 We'll come again to the PDC network presents to you music in 4.0 virtual summit and initiative by loudest and supported by exchange for media and BW business work. Let's get straight into what's coming up next. Now this is going to be one of the most delightful session to hear from somebody who represents IT world but stands out on the group to represent the group to take forward someone who masters every single day with her voice. Ladies and gentlemen, our next keynote speaker is somebody who's a CMO and IBM India and Southeast South Asia is the first woman to host a business and leadership podcast. The podcast series is called Being CEO with Nepali Nayan continuing with her passion for podcasts. The keynote by the one and only here at Music Inc. Delighted to welcome the CMO, IBM India and South Asia, Ms. Deepali Nayan with us this morning and I'm so delighted. Hello ma'am, good morning to you. Happy World Music Day. I will answer that in my keynote Mithin for sure. That's one of the things I want to talk about but meanwhile I'm looking forward to you recording a Punjabi song now. Yes ma'am, I'm going to start writing right now. I can't wait to hear from you. Thank you Mithin, thank you. Really appreciate I think the opportunity from Rohail and the Business World team and Music Inc. I think what is delightful for me today as I wish you good morning to all of you is that I think podcast is also getting a voice. This is Music Inc and the fact that this new kind of sound is also becoming mainstream. I think is the most delightful thing for me today and let me just share with you. KPMG's media and entertainment report 2020 found that India recorded about 30% increase in podcast consumption in the first 12 months of the pandemic and if I look at Pricewaterhouses, PwC's Global Entertainment and Media Outlook Report, India is the third largest consumer of podcasts after US and China. We have about 57 million monthly listeners to podcast. This is the data. HT Smartcast which is the podcasting wing of HT Media so its listenership grow exponentially from March last year to this year. Avaaz.com has seen its numbers double in the last one year now at a million plus listeners. That's a platform that my podcast is on but these numbers and Mithin asked me why not article, why not a book. These numbers are not the reason I decided to podcast. I decided to podcast because being CEO Mithin was an original content idea. In 2018, I really examined that any literature about Indian professional CEOs just doesn't exist. If you pick up any book, if you pick up any literature, HBR articles, McKinsey articles, there are lots of frameworks about leadership. They're all modeled on CEOs in the West. There are lots of stories of CEOs in the West. The Indian startups and Unicorn founders are being celebrated but not the Indian CEOs. We have something unique in this country and I felt that these stories needed to be told. Who are these people behind the revenue growth? Who are these people behind a market cap going up? Were these people which are really making the sensex and the nifty go up? Where do they come from? What is their model of leadership? To answer your question that you asked me, I was all set to write about it. Maybe a monthly column or maybe a book someday but I was ready to write about it except that I never did because I think the podcast was meant to be. Multiple sedentipitous incidents I think led me to a podcast. One of the incidents that I now credit is that I never found the time in my hectic schedule before COVID to start the column. Two, that I ran into Sri, which is Sri Raman. He's the founder of Avaaz.com. I ran into him in Delhi on March 6th, 2020. That was just before the lockdown got announced and I ran into him after a decade. Three, we were on the same flight the next day which is on March 7th. Four, I don't know why I decided to tell him about the column that I was not finding time to write. So I said it is all about serendipity. The fifth serendipitous incident. He told me during the flight, why write? Why not just speak? I was flattered at his confidence in my idea and my ability but still the podcast almost did not happen. I really thought that she was being polite so on and so forth. But sometimes in April, one of my college batchmates, Sunil Kumar, he called me up and told me, he's saying, listen, Nepali, I think you've got a wonderful voice the way you talk and I think you should talk a lot more on the learning and development side. He'd seen one of the videos that I had recently done about learnings from COVID, another friend reacted to a voice note and some of you who know me know that I have a habit of sending voice notes on WhatsApp. This friend messaged me back and said, Nepali, Mangeshkar, of course I was flattered all respect to the word Mangeshkar. I was flattered but I was also surprised. But these three words of confidence from my friend Sunil, another friend Ajay who sent me back this, with these three incidents I spoke to my family. I actually asked my mom if I had a good voice, mom's being mom, she told me I had a fantastic one. Next call was to my brother to ask him the same thing and of course I turned around and told my family why no one ever told me this before as if I was going to have a career in sound. But yes, with the sense of this whole feedback that I'd got, the disbelief also, I called Sri and I really interrogated