Cannes Lions 2023: Hear from the Indian speakers this year (part one)

In the first of this four part series, we feature Dheeraj Sinha, chairperson - South Asia, Leo Burnett and Neha Ahuja, director and head of marketing, Spotify India.

 

Sinha and Ahuja will be on stage on 22 June between 1130 am and noon.

 

What can the audience expect from you?

 

Neha Ahuja (NA): A journey down the memory lane on how Spotify became the most streamed audio app in India, just four years after launch. What does it take to win the hearts and minds of the consumers, artists and the film Industry. Spotify had a roller coaster ride, with some ups and downs. And like everyone else - we screamed along the way and had lots of fun!

 

Dheeraj Sinha (DS): Our session Sholapur to Sweden – How India won Spotify the World will spotlight our journey on how we charted the worlds coolest streaming brand Spotify’s success story in India and how that in turn has boosted the brands global success. Neha Ahuja who heads marketing for Spotify India and me will take the stage to talk about how a strong client agency relationship has contributed to this journey.

 

Any jargon that you're consciously going to steer clear from?

 

NA: The term ‘best practices’ is a misnomer. It implies that we should all be following the same industry standards. How do you expect to stand out as the ‘best’ in your relentless pursuit of someone else’s best practices?

 

Unfortunately, the overuse of this term has made its literal translation into 'what everyone else is doing' or 'status quo'. And that definitely is not the best thing to do!

 

DS: ‘Generative AI’ is the jargon I am going to steer clear from for obvious reasons of being one of the most over used terms in recent conversations. 

 

One speaker that you're looking forward to hearing from during the festival?

 

NA: I wouldn’t miss Daniel Ek, Spotify’s co-founder and CEO, and Trevor Noah at Spotify Beach discussing the future of storytelling and the art of navigating different mediums to forge a deeper connection with audiences around the globe.   

 

DS: I am looking forward to Scott Galloway's session on his podcast - Pivot.