to reach a global audience more easily.

Perils of AI for the original content publishers

1. Legal Issues: One of the biggest risks is the possibility of violating copyright laws. Generative AI has the capability to produce content that could potentially be similar to or even identical to existing content, which could lead to legal issues and infringement claims.

2. Quality and Originality: Generative AI can produce large amounts of content in a short amount of time, but the quality and originality of the content may be lacking. AI-generated content may lack the depth and complexity that human-generated content can provide, leading to lower engagement and a lack of interest from readers.

3. Brand Reputation: Using generative AI for content creation can also damage a brand's reputation if the quality of the content produced is below par or if the content is found to be plagiarized. This can lead to a loss of trust from readers and a negative impact on the brand's image.

4. Over Dependence on Technology: Relying too heavily on generative AI for content creation can also create a dependence on technology that may be difficult to break. This can limit a publisher's ability to think creatively and come up with original content ideas, leading to a lack of diversity in the content produced.

5. Devaluation of original content: If generative AI is widely adopted, it could lead to an oversupply of content, which could decrease the value of original content. Publishers may need to find new ways to differentiate their content to remain competitive.

6. Ethical concerns: Generative AI can be used to create content that is misleading, deceptive, or harmful. Publishers must consider the ethical implications of using AI to create content and ensure that they are using the technology responsibly.

How to control AI from unauthorized content crawling

It is not possible to completely prevent AI from crawling online content because search engines and web crawlers are essential tools used by search engines to index and rank web pages. However, there are a few ways that online content creators can make it more difficult for AI to crawl their content:

1. Use Robots.txt: Content creators can use a robots.txt file to instruct web crawlers on which parts of their website they do not want to be crawled. This file can help exclude certain pages or directories from being indexed by search engines.

2. Implement CAPTCHA: Implementing a CAPTCHA on the website can prevent automated scripts or bots from crawling the website. This can be an effective way to stop unwanted crawling by bots.

3. Use JavaScript: JavaScript can be used to block bots from crawling the website by displaying content only when certain actions are taken on the website.

4. Use "noindex" tags: "Noindex" tags are HTML tags that can be added to individual pages to instruct search engines not to index them. This can be useful for pages that contain sensitive or private information that should not be publicly accessible.

5. Implement access controls: Content creators can use access controls, such as passwords or user accounts, to restrict access to certain pages or sections of their website. This can help to limit the exposure of sensitive content to unauthorized users, including web crawlers.

6. Use content delivery networks (CDNs): CDNs can help to limit the visibility of a website's origin server and make it more difficult for web crawlers to access content.

Generative AI can be a powerful tool for original content publishers, allowing them to create more personalized, optimized, and engaging content for their audiences. However, it's important to use these tools responsibly and ensure that the content produced is still unique and valuable to readers. While generative AI can provide new opportunities for content creation, it's important for publishers to approach it with caution and weigh the potential risks and benefits before incorporating it into their content strategy.

Ultimately the power should rest with original online content creators to determine the level of access they want to provide to their content and the potential risks associated with blocking access to their content for AI and its human users. I strongly believe that some Legal and governmental controls will come in sooner or later in this space.

Like the age old saying “ you got to tame it before you can ride it”

Authored by Boby Paul, Senior General Manager – Marketing, Manorama Online

Agencies from the USA Lead the Shortlist followed by the United Kingdom, Germany, and Canada; Area 23, Ogilvy, McCann, VMLY&R, and FCB Top Shortlist

New York Festivals Health Awards has announced the 2023 Shortlist.

The international New York Festivals Health Awards honors the world's best healthcare advertising and celebrates creative achievement within the healthcare advertising, marketing, and communication space beyond the barriers of language and culture.

"NYF Health is proud to Shortlist this year's impressive creative work in healthcare, wellness, and pharmaceutical emanating from some of the world's most prominent agencies," said Scott Rose, President, New York Festivals Advertising Competitions. "The caliber of this year's work was exceptionally forward-thinking and impactful. Leading edge entries from around the globe demonstrated innovation and truly impressed the NYF Health Awards Grand Jury."

This year's Shortlist was thoughtfully determined by the NYF Health Awards Grand Jury from Healthcare, Wellness and Pharma entries submitted from 29 countries around the globe.

2023's Grand Jury panel selected 264 entries to advance to the trophy round. All Shortlisted entries progress to live judging rounds to determine award rank determined by the 2023 NYF Health Awards Executive Jury populated with award-winning industry experts and thought leaders. New York Festivals Health Awards Executive Jury is led by 2023 Executive Jury President, Adam Hessel, CCO for Ogilvy Health.

Entrants advancing to the next round utilized a wide spectrum of strategies to create engagement and deliver creative result driven work for prominent brands. Agencies employed activations, experiences and events, influencers, social video, Out-of-Home, digital marketing, technology-based engagement, branded entertainment, integrated campaigns, altered reality, animation, and visual effects to position brands, engage consumers and health care professionals, and achieve market growth.

For 2023, US Agencies led the Shortlist this year with 164 entries advancing to the next round, agencies from the United Kingdom saw 25 entries move on to the next round. In addition, Germany advanced with 15 entries and Canada with 14 entries.

A global view of entries achieving Shortlist status include Spain advancing with 7 entries, Hong Kong with 6, Brazil with 5, and both Australia and Colombia saw 3 entries Shortlisted. Agencies from India, The Netherlands, and Poland each saw 2 entries move to the next round. Argentina, Denmark, Honduras, Japan, Pakistan, Singapore, and Thailand each saw a single-entry advance.

The NYF Health Awards will celebrate creative work with the following new award. The New York City Award will honor advertising that captures the cutting-edge vibe of New York City.

For more information on the 2023 NYF Health competition visit: HERE. View the NYF Health Awards 2023 Shortlist HERE.