him. This is the founder of Aavas I'm talking about. I literally interrogated him although I asked him why he thinks that I would do a good job of a podcast and of course he would never say that I interrogated him because I'm just so polite in the way I talk. But I really quizzed him and thank God he managed to convince me that I should definitely do a podcast and that's when it started the real heartbreak. I burnt the midnight oil listening to podcasts from around the world. I wanted to ensure that my idea was truly original, that nobody was doing what I had in mind which is telling the stories of Indian Sea years. This research was very useful to prove one more hunch I had that typically the podcast 45 minutes to an hour and I've always felt that that was a little too long. That was my personal hunch. I felt after doing all the research that there was room for a business podcast for about 30 minutes, a little shorter, sweeter therefore according to me. The research also told me and that no other woman in India was doing a mainstream business or a leadership podcast. That strengthened my resolve even more to do it. There are fantastic women podcasters but they were doing podcasts on women leadership, women heroes, parenting but nobody was doing it on a mainstream leadership topic. That's when I really decided that okay now I have to do it. One of the very strong elements I was doing it. But the clincher was that Avaz as a platform really appealed to me the CMO in me really. They had a very deep analysis of their audience and who they were. Their English listeners were predominantly young professionals and I saw a huge match of how my content would appeal to these young professionals. The last section of my podcast that is the rapid fire that's been devised is clearly driven for appeal to this audience. So that's how like I say the matches happen match made in heaven and then comes in another coincidence. The serendipity is that I'm a talk show buff. I have in my life consumed hours and hours of talk shows. Be it Oprah or Ellen or Karan Johar or Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Graham Norton or even James Lipton's Inside the Actor Studio which is absolutely my favorite and Javed Akhtar hosting classic legends. I mean my favorite program on Durdarshan in my growing up years was not Chitrahar. It was Fulkiliye Gulchan Gulchan, the talk show. So let me say this. I used to be a big fan of even you know Pranoy Roy when he used to do the interviews. That's years and years of research just sitting in my head. I think was perhaps you know another serendipity. My dummy podcast that I did you know with our vast team was a huge validation that I had something going and then of course you know methodically came the plan. I am the editor in chief you know for you know being CEO with Deepali Nayar. I record only on weekends so that my work commitments don't get compromised, the structure of questions, the guest list that we drew up, all of this you know which I kind of editorial control. But I think what I was offers these great production values you know so on and so forth. But you know in hindsight why did I really do it? Why did I decide to podcast? I think it was this whole call of doing something new, doing something which where I would get treated like a content creator. You know I've done well on let's say LinkedIn and Twitter in terms of social media and therefore this whole thing of proving to the Gen Z's in your team that any new medium is something that you know we marketers can dominate and that you know the strategic things that we've learned over the years can be translated into great content strategy. I think in hindsight that was also something that was egging me on. One of course that there was no female in the mainline you know podcasting scene in India on leadership domain and second was also this you know lot of youngsters you know don't believe that we oldies have it and a lot of my friends or my age group believe that we don't have it and I somehow want to prove them wrong. So you know then that's when when this when this thought cropped up that I'm going to be representing a whole set of people it also made this very careful. Of course I'm the marketing person that I am and we take all the boxes so I didn't let the Awa's team you know release the podcast till I had eight episodes already recorded in. They typically do it with three or four. I had eight episodes before we actually launched and the results are there for us to see today we are at 29 episodes and like I told you Awa's gives me statistics which I really you know enjoy and value which some other platform I may not be able to get. We have at episode 15 we had 52 percent retention rate. At episode 29 we have 58 percent retention rate. The average on the Awa's platform is you know in in two digits but like way way below 20 percent. What this means is that every person who comes in you know listens to 58 percent of them listen to all the episodes. We've spent zero dollars zero rupee has been spent marketing this program and yet we have thousands of listeners and completing you know all the all the episodes. The beauty is we've of course also got three for awards I've been you know at an Asia level recognized at a content creating forum as a top 15 you know Asian you know women from content creation best podcast listing you know 40 over 40 women in trying something