 an industry which with all of us cooped up in our homes last year was the oddity platforms we witness a big shift in the way consumers consume content with theaters being shut and other entertainment platform they closed as well one platform that benefited and especially due to these viral Indian content such as Mirzapur, Patalok, Panchayat, Breathe was Amazon Prime yes yes all that who can forget those dialogues those popular lines those screenshots and stories and ever-gripping shows that just makes you go on and on and on and on and there's just about Indian content there's so much more content from across the world on the same platform and I'm so happy to welcome right now the director marketing India Amazon Prime Video India the one and only the Shan Sriram has Shan good evening you're here to give us insight into rating culture entertainment marketing good evening to you how are you doing this evening Sriram I'm good within how are you very well look at that what has happened to the lockdown Sriram I wish I could say I've traveled the world but unfortunately that's not been a reality for many of us no I think it's been a time where you know personally for me it's as you said right spending that amount of time at home is obviously a great opportunity to connect with you know everybody at home and at the same time find those moments to really you know share and I think entertainment and what we have been able to sort of do at Amazon Prime Video has been that you know opportunity to say hey let's do what we can to make the entertainment possible in spite of in spite of new reality so yeah it's been it's been an exciting you know unfortunate but a very busy time I totally understand before I kind of jump into Amazon I want to quickly talk about the kind of show me to Amazon how are the shift taken like you tell me about that it's obviously starts with starts with you know a very very different category you know smartphones and technology products you're talking about drivers of consideration they're fundamentally different from how you know customers sorry so it's actually been you know I think it's the fundamentals of looking backward from the customer remain the same however the drivers of what you know excite customers what they're looking for are so vastly different as we say at Amazon it's always day one we're always learning we're always going back to the customer trying to do better and yeah I'm excited about what lies ahead absolutely and so is the consumers and across the globe as well people are really excited in terms of what Amazon is giving it to us but now I leave the platform to you you go ahead I'm really here to listen to you and after which I'll just have a couple of questions in a way snippet I'll ask you but for now you can have the platform here Sushant and let's hear it from you thank you so much let me see if this works just let me know if we're able to see what I'm projecting I can curate in culture as a first light all right yep curating culture that's what it is right good afternoon everyone for those of you you know for those of you joining in from other time zones good morning and good evening my name is Sushant and part of the Amazon Prime Video team here in India first off thanks to thanks to the organizers for putting together you know such a fantastic event I got the chance to sort of jump in through the day and it's clearly been the day of some very interesting sessions so kudos on that you know a round of applause for everybody who's been involved in pulling this off curating culture now at the risk of the risk of the risk of sounding like like a chef you know you know I want to take you you know quickly through however Amazon Prime Video we see marketing for amazing shows movies and the brand itself as essentially one of you know the right ingredients with the right balance you know and and the right you know resonance really please bear in mind that you know I'm you know I have what I want to show you all is but a fraction of the amazing work the team's done so you know if you're curious to learn more or have culture defining you know ideas to collaborate around or you know looking to be a part of this amazing team that's helping shape entertainment feel free to reach out you know before I you know talk about how you know we've been thinking about curating culture and what we've been able to accomplish I just wanted to give a quick look or a sneak peek really a quick sampler of you know what this culture or what the intersection of our content and entertainment and our brand what it has shown up as in pop culture right and you know you truly know you have entered the cultural zeitgeist when the when you know when the guardians of the Mumbai Galaxy you know start conversing in a language that you have shaped that you have helped shape this is obviously a reference to the Amazon original Patal Lok and the Mumbai police be seeking everybody to you know stay indoors because that's the safest which is true you know this is another example of when you know some dishes and this is absolutely true by the way some dishes you know especially in the world of Medzapur are best served cold this was you know this was by another service brand and you know this is this is you know when our shows you know cause nostalgia to kick in right and you know friends are you know reminiscing their old friendships or current friendships or potentially future friendships all inspired by you know the the women and for more shots please now you know I you know when I was thinking about what curating culture can you know what's the best way to summarize it and the context of the context of Amazon Prime Video I realized that it's essentially two things one very compelling slate of of entertainment that you know is blended uniquely with the culturally authentic and relevant perspective right on how we present this entertainment because for entertainment to operate in a silo or without you know adequate appreciation for what's happening around us I think will will essentially make it fall on deaf ears right so when when the emotions and the meaning of a piece of content right of a show of a movie speak to our values and speak to our social behaviors that's when we have really tapped into something far deeper and that's when really you know we've been able to be a part of the cultural zeitgeist I mean I could I could speak of many examples but I'm just going to you know quickly run through some of them you know it starts with others said it all starts you know with the right ingredients right in this case a compelling catalog of entertainment right and at Amazon Prime Video we've been able to build a fantastic slate of local and in the international shows that are found in audience not just you know the local shows have found an audience not just in India but globally right you know one in five streamers of most of our local originals are actually from outside India right so that's that's that gives you a sense of you know the fact