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<ul><li>Ad &amp; Media Insider’s latest property Storyline, brought to you in association with <keyword id="1959531" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wattpad" source="Orion">Wattpad</keyword>, one of the world’s most loved <keyword id="282281" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="storytelling" source="Orion">storytelling</keyword> platforms, endeavors to decode what storytelling stands for today.</li><li>Today, we bring you highlights from our fourth and fifth episodes where we discuss the changing role of <keyword id="35666" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="advertising" source="Orion">advertising</keyword> creatives, how brands are choosing to communicate with GenZs innovatively and what role a platform like Wattpad is playing in this innovation.</li><li>Watch <keyword id="3844857" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="harshad-rajadhyaksha" source="Orion">Harshad Rajadhyaksha</keyword> and <keyword id="3844858" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="kainaz-karmakar" source="Orion">Kainaz Karmakar</keyword>, Chief Creative Officers, <keyword id="531122" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ogilvy-India" source="Orion">Ogilvy India</keyword> and <keyword id="3747310" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="devashish-sharma" source="Orion">Devashish Sharma</keyword>, Country Head, Wattpad India talk about the evolution of creativity and storytelling and how they are evolving as storytellers to tell successful stories in today's world.</li></ul>Episode 4: Harshad Rajadhyaksha and Kainaz Karmakar, Chief Creative Officers, Ogilvy India Most of us have loved the work coming out of Ogilvy India in the last few years and the creative powerhouse between most of that work is Harshad Rajadhyaksha and Kainaz Karmakar, the Chief Creative Officers at the agency. The duo, along with Sukesh Nayak, Ogilvy India’s third CCO, have been at the forefront of crafting inimitable stories that have won our hearts while creating an impact. Be it the recent recreation of Cadbury Dairy Milk’s famous Cricket stadium ad, or its work for Hindustan Unilever titled ‘The Shower’ which won a National Award, Ogilvy has time and again proven the impact good storytelling can have in brand building and in making a brand a part of a consumer’s lives. In the 4th episode of Ad &amp; Media Insider’s Storyline, brought to you in association with Wattpad, one of the world’s most loved storytelling platforms, we spoke to Karmakar and Rajadhyaksha to understand their creative process and their thoughts on the evolution of storytelling and what the future holds. The evolution of storytelling We have seen the <keyword id="6354839" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="marketing" source="Orion">marketing</keyword> landscape transform at a fairly rapid pace in the last 5 years. With more and more platforms cropping up, consumers are finding more places to express themselves, and brands are having to reach out to them at different touchpoints. What kind of impact has that had on the way Ogilvy has been telling stories? “Storytelling is as timeless as love or friendship, so I don't think it's going out of fashion anytime soon, or even later. But there has been a rapid transformation, especially in the last five years. I would not call it a change, rather, I feel there has been an expansion. Something fantastic has happened, media has become more open and liberalised and our first encounter with this happened back in 2015, when we did a campaign on zero budget to end open acid sale. We worked with like-minded people and with a real acid attack survivor. We shot the film. Had this been 20 years back, we would have had no place to show the film because media needed to be bought. It still needs to be bought but now there is also freedom to put out your own content. We put the film on YouTube and Facebook, promoted it ourselves, and the trajectory of the campaign has been astounding. It has won everything there is to be won, and we could achieve our goals with zero budgets and it was made possible largely by the changing nature of media,” said Karmakar. But does having a plethora of platforms pose the problem of plenty? Do creatives now have to think of communications suited for individual platforms? “Between Kainaz and I, we have spent around 20-25 years in advertising and we have ourselves evolved from the era of Print to Television. Then somewhere in the second decade, we started getting used to the concept of smartphones and multiple apps and hence multiple screens. But if your story is engaging with the relevant connect, the medium becomes secondary. Technology has put the spotlight on people who could all become storytellers, and brands saw people enjoying this content and slowly realized its power and thought of latching on to it. So, in terms of the number of mediums, I feel the more the merrier because today you just have a width and variety of storytelling,” explained Rajadhyaksha. From advertisers to product managers to solution finders With the evolution of media and advancement of technology, many brands are now also open to experimenting where, as a pat of a campaign, they have ended up creating a completely new product. In an attempt to encourage the habit of washing hands with soap among children in rural India, Ogilvy helped Savlon create special chalk sticks infused with soap. In another campaign to promote a similar habit, Ogilvy created a heat stamp to put on roti at the Maha Kumbh Mela for Lifebuoy. The brand’s message-on-a-roti ended up reaching over 5 million people. In