new and risky you know all that. But I think the love and the anecdotes that I get on Twitter the messages that I get to ask when people are asking me when's the next episode coming. I think is a matter of joy and which validates that I think my decision to podcast you know was the right decision. A lot of the times I'm also asked how do I balance being the CMO and you know being the podcaster that I am. And I think that's that's a very careful you know time management juggle that I do. I'm really and I want to use this forum to say this I'm very indebted to the producer of my show who's always willing to record with me on a Saturday Sunday very very indebted to every guest that I've had on the show whom we've managed to convince that Saturday Sundays are a good day to record this podcast. You know we've kind of managed to do that barring I think two exceptions out of the 30 episodes that we've recorded they've always been on the weekend. I burn a lot of midnight oil you know for doing this but it's really worth it because I think my diary is full for the next few months every weekend I'm invited to speak to some B school or the other or invited to speak like today you know about podcasting or sharing the leadership lessons you know that I have given. Personally very very fulfilling because I think every session that I've done with my CEOs is extremely you know knowledgeable and like a mentoring session for me. Now let's go back to why I think today that this idea works and why I think that this original stories of talking about the people behind the CEO honor office works. I'll go back to the three years framework you know that I have developed and I've often spoken about it that the three years framework which is authenticity ability agility these three years framework you can use to judge whether as a marketing team you're doing a great job you can use it as a quick check to judge whether as a brand you're doing a good job. The same framework will also apply to your personal brand are you authentic do you have the ability are you agile and I think it's the same framework because it exists in my mind we ended up applying you know to the podcast too and when I was thinking about doing the keynote today I was making notes last night when I think about the authenticity the idea is original the branding is original the content is original you can't find anything like this anywhere else the style is also original it's a conversation we make the guests extremely comfortable and you can hear the laughter in our voices you know when you listen to the podcast this podcast is not being done for self-promotion this podcast has not been done because you know a brand needed a voice to talk about you know what the brand stands for not at all this is far far removed from I think any brand promotion in that sense and that's the authenticity and that's why I think I have thousands of listeners without us spending a single dollar the word of mouth is ensured that the podcast has 58% retention rate and thousands listen to it. The second bit that I mentioned agility as the content framework that we had developed you know we did the first six episodes and then we did another six and then another six and we are on the 30th episode but no two questions are alike that we're asking to the guests this is about them that agility is built into the system the way we've record you know the the the technicality of the recording is also extremely agile and the content framework is also extremely you know agile and you've got to listen to a couple of episodes you know for you to realize that you know none of them are alike you know to each other and there is there is this freshness and the the third bit I mentioned ability which let's say for a marketing team is about the skills they have the marketing stack they have and so on and so forth that ability over here I think the fact that I chose to work with our voice who is you know very advanced in terms of data and statistics of that kind of ability the technical part of recording production value so on and so forth I think that's that's wonderful you know the the ability of being able to network with the guests almost every guest that we have had is handpicked you know is extremely important and I want to go back on this authenticity agility ability framework you know just to say this that we decided from an editorially you know policy perspective that we will only record with the CEOs who are professionals you know we're getting tons of requests from startup CEOs we're getting tons of requests from founder CEOs we may start another series for them you know someday but we've not kind of compromised so that we're true to the listeners you know that we have so Mithin you did ask me you know why I decided to podcast this in short is the story of why I decided to podcast you know the fact that you know I had a point to prove about you know maybe women podcasters you know maybe Serendipity was taking me there I think the fact that there was an authentic content idea that needed to be told and maybe it didn't happen earlier because column is perhaps not the best way of you know narrating the stories or third is you know the story telling that the narrative of a talk show host you know the years and years of research you know like I mentioned and you know and it was an idea that was going to take off at the time that it took off I