We're back after a month long break with a big one! Journalism and the news industrial complex finds itself at a crossroads. On one hand, it's narrative is being defined by what we share and consume in our own algorithmic bubbles, and on the other hand, the very business model it stands on is being reshaped and redefined by the advent of digital. Add to that a world where opinions and points-of-view often overshadow facts. On this episode, Varun is joined by journalist and news anchor Faye D'sou...
Dec 01, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 101
Note: While we take a short break after 100 amazing episodes, we thought you'd enjoy a throwback to some of our earlier ones. Check out this one with Amit Doshi and Kavita Rajwade. Amit Doshi and Kavita Rajwade, Founder and Co-Founder of IVM Podcasts join host Varun Duggirala, Co-Founder and Content Chief at The Glitch, to discuss the future of podcasting. They talk about how IVM Podcasts came into existence, the way brands can take advantage of this medium and how content consumption is changin...
Nov 24, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 13
Note: While we take a short break after 100 amazing episodes, we thought you'd enjoy a throwback to some of our earlier ones. Check out this one with Ranveer Allahbadia, aka Beer Biceps.When you talk about the creator economy, it started with a bunch of people creating content and sharing it with the world. All the barriers that were there to create content 10 years ago don't exist anymore.On this episode of Advertising is Dead, host Varun Duggirala is joined by Ranveer Allahbadia, better known ...
Nov 17, 2020•51 min•Season 1Ep. 53
Note: While we take a short break after 100 amazing episodes, we thought you'd enjoy a throwback to some of our earlier ones. Check out this one with Gaurav Kapur. Gaurav Kapur, widely known as the TV presenter, and also the Founder of Oaktree Creative Solutions, joins host Varun Duggirala. The former Channel V alumni talks about his journey to becoming a sports presenter, why creators need to be taking more risks, what we're not making enough of in sports content, ego management, the idea behin...
Nov 10, 2020•55 min•Season 1Ep. 15
Note: While we take a short break after 100 amazing episodes, we thought you'd enjoy a throwback to some of our earlier ones. Check out this one with Ronnie Screwvala. It's a fanboy moment for Varun Duggirala as he is joined by entrepreneur Ronnie Screwvala on this episode. They talk about being an outsider in the media industry and he also shares tips for budding entrepreneurs. They also talk about the importance of scaling a business, and a whole lot more. Talk to Varun on Twitter and Instagra...
Nov 03, 2020•26 min•Season 1Ep. 35
Episode 100! That's right, 100! Throughout the last 100 weeks, Varun has had the pleasure of speaking to some truly fascinating people across spaces, genres and points-of-view. What a journey it's been! Thanks for tuning in and staying with us along the way. On this, the 100th episode of Advertising is Dead, Varun is joined by Rana Daggubati, actor, producer and visual effects coordinator, to talk about all the things that he does, his love for animation and starting a VFX studio back in the day...
Oct 27, 2020•33 min•Season 1Ep. 100
There is something beautiful about randomness. It makes every interaction, every conversation, and life in general, fun. On this episode, Varun is joined by the grandmaster of randomness - Cyrus Broacha, comedian, TV anchor, podcaster, to talk about his unique artform of random but relevant conversations, and also to have a little randomness on the show as it approaches it's episodic century. Varun and Cyrus talk podcasting, guests and introductions, how Cyrus got started in his career, always l...
Oct 20, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 99
One of the game-changers for small and medium sized businesses (or SMB's) to scale up in recent years has been the advent of social commerce. To be able to leverage the spread of social content powered by the ability to drive sales, has become an enabler of accelerated growth for them and their products, truly showing that in today's digital economy, small is the new large. On this episode, Varun is joined by Archana Vohra, Director, Small and Medium Businesses at Facebook India, to dig deeper i...
Oct 13, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 98
Suchita Salwan, Founder & CEO, LBB (Little Black Book) The process of curation has been one of the most important aspects of us, as human beings, that the advent of social platforms and the internet in general, has helped amplify. This has also enabled individuals to build platforms and business models over the pillars of curation and discovery, which, with the addition of commerce, have become robust models to scale. On this episode, Varun is joined by Suchita Salwan, Founder & CEO, LBB...
Oct 06, 2020•53 min•Season 1Ep. 97
The choice between passion and profession is something we all battle with. In some cases, we try to balance it, but in most cases, we veer towards profession. However, there are some individuals who've swung the other way, taking on the risk of following their passion after what can be deemed a growing, stable and professional career. On this episode, Varun talks to Anshu Mor, standup comedian, podcaster and writer, to talk about making the switch from his high profile corporate job heading Xbox...