both these campaigns, the idea led to the creation of a completely new product. Both these campaigns won awards and hearts. Is it challenging for agencies to then have clients come up to them and say they want to create a completely new product and take the business to a new trajectory? “It's not a stress at all. What I really love about the times that we work in is that our clients are super excited about doing work that is new and innovative. And that is something we should grab with both hands and make the most. I would be very worried if our clients weren't pushing us. The fact that they want different solutions, to use different media and support us, is a great sign. Recently, one of our teams has come up with a karaoke technique to help people with early Alzheimer's, in collaboration with MTV. So, the fact that clients are asking us to do such work and they are excited about it, is not a pressure but a thing of joy. The truth of the m after is we are actually becoming solution finders above and beyond just communicating a message. People are interacting, touching and feeling things beyond your client’s products, these are products made by you. They're actually getting to experience technologies that have been just ideas in your head and now we’re seeing them out there actually helping someone. It has also brought clients and agencies closer than before. It's a great time to be in the creative business,” said Karmakar. A message for marketers With the advent of Web 3.0 and us looking at a world where a metaverse might soon become a reality, things are changing at a rapid pace. What are a few things marketers should keep in mind to be able to navigate these highly dynamic times? “I feel no matter how much technology you have, or whatever new media comes in, the absence of a great idea means your money is not well spent. In fact, it's money wasted. So, first find yourself a partner who can give you a great idea, and then use your media, technology, etc, as partners to that. Do not work the other way around because everything starts with an idea and that is not going to change,” said Karmakar. Sharing his tip for marketers, hought, Rajadhyaksha added, “Completely well-meaning clients and brand custodians, at times, have brand guidelines about what the brand’s personality should be. But when it comes to exploring certain new-age things, treat your brand DNA and the personality of your brand like your family name, but treat the new media like the grandkids of the family. While they will bear your family name, allow them to be a little different, to take a few more risks. That's how I would encourage all clients to look at the newer mediums. You might be an 80-year-old legacy brand who advertises and talks in a certain way in your storytelling on TV. We aren’t saying become someone with a completely different personality on the newer mediums, but be a little adventurous and bolder and allow the younger kids in your organization and the agency to deviate a bit. Let them live their lives their way, as long as they still bear your family surname.” Watch the full episode here: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="1" retweetcount="1" status="LIVE | Join Kainaz Karmarkar (@spalifekainaz) and Harshad Rajadhyaksha (@Harsh_Words), CCOs, @Ogilvy_India as they… https://t.co/63l7yYar9K" createdat="1645702223000" id="1496809730655748100"></div> Episode 5: Devashish Sharma, Country Head, Wattpad India The art of storytelling has changed and new-age mediums like Wattpad are at the heart of this change. To understand the role Wattpad has been playing in this evolution of storytelling, we caught up with Devashish Sharma, Country Head, Wattpad India, who told us how consumers are using the platform, how that is helping brands connect with an engaged set of audience and what the future of storytelling could look like. From one-way communications to interactivity The biggest way in which storytelling has transformed in today’s digital era is by opening it up to consumers. In the TV and Radio era, a brand would come up with a one-way communication, which has undergone a complete transformation now. Explaining this evolution, Sharma said, “About 15-20 years back, a lot of brand building was one-way messaging. Brands would create something and then push it down to millions of Indians, predominantly TV or billboard. However, in the Internet era where the target audience has become younger, the focus of brands have shifted to digital platforms. And recently, it is also about interactive content. Today, brands don't just want to push their messaging, they want the audiences to create their viewpoint about the messaging and have a discussion with the brand about it. In lieu, it creates more awareness in a very interesting and exciting manner.” Communicating with GenZ With the younger generation which is difficult to please and said to have reduced attention spans, brands now have the task of finding innovative ways of engaging with them. Explaining how Wattpad has been building its communication to engage with this audience Sharma said, “If I were to look at it from a Wattpad lens, we are a very democratic platform where anybody can write on a topic they love, and at the same time, consume stories on a specific niche topic that might interest them. However, what differentiates us is the fact that the experience you get on our platform is not just of reading a book, it is also about connecting with other readers, leading to social engagement. Beyond this, the stories that become really popular and are highly engaging are taken on by production houses and top studios to turn into movies, TV shows, web series or other forms of digital entertainment. As a platform, being at the epicenter of ideas directly coming in from Gen Z storytellers allow us to really capture the right stories which we amplify.” Why long-form content works While there has been a debate for a long time around decreasing attention spans, Wattpad has been able to make long-form content, and has held its audiences captive with engaging stories on its platform. So what is it that Wattpad has gotten right? “Personally, I feel that the idea that people have less attention span is a bit of a misnomer. It might be true in certain contexts, but given the right content in the right format, people definitely make time to consume it. If a certain content captures your interest group and the experience of consuming it is something that you really enjoy, people will definitely prefer long- form content because it adds meaning and gives you much more than just snacking on punchlines,” explained Sharma. There has also been an ongoing debate about whether the younger population reads at all. However, the fact that Wattpad has a community of about 94 million readers and writers on its platform proves that given the right content and right amount of social engagement, people will stay on the platform and consume content, added Sharma. “The entire social element really elevates the user experience because we are able to give our audiences the liberty of connecting with the creator of the content and also other readers who love the same content as you. This bonding evokes a strong emotional response which is something that brands really like because when they work with us, they know that the content they're getting already has a built-in audience that did not just skim through it but actually interacted with it. So, the secret sauce is to have a platform that enriches the experience of consuming content and provides more democracy in terms of capturing diverse voices.” How brands are using Wattpad Today, more and more brands are open to experimenting with mediums and formats that is giving them highly innovative ways of engaging with their target audiences. So how has a platform like Wattpad helped brands create engaging stories and build enduring relationships with their audiences? “At Wattpad, our focus is on figuring out how our community can bring value to brands in the form of stories. And that's the real value that brands get. So, when brands have a brief, they come to us, we work with them to figure out how to engage the community from day one, where we invite all our users on the platform to write their version of stories on the messaging that the brand wants to create awareness on. So, instead one story, you get maybe thousands of stories from all over the world from your target audience that really connects with your brand messaging. Once the stories come, we pick the top stories and promote them for more readership because we realize that readers around the world who may not have written content still want to connect with the brand on the messaging that other users on Wattpad have written. And since we also have a studios division, we are able to adapt these stories into video and other formats that can traverse the messaging of the brand beyond Wattpad into more video-focused channels,” he explained. Earlier this year, Wattpad worked with Maybelline on a campaign for raising awareness on the impact the pandemic had on the mental health of Gen Zs around the world under the hashtag Brave Together. Wattpad invited everybody to write a short story or a personal experience around the topic and for every story that came in, the platform partnered with an NGO to donate a certain amount to raise awareness around mental health. “A campaign like this made the community feel that the brand cares about its voice and is not pushing its messaging on them. Secondly, the involvement of the nonprofit increased the connection with the brand, making the entire initiative more genuine. And this sort of brand positioning really benefits the brand in the long-term because they are able to create fans instead of just consumers,” he shared. So are there a few factors that can help brands success on Wattpad? Sharma said, “The key to being successful as a brand on Wattpad is to support a messaging for your brand that Gen Z users really care about. And secondly, be open to their interpretation of the message that you want to create awareness on. For example, we did a campaign with Puma in India where they launched a clothing and shoe line with Mary Kom and the hashtag was Born to Provoke. I really liked the way they used Wattpad. They invited our community members in India to write a story, a personal experience, a song or poetry to celebrate women breaking barriers. We got stories from different parts of the country that spoke about women from different age groups and backgrounds breaking societal norms. This was a very successful campaign and I think I use it as a benchmark because the brand here took a backseat, letting its target audience do all the work, whether its creation or consumption of the content. And a lot of users, on finding a story or song that they resonated with, shared it on their social network. So, the voice of the whole campaign went beyond just Wattpad.” With a community of more than 94 million people on its platform from across the world, Wattpad is witnessing an increasingly growing community of highly engaged audiences, opening up opportunities for brands to drive their brand messaging to a highly targeted audience. Watch the full episode here: <div type="twitter" handle="admediainsider" handlename="Advertising and Media Insider India" image="http://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1281482517443305472/8RPcjmow_normal.jpg" favoritecount="4" retweetcount="2" status="LIVE | Join Devashish Sharma (@devunofficial), Country Head, Wattpad in conversation with Ashwin Raghunath as they… https://t.co/zqsgEg6zo0" createdat="1646047811000" id="1498259230859542530"></div>

Storyline: Decoding the art of storytelling in today's highly dynamic world

<ul><li>Ad &amp; Media Insider in partnership with <keyword id="1959531" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wattpad">Wattpad</keyword>, hosted a 2-part webinar where we brought industry experts to discuss what makes this generation different from others before them, how marketers need to approach them differently, if they want to become a part of their lives.</li><li>The panel was moderated by <keyword id="2998892" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Pooja-Jauhari">Pooja Jauhari</keyword>, CEO, <keyword id="2951846" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-Glitch">The Glitch</keyword> and had <keyword id="138476" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Mohit-Joshi">Mohit Joshi</keyword>, CEO, Havas Media Group, <keyword id="10210068" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="archana-tiwari-nayudu">Archana Tiwari-Nayudu</keyword>, Director - Content &amp; Communications, upGrad, <keyword id="4970814" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Vikas-Bagaria">Vikas Bagaria</keyword>, Founder, Pee Safe and <keyword id="3747310" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="devashish-sharma">Devashish Sharma</keyword>, Country Manager, Wattpad India as panelists.</li></ul>GenZ, the tech-savvy, digital native generation that is often blamed for having an attention span which is even lesser than that of a goldfish, is also a difficult target group to decode, from a marketing perspective. GenZs are visibly different from previous generations of consumers. True they have shorter attention spans but if they feel a particular kind of content resonates with them, they will stick around, even if it is long-form content. They are also on the lookout for brands that go above and beyond just selling their products. They instantly connect with brands that they feel are socially and environmentally conscious. To find out more about this often difficult-to-please consumer set, Ad &amp; Media Insider in partnership with Wattpad, hosted a 2-part webinar where we brought industry experts to discuss what makes this generation different from others before them, how marketers need to approach them differently, if they want to become a part of their lives. The panel also discussed the role good storytelling plays in ensuring that GenZers like a particular brand. The panel was moderated by Pooja Jauhari, CEO, The Glitch and had Mohit Joshi, CEO, Havas Media Group, Archana Tiwari-Nayudu, Director - Content &amp; Communications, upGrad, Vikas Bagaria, Founder, Pee Safe and Devashish Sharma, Country Manager, Wattpad India as panelists. Millennials vs GenZ – The key differentiators The conversation started with charting out the major differences between GenZ and the preceding generation, Millennials. The textbook definitions of these two generations are anyone born between 1981 and 1996 (ages 23 to 39 in 2020) are millennials whereas people born between 1996 and 2012 are categorized as GenZ. Explaining what he thinks defines GenZ and differentiates them from millennials and other generations before them, Sharma said, “What differentiates GenZ from previous generations is that they are digital and mobile native, they are great at creating content and they are also people who genuinely want to connect on social causes.” Adding to Sharma’s opinion, Joshi said, “GenZ is socially conscious but also very ruthless. When it comes to choosing a brand, they go beyond the functional benefits and look for the social benefits. And you have to be really fast when talking to them because their attention span is abysmal.” “This is a generation that believes in being real and bold,” added Tiwari-Nayudu. On how stories are an important part of engaging with this audience, Sharma said, “Memes to movies, stories can link brands to culture. While in the past, brand jingles used to help consumers connect with brands and build a recall, today things are different. Today memes do the same job. What has changed is, jingles used to be a one-way communication whereas memes are much more participative and that’s what GenZ is looking for,” added Sharma. The importance of consistency in customer experience For this generation, the kind of experience they get while talking to a brand is very important. Therefore, customer and brand experience becomes an important factor when it comes to this set of audience rooting for a brand. Sharing his thought, Bagaria said, “This is a generation that is looking for a solution and not just a product. This is also a generation that is vocal. They will talk to you and they will tell you what they want and the more you talk to them and give them solutions and information, the more they will stick to you.” Relevance and meaningfulness is important for GenZ added Joshi. “If you want to build a brand for this younger generation, it has to be built in alignment with their values and beliefs,” he added. Joshi also gave the example of recent campaigns Havas Media Group had done for Durex including ‘Mutual Climax’ and ‘Durex Jeans’. “These campaigns happened because we listened to the brand’s consumers and created a narrative around that. Today it is all about creating a product which this generation wants. For them, engaging with a product doesn’t make sense unless it’s been made for them. Therefore, successful marketers have to build a product bottoms up,” elaborated Joshi. “Listening to consumers on every touchpoint is extremely important,” added Jauhari. Throwing some light on how a marketer’s approach towards crafting communication is also changing today, Tiwari-Nayudu added, “I am very happy to see that today, everybody is thinking of a pull model rather than a push model. In the pull model, storytelling is at the core of everything you do. You have to connect with the audience in a way that it is immersive and engaging because you want the audience to be a part of your storytelling." Authenticity in storytelling upGrad recently came up with a campaign that showed people in an office kissing a donkey. The campaign took the phase, kissing ass literally and created a campaign around it. And the ad went viral, owing to both the novelty of the story and the way it was told and also because a lot of people related to it. “When we were working on the idea, we had several rounds of discussion to understand how to go about it. We wanted to be real and authentic. What we came up with resonated with the audience. SOo it is very important that you use a language that your audience understands and tell it in a way that they relate to it because they want real stuff,” shared Tiwari-Nayudu. The conversation also steered towards ‘Causevertising’, which is a term used for brands who create communications around a cause. When asked if GenZ believes in cause-vertising, Joshi said, “For GenZ, cause-vertising is a bad word. They are aware of everything so you can’t really fool them. They will see right through you. At Havas, we have come up with a notion of meaningfulness and there are 3 parts to it. When consumers look at a brand, they look at its functional benefits, that is, what are the basic functions of the product. They look at the personal benefits, which means they see how it is helping them personally. Then thirdly, and this is the most important one for GenZ, they look at the collective benefits.” Giving a recent example, Joshi spoke about Baba ka Dhaba and how that initiative was all about meaningfulness. “Once the conversation started, Swiggy and Zomato got into it and added Baba ka Dhaba to their platforms. That’s something that GenZ considers meaningful. It wasn’t cause-vertising but it was meaningful advertising. They are asking what are you as a brand doing for the industry and the community? They also want to see what you’re doing and if you are able to convince them about your authenticity, they will buy your product. In fact, they are ready to pay more for products that have higher collective benefits,” explained Joshi. Bagaria also shone the light on the importance of creating products by listening to your consumers. “Ours is a brand that is by GenZ and for GenZ. We have come up with so many products just by listening to this young generation. Therefore, it is very important to take a bottoms up approach. Listen to your consumers and then create your products. If you do that much, you won’t need to advertise. Your products will sell automatically,” he said. On what a marketer should focus on in the future to be able to connect with this set of audience, Sharma said, “User-generated content is something that works well for GenZ and that is something marketers should look at. Today, its not just about targeting a direct audience but also about giving a push to these creators through whose content you can unlock newer audiences.” Watch the full conversation here: <div type="javascript" title="Facebook" contenttype="Video"><cdata><![CDATA[]]></cdata></div>

Why good storytelling is the perfect tool to connect and communicate with GenZ

<ul><li>In 2020, Wattpad is looking at increasing its brand partnerships.</li><li>2019 saw it partner with T-Series, Universal, Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Graphic India, Aleph Publishing and Teach for India.</li><li>For Wattpad, the future goal is to ‘entertain and connect the world through stories’.</li></ul>For global writing community and multiplatform entertainment company Wattpad, 2019 was a year of many innovations and landmarks. Last year, Wattpad’s global community touched the 80 million mark, and Apple recognized the platform for driving the Storytelling App Trend of 2019. Wattpad also made a move towards helping writers earn money on the platform by introducing several new monetization initiatives like Wattpad Premium and Wattpad Paid Stories. In entertainment, Wattpad’s film ‘After’ won a People's Choice Award for Best Drama Film, three Teen Choice Awards, and became one of the top-grossing indie films of the year. Their Hulu show, ‘Light as a Feather’ received four Daytime Emmy nominations and a second season order. The Wattpad Studios team also signed a dozen international entertainment deals, forming new partnerships and developing projects with the biggest studios across Europe, Latin America as well as in South Asia. Globally, the platform has been working with brand partners like JC Penny, National Geographic, and T-Mobile. Closer home as well, 2019 saw Wattpad bring brand partners like Universal Music India, T-series, Gaana.com, Graphic India, Big Bang Music, Penguin India and Harper India on board. Come 2020, the platform aims at working with more brands, to build a stronger community of storytellers, while also giving advertisers an opportunity to target an engaged community of writers and readers. Wattpad’s India story In India, Wattpad introduced the <keyword id="7098442" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wattpad-India">Wattpad India</keyword> Awards in December 2019. Modelled on The Wattys, Wattpad’s annual global writing competition, the initiative is aimed at engaging with Wattpad’s growing community of readers and writers in India. Speaking about some of the other highlights from India, Devashish Sharma, Country Manager, Wattpad India said, “2019 was all about educating the market about the offerings of Wattpad. We parterned with schools, colleges, publication houses, trade bodies, production houses, music labels etc. We showcased a new way of connecting with your fans/audience through storytelling. In addition to digital contests, we also ran Masterclasses, Wattpad Campus Talks etc. to reach out to new users.” The platform also partnered with various brands like T-Series, Universal, Penguin Random House, Harper Collins, Graphic India, Aleph Publishing, Teach for India, etc and is on the lookout for bringing more partners on board this year. How brand partners benefitted When used right, storytelling can be an important tool in engaging with audiences. And as more and more brands open up to this power of storytelling, it is expected that Wattpad will see more brand partnerships. Speaking about the opportunities that the platform offers for advertisers, Sharma said, “We are already deeply engaged with brands in India and around the world. With our combination of technology, community, engagement, and a built-in network of influencers, we transform the way brands connect with their audiences - particularly Gen Z - through stories. From video with best-in-class completion rates to branded content and native programs with Wattpad influencers, we tailor brand campaigns to find the best way to reach the right audiences. Wattpad Brand Partnerships aligns brands with stories that are unique, diverse, and have a massive built-in audience so that they can always reach the right consumers with content that is perfectly tailored for them.” Using a new-age platform like Wattpad also means that one has to come up with innovative ways of engagement, and that’s what a few partners tried to do. Gaurav Wadhwa, Founder, Big Bang Music (a JV of Kwan and Sony Music) said, “We've successfully worked on campaigns with WattPad - to combine music and it's expression at a time when nobody seems to be doing it. It's about moving beyond traditional streaming apps, but finding audiences that are still music-centric. Each song that we release through Big Bang Music is unique and WattPad gives us that edge to market these songs to a new audience.” Moreover, publishing houses find a direct connect with a platform like Wattpad. Speaking about how they gained from their recent partnership with the platform, Niti Kumar, Senior VP – Marketing, Digital &amp; Communications, Penguin Random House India said, “It’s been about a year since we have been collaborating with Wattpad to drive discoverability for our books and authors. We started a little cautiously but over time have seen great value online and offline through initiatives like campus events, online chats, contests and excerpt posting. There’s still a lot of potential that Wattpad has and we look forward to newer and better initiatives in 2020!” Wattpad’s vision for the future For Wattpad, the goal is to ‘entertain and connect the world through stories’. Throwing light on their goals ahead, Sharma added, “We are investing in India, growing our business and community in the market, and creating global opportunities for Indian storytellers. We’re helping writers all over the world build an audience and get discovered. Wattpad writers are already bestsellers. When you turn on the TV, go to a movie, or log in to your favourite streaming services, Wattpad’s insights could be behind the decisions that led to that project being green-lit. Soon you’ll see even more Wattpad stories on screens everywhere. India is home to some of the most creative storytellers on the planet, with the most exciting literary and entertainment sectors anywhere. We want to help more India Wattpad writers build a global audience, telling their stories to people around the world.” -- Wattpad is backed in India by Times Bridge, an investment arm of the Times Group

Wattpad: Empowering writers and connecting the world, one story at a time

<ul><li><keyword id="3009415" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Shunali-Khullar-Shroff">Shunali Khullar Shroff</keyword>, the author of ‘Love in the time of Affluenza’ and ‘Battle Hymn of a Bewildered Mother’ is hosting a series of masterclasses on ‘writing and building a compelling narrative.’ </li><li>Starting April 29, the video sessions are being hosted on <keyword id="7098442" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Wattpad-India">Wattpad India</keyword>’s Instagram page. </li><li>She will explain how to go about writing, developing characters, dialogues and the <keyword id="500148" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="art-of-storytelling">art of storytelling</keyword>. </li><li>Earlier, the platform offered sessions from Anand Neelakantan, author of the ‘Bahubali’ trilogy, and Durjoy Datta, author and screenwriter.</li></ul>Shunali Khullar Shroff, the author of ‘Love in the time of Affluenza’ and ‘Battle Hymn of a Bewildered Mother’ is hosting a series of masterclasses on ‘writing and building a compelling narrative.’ Starting April 29, the video sessions are being hosted on Wattpad India’s Instagram page, the Canada-based online publishing platform. “Community and connection are cornerstones of the Wattpad experience. Writers around the world know that Wattpad is a place where they can hone their craft, find a community of other writers, and build a global audience. We’re thrilled to introduce Shunali Khullar Shroff to the Wattpad community and offer this