that you know stories really can travel anywhere and you know as customers you know as I spoke about earlier as customers have spent increasing an amount of time at home over the last you know 12-13 months we you know and turned to streaming for entertainment obviously we've brought in highly acclaimed and anticipated movies like the love of Zittabo, Surarai, Putru and many more across languages right direct to Amazon Prime Video right so what that really you know helped us do is be able to go back to our customers start from what their requirements what their needs are and make those changes and make those decisions to be able to serve always the best and the most compelling entertainment you know India is at the cost of this creative explosion and we want to be at the forefront right leading this transformation we want to bring to the fore interesting and impactful stories with new voices and unique characters that you can't find anywhere else right and we've been successful so far in creating you know what I consider to some really you know amazing characters in our shows that you know supported by how we have weaved them into pop culture have actually lived beyond the show right you know and live sports is another area that we are particularly you know very excited about we recently made some announcements in that regard but we're always looking at what is the raw ingredient which is a compelling slate of entertainment right and then once we have that we start working into okay you know how do we how do we present this right what is the cultural relevance what is the most impactful way that we can you know present this to customers and our fans and an important element of influencing culture is you know first you know to build intrigue right because the moment we enter somebody's you know environment I think obviously that creates a bit of intrigue and to do it in the most interesting way is always you know so much more fun and you know this is again an example from the amazon original pata look where we you know before we said anything else we first wanted to you know have our customers you know look up and ask us hey what's going on because that really creates the starting point for a dialogue and a conversation right the other element is creating a language right you know an important element of influence in culture is you know create that language for the exchange of emotions and ideas and feelings and you know this is an example from mirzapur I'm guessing many of you are almost all of you have heard the phrase ms2w which is you know as fans of Mirzapur kept asking us for when season two was off of Mirzapur was releasing we saw an opportunity to you know shape the mnemonics associated with with Mirzapur right and you know as we saw fans continue to ask us Mirzapur season two when across you know digital social platforms we turned that into a catchphrase right we turned that into ms2w and you know it was interesting is today we see this language permeating across shows right we see it for the family man we see it for four more short speeds we see it for pata look creating a language is really a great way to help people express right and communicate and really you know make that content or that entertainment part of their reality tapping into existing behaviors I mean who's without saying you know we saw fans beginning to converge in what we call Mirzapur speak and obviously gifs and other formats are a you know format of choice for for many of our fans so we said you know what let's help them right let's let's enable that we created this entire gif pack that we released that you know you know as you can see has been used hundreds and millions of times this is again an example of tapping into an existing behavior versus the previous one which is about creating new languages you know the the other thing is you know inviting action right because that really defines you know behaviors right which are which are an important element of culture now you know this is an example again from Mirzapur you know as as we realized that we needed to put together a rallying cry not that there wasn't one that clearly was for all the fans of the show to really you know get targeted on you know on a call to action right so we got in the talent of the show as well to jump into it and that really became this really you know hot boiling topic for everybody across the country and really permeating across you know across the length and breadth of the country connecting worlds is another great idea to bring to bring you know culture and and entertainment together which is you know to to figure out really interesting and exciting ways of being able to meld worlds right so we've been we've been able to do this with many of our shows in fact both local and international originals it always provides for a natural sort of entry for one world into another world right and you kind of go through this this multi-world phase and that really creates for some interesting dialogues and conversations you know creating a creating a tactile environment is always a really good idea and something for people to bite into you know because then you know what the takeaway is not just the the marketing messages but really their experiences right of having engaged in something right so this is a big area of focus for us where we're always looking for ways to create these these worlds of the show right sometimes physically in the real world sometimes digitally and you know all all kinds of really interesting ways to do that in you know in looking at the in looking at Mirzapur and again or any show really through through the lens of cultural influence we always are looking at you know what are the facets of the show and how do they speak to you know you know cultural nuances or topics right and we started doing that we I mean what you see on the screen is but an example you know it was Teacher's Day in India and we realized there was really interesting element of the show Mirzapur which you know which talks about the different types of teachers or it's a it's a let's call it a let's call it a lesson in the different types of teachers so we kind of you know merge the two again it was National Tourism Day and you know we again merge the show with with what is happening around us so you know we constantly keep weaving in the world and characters of a show into the fabric of everything happening around us and that really creates for relevance right that really creates for freshness that really creates for that salience for customers you know to keep you know conversing talking exchanging you know ideas around the show and around the Amazon Prime Video brand and that really helps us permeate into into all kinds of subcultures within pro-working conversation I mean you know it's it's it's it's a it's a good attention grabber but it needs to obviously be authentic because otherwise it just it's it feels you know it feels lacking purpose so you know we be very choiceful and careful about