Sep 29, 2020•45 min•Season 1Ep. 96
The ecosystem of modern platforms has been grown by professionals who've helped them scale in the market, by building awareness and capitalising on opportunities that come with it. And so it a lot for all of us to learn from their career journeys and their own personal learnings across these journeys. On this episode, Varun is joined by Arjun Kolady, Head of Sales, Spotify India, to talk about his present stint at Spotify and how brands and audiences on it engage, and also run through his previo...
Sep 22, 2020•50 min•Season 1Ep. 95
The most engaging modern day content has been defined by storytellers showcasing stories that reflect the authentic workings of the world around us and the nuances of the human relationships that exist within it. It's been writers with that delicate pulse on this balance of being authentic yet engaging that have built content that has stood above the rest. On this episode, Varun is joined by Dhruv Sehgal, writer, actor and creator, to not only talk about how he has built the story and the narrat...
Sep 15, 2020•42 min•Season 1Ep. 94
Our definition of the word 'content' becomes myopic many times in between all the visual and audio chatter, and we forget that content in its origins refers to the written word. As the internet has changed the way we consume content, it has also asked this fundamental form to change as well, as, let's admit it, we don't really read as much as we say we want to, and even when we try to, we often don't go through all of it. On this episode, Varun is joined by Palak Zatakia, Founder at Sublist, a c...
Sep 08, 2020•40 min•Season 1Ep. 93
Sustainability has grown as a focus area for many of us - not just as a thing we do from time to time, but as a definitive way of living our lives moving forward. This has been further amplified by communities and companies that have helped share relevant information and helped accelerate this shifted lifestyle. On this episode, Varun is joined by Dhimant Parekh, Founder & CEO, The Better India to talk about sustainability and social commerce, and also help us understand the deeper insights ...
Sep 01, 2020•39 min•Season 1Ep. 92
The journey of new age agencies which are driven by 'a focus on digital', sees many points of evolution, led both by the way the market moves, but also built on the natural progression of their ever-expanding vision. On this episode, Varun is joined by Suveer Bajaj and Pratik Gupta, Co-founders of Foxy Moron, to discuss the evolution of their agency under their recently formed parent company - Zoo Media and it's multiple units, as well get their perspective on the advertising and digital busines...
Aug 25, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 91
The journeys of artists - be it comedians, creators, actors, or anyone who falls in the subset - are not linear journeys. There are various things that they try along the way, and various things that remain a constant and become the foundation for their careers. On this episode, Varun Duggirala is joined by Varun Thakur, Comedian & Actor, to talk about the many avenues he has explored as an artist, how long the two Varun's have known each other, Varun Thakur wanting to direct a movie starrin...
Aug 18, 2020•53 min•Season 1Ep. 90
The journeys of global agencies are filled with an immense number of learnings that we all can dig into - both from the choices they've made as an organisation, as well as the work that has propelled them to succeed and grow. On this episode, Varun is joined by Jon Cook, Global CEO of VMLY&R, to run through their journey as an agency and get a perspective on being a global leader who's focused on building a modern agency network while keeping its essence and culture in place. Tune in for thi...
Aug 11, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 89
There has never been a more important time to truly understand consumers and the insights we get from them. As sector after sector sees widespread disruption, it's having the widest effect on spaces like the restaurant, and live food and beverage industry - industries that traditionally focus on physical experiences as their core product. On this episode, Varun is joined by Divya Aggarwal, Head of Marketing, Impresario Handmade Restaurants, to talk about how her early years focused on consumer i...
Aug 04, 2020•36 min•Season 1Ep. 88
There's a uniqueness in telling a story, especially in audio form, as the person listening isn't just listening to the voice, but is also imagining the story playing out, similar to reading a book. You can visualise it, you can think of each character, each space, every instance, every aspect of it. It's a mixture of someone creating a story in your mind and then you adding to that story and developing it. That's what audio fiction is. While the audio medium has, slowly but surely, gotten a lot ...
Jul 28, 2020•46 min•Season 1Ep. 87
The marketing space is one of the most every-evolving practises in our world today. It's a space where the need to constantly learn, upgrade and get hands-on with the execution is paramount. So, while educational institutions have, for the longest time, drilled in the basics, many marketers are seeing the need to build skill boosters. On this episode Varun Duggirala is joined by Varun Satia, Founder & CEO, Kraftshala, to talk about how he started and is building out his company, as well as h...