launched in July 2020 and podcasts across the world have seen the highest level of growth in the last 12 months so you know we were ahead of the curve in terms of you know doing it there are many others who've done podcasts before me and I want to mention you know one is Varun who runs advertising is dead and I was invited on his podcast and that's when I actually became familiar of you know what podcasting is all about we're also authentic I want to go back to authenticity agility and ability we're also authentic because we've stuck to the format of the podcast which is audio listening we haven't you know mixed it up with you know videos too so I think that authenticity is also you know extremely important you know to us I want to end by saying that I think podcasting or voice and I know this is musicking podcasting or voice or voice tech or you know voice based content is here to stay and to me it's also about you know finding something to say if you've got something to say and you are currently using let's say a Twitter or a LinkedIn to express yourself then I think you should consider Clubhouse or a podcast platform because if you have a voice and if you can write I think then you can speak to to me podcasting is like you know the new social media you know if I have a voice and if I want to tell a story I could have easily used a LinkedIn live I could have easily done in interviews you know on video and put them out and that would have been you know my social media content on LinkedIn but I think I chose to do it through a podcast a lot of people listen to it you know while they're running driving you know exercising but I think you must find the format that best suits you but I think today because we are at this conference at Musicking I think the numbers that I shared the growth rates that we are having in the podcast medium is what everybody should remember most you know OTT platforms should think of themselves being in the sound business I mean this is the marketer in me talking I know that music and songs form the bulk of it and they will perhaps continue to do so till times immemorial but I think they must look at them themselves in the business of voice because that's when new formats new content new voices you know will truly be heard so I'm you know very very grateful to Shree that a chance encounter and a flight together you know have probably bonded us forever through these episodes that we have on being seer with the Palinayad it's a juggernaut that's not stopping we at one point of time had taught 25 episodes and that's it and we keep on getting requests from a guest who have beautiful stories to tell and that's where we are I'm delighted to have been invited today over here thank you very much and I'm delighted to tell the story of why I decided to podcast I hope you enjoyed you know what I shared with you and don't remember the framework authenticity agility and ability I think that's a hallmark of good content also and that's the hallmark of a good marketing team and that's the hallmark of a good friend Mithin thank you very much back to you thank you so much ma'am I won't let you go just like that because firstly thank you for answering the question what I heard the first 10 minutes I could just close my eyes and imagine listening to a podcast and I could feel the vibrance of your voice that is catching up with every single word that you speak so I know you're far from me right now but I can always give a big round of applause for being so vocal about it indeed it just made me so confident about being more loud more vocal and speak up yeah thank you thank you Mithin thank you indeed it was pleasure having your board I know I know I've been asking all of the speakers to give me a code and describe music in one word or a sentence but I would want you to sing a line for me because you have such an amazing voice I know you're waiting for me to write a Punjabi song and sing but right now I'm going to play something and I want you to please sing with me anything you start with so I don't have a singing voice I have a wonderful podcasting voice and I must you know complete that anecdote you know my mom actually got fed up and asked me and she said why are you asking her so much you've got a good voice just you know be okay with it and I actually told her I said you know why didn't you tell me this earlier and she said tell me this earlier then what would have happened you know and I told her I would have become an RG if I had told her earlier then so no I don't have a good singing voice but I think there is a message that I wanted to say which is very befitting for voice industry and I think it's music I I mean I love music I am constantly listening to Indian songs I am a complete Bollywood music buff okay so here goes I will try and hum it but I'm not very good at it and I will add some music to the background but I think focus on the lyrics okay focus on the lyrics okay so it is it is that I think we need to focus on the power of sound absolutely what a well best way to describe this entirely musically thank you so much for joining us here giving us your story your side of story and we were delighted to hear from you thank you so much I wish you a very happy world music day and a very happy international yoga day but more than that I wish you great success in the being CEO with the pioneer thank you and have a great day God bless you