Impact – 22 July 2018

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[This quiz is about the previous issue of

IMPACT. Send your answers to

[email protected] along with your

full postal address and phone number. Answers

and name of winner will be announced on

http://www.impactonnet.com on Wednesday.]

1) What is the insight behind the

latest #PutItOnTheTable campaign

by Baggit?

a) Feminism

b) Fashion

c) Lifestyle

d) Mansplaining

2) In which year was Amazon Prime

Music launched in India?

a) 2014

b) 2016

c) 2017

d) 2018

3) Which apparel brand does

singer and rapper Badshah have an

entrepreneurship with?

a) Nike

b) Bad Fit

c) Flying Machine

d) Raymond

4) How many monthly active users

does MX player have?

a) 100 million

b) 155 million

c) 175 million

d) 180 million

5) The tagline #RISHTON KA HI

FEVER is associated with which of

the following brands?

a) Society Tea

b) Wagh Bakri

c) Brooke Bond

d) Tata Tea

6) Which online food delivery

business appointed Mohit Gupta as

the new CEO?

a) Food Panda

b) Swiggy

c) Zomato

d) Box 8

7) Identify this person

a) Rajeev Raja

b) Shantiswarup Panda

c) Ajay Menon

d) Subash Balar

July 22 > 2018 [ impactonnet.com ]

BY SAMIRA KANWAR

Head of Content, Vice India

“So, are you into investigative

journalism, breaking news?”

“What are the kind of topics you

will be covering or talking about in

India?”

“Will you be talking about sex and

drugs in India?”

“Are you going to be creating

documentaries about India?”

T

hese are some of

the most common

questions I face when I

introduce myself as the

head of content for Vice India.

When the brand you represent

has such a strong legacy attached

to it and the reputation

of being a true challenger

of the status quo, it is not

surprising to see high levels

of curiosity. At every step

of defining ourselves as

a youth media company,

we have to be careful in

maintaining a fine balance

between being true to the

Vice DNA while being true to the

pulse of India.

For me, personally, the

process of being a part of the

brand’s ambition to represent

the true voice of India’s youth,

starts with empathy. How

can anyone be entitled to

talk about the current issues,

the realities experienced by

the youth without having a

deep understanding of the

environment or the situations

they deal with on a day to day

basis? Moreover, diversity,

regional barriers and cultural

richness make it even more

imperative for us to go deeper in

order to realize the mammoth

task of talking about things that

matter to kids in India.

While our country’s youth is

continuously working towards

building a culture that will

someday define (or already is

defining) how things are done

in other parts of the world,

we have to be able to depict

that journey using the tool of

authentic story-telling. And, who

better to do that than the young themselves?

Indian millennials, being the first cohort to

have grown up on digital and to have adopted

platforms and practices early on, are the best

ones to define our way forward.

At Vice, we initially spent 3-4 months

just researching and unwrapping stories

that would ultimately help us in defining

the narrative and tonality of our content.

Who would’ve imagined the scale of long-

boarding or colloquial rap in our country?

Who would’ve imagined the spectrum of

conversation that exists around sexuality in

our country? For that matter, who would’ve

imagined working professionals like UFO

investigators or traditional earthquake

predictors? Or on a serious note - who

out there is discussing the issues of river

pollution, sanitation and waste management,

in ways that matter to the youth? It takes an

honest eye to be able to capture all of this in

its true essence and replay it to audiences

online who are bombarded with new content

every minute, local and global.

Just last month, we launched Kya Bolta

Bantai, a 30-minute long form documentary

on gully rap – an emerging genre of music that

is slowly gaining momentum and entering the

mainstream, being co-opted by Bollywood

and other commercial ventures. There was

a keen sense of immersion required at our

end to be able to capture the stories of the

kids from the gullies in Mumbai struggling

to find comfort in using their vernacular and

unique rhythm patterns. A task that cannot

be accomplished by a team that does not

closely understand the pulse of people they

are working with.

Authenticity wins and always has when

it comes to story-telling. The challenge we’ve

given ourselves is to narrate stories that make

kids feel at home with their issues, identities,

cultures, and thoughts. If we are able to

accomplish that even in a small way, that’s

success to me.

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