Jul 21, 2020•38 min•Season 1Ep. 86
There are some creators who have a genuine knack for seeing what is going to work. Not just what works now, but what is scalable going ahead. On this episode, Varun is joined by comedian and YouTuber Tanmay Bhat, to tap into his instinct for what works in content and understand the road ahead a little better. All this and more on this episode of Advertising is Dead. Follow Tanmay on Instagram @tanmaybhat and on Twitter @thetanmay Talk to Varun Duggirala on Twitter and Instagram @varunduggi. Plea...
Jul 14, 2020•53 min•Season 1Ep. 85
Sometimes, to understand culture and change it, we just need to have deeper conversations and listen to multiple POVs. - Varun Duggirala. Every year, as Pride Month arrives, so does a bunch of content and advertising around it. But how many of them go beyond a post or a change of DP? While these actions would have seemed enough in an earlier time, young people today are looking more of a deeper commitment to do things that will move the needle away from just lip service to actual action. Welcome...
Jul 07, 2020•1 hr 19 min•Season 1Ep. 84
Many modern brands have been built by creators not just by keeping a keen eye on the consumer, but also from having the ability to take the essence of their brand and personal sensibility, and building horizontality around it. They've been able to extend the essence of their sensibilities and value systems, extending it across the products they build, and also using that same balance in their collaboration with other brands, both new age and traditional, to build true scale. This week, Varun is ...
Jun 30, 2020•41 min•Season 1Ep. 83
The fields we work in go through cycles. These cycles don't just evolve the places but also us as professionals. One of the spaces that has seen tremendous cyclical change has been marketing, which, in turn, has also led to the evolution of the marketer into someone who has deep insights built on experience with constant additions of what every news cycle brings to their repository of knowledge and skills. On this episode, Varun is joined by Vijay Parasuraman, Vice President, Coca-Cola India &am...
Jun 23, 2020•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 82
Sports. There's something about them that brings us together and makes us feel the entire spectrum of emotions. It brings us together as a community. It's not just about playing sports, but also watching them, experiencing them, talking about them and consuming content around them. For the longest time, when talking about sports, it meant more traditional kind of sports. But over the last many years, e-Sports (gaming) has become something that has not only equalled in importance as compared to m...
Jun 16, 2020•49 min•Season 1Ep. 81
The new economy of the world today has been driven ahead by leaders who don't just focus on a few singular aspects of the companies they lead, but also have a broader outlook on all the core pieces that can be deemed essential. With this outlook, they can help track consistent evolution for these pieces, and enable growth, not just for the businesses themselves, but also to everyone who works in them. On this episode, Varun is joined by Deepali Naair, CMO, IBM India and South Asia, who through h...
Jun 09, 2020•52 min•Season 1Ep. 80
The evolution of what brands look for in their partners has resulted in many stages of agencies reinventing themselves. This has also led to many industry professionals who have spent a large part of their careers in the world of large scale agency networks, to set out and reinvent this model. On this episode, Varun Duggirala is joined by Shriram Iyer – Chief Creative & Content Officer, Tilt Brand Solutions and Rajiv Chatterjee – Chief Business Officer & Head of Tilt Studios. They talk a...
Jun 02, 2020•49 min•Season 1Ep. 79
The growth of digital put the entire advertising and marketing industrial complex on a path of accelerated transformation. The aspect that saw the fastest change was the practise of media planning and buying. This evolution led to many new-age media agencies bringing together the combined forces of media, data and content to be key drivers of growth for any brand looking to transform itself. And this aspect is more relevant now more than ever. This week, Varun is joined by Anand Chakravarthy, Sr...
May 26, 2020•42 min•Season 1Ep. 78
One of the biggest market disruptors in recent times have been direct-to-cosumer brands. These brands have grown by making products around specific consumer needs, and have leveraged the scale and reach that digital gives them, to grow at a scale that wasn't possible before the e-commerce revolution hit. In this pandemic, however, even they've had to reset, rethink and reorganise. On this episode, Varun talks to Bharat Sethi, Founder & CEO of Rage Coffee, to talk about what makes Rage Coffee...
May 19, 2020•56 min•Season 1Ep. 77
Many creators are changing their content to adapt to the times as they're confined to their homes. However, there are some whose content has seamlessly continued being as fun as ever, even without making too many changes. How are such creators doing this? On this episode, Varun is joined by Nick, Creator @ Beyounick, for a freewheeling chat about his process, how his method of creating has evolved, and how he manages to keep it so real, fun and relatable all the time. You can follow Nick on YouT...
May 12, 2020•44 min•Season 1Ep. 76