how we provoke conversations we ask ourselves really you know key questions on do we have the authenticity to follow through right and that really is a core component because otherwise you know customers will easily be able to see what is what is just a shallow idea really easing discoverability again you know it's one thing to build in key intrigue create the language create the you know the subcultures but we need to give people the ability to act on it right and in that across across our shows and across our movies we have actually you know come up with some really interesting ideas on how can we make it incredibly easy for customers to be able to tap into and discover and find you know the shows and movies that they love and they want to watch right it's really important because you know without that without that fulfillment experience you know on on prime video what we are essentially doing is just creating a very large pool of really engaged audiences that we're not really doing adequate justice to so we spend a lot of our time on how are we curating our you know all touch points right whether it is you know on the pv app whether it is on a living room device across touch points on how best can we optimize this experience and really you know a large part of our curation efforts actually go into all of these touch points as well engaging across you know the the amazon ecosystem is a is a really interesting sort of sort of area that we repeatedly go back to you know across working with teams across obviously the amazon retail team to fire tv alexa you know and other services and you know brands like imdb it creates you know a very you know a diverse set of touch points for customers to be able to be exposed to different parts of you know the the narrative right whether it is around a show or around a movie or on around the prime video service itself it helps customers really peel different parts of different parts of the layer instead of you know just one unidirectional message and what that helps with is they start you know constructing the world in their head right you know with all of these you know stimuli and what that helps is customers create the world in their own minds and that really helps form a very very strong linkage with how strongly they feel about you know the show and you know hopefully you know strongly they want to watch the show tell their friends about it you know we we're looking for ways for our fans and customers to be able to you know interpret the shows you know soak them in and then be able to you know evangelize and and talk about them in in manners that they see fit as I said you know inviting engagement I don't know if everybody can see you know what's what's below that even when we do things like you know traditional you know advertising we are always looking for ways to actually do them in ways that are meaningful and interesting so this was again an idea for for an outdoor campaign for Mirzapur but instead of just a one-way broadcast message we actually invited people to you know with a simple QR scan to actually enter the world of Mirzapur so it's always looking to not just have a one-to-many conversation of a broadcast but actually being able to pull them back in and give them you know touch points right that they can engage and interact with and you know lastly Easter eggs always always a core element of you know any any culture defining phenomenon are you know these little things that customers and you know really passionate fans discover and this was for an example for you know a QR code that we had on you know a whole bunch of you know Amazon deliveries that were happening across the country and customers could scan it and you know out pops this you know really includes secret message right for those who have cracked that Easter egg and this becomes a huge talking point right and it creates again it creates those those binds of between people who have actually been able to crack this Easter egg and they start talking about it and they start transmitting it yeah and and you know just lastly you know we know we know with we are probably you know you know becoming salient and our shows are becoming this really powerful forces you know shaping what people are really passionate and excited about when you know you see instances like this this was from when Jeff Bezos was down in India early last year and you know he was he was going across you know across multiple cities and sharing his experiences of his amazing trip in India with you know all of his social followers and we had you know Twitter users you know you know responding on his feed you know saying hey this is all great I hope you're really having a fantastic trip but can you please tell us when Mirza post season two is releasing you know you have entered you know the cultural side guys when you see things like this happen and yeah you know that was a quick rundown of how cultures and you know the influence of content and how we think of marketing our shows and movies in the context of you know the realities of how people operate engage with each other the social behaviors that are inherent within all of us and hopefully when we do that right you know we are able to create these moments of magic and you know that's really what I find incredibly exciting and and passionate about as I wrap this up I want to leave you all with you know you know the the core sort of people who actually make truly all of this happen I mean we are mostly reacting to what our customers are telling us right as we think about entertainment marketing and you know we have realized time and time again that going back and you know listening into customers is usually a fantastic starting point and you know when we kicked off the the marketing campaign for Mirza for season two we realized the best way to kick that off was actually in you know in acknowledging the love from our fans and we put together this really short one-minute video that I'd love to show you all it's a no to our fans it's a no to our customers it's really where our entertainment marketing thinking begins and yeah it's always we're just getting started I'm super excited to have you know shared this I hope you found it useful thank you so much for your time can we play the AV please you love the way you ended the show just love it at the entire marketing strategy the differences of being fans and what Mirza fans can do I think that's the thought itself is such big thought that you know can create a story or write a life all around it and I'm a big fan of Mirza so I'm sure you do are a big fan of Mirza but thank you so much for joining us I have so much more question to ask you but at this moment our time is constraint I wouldn't be able to ask you much question but yes I'll connect with you guys soon and we'll talk more about what's coming up with Amazon Prime and thank you so much for joining us thank you so much Mirza it was a pleasure joining in we're seeing you all the great luck for the 2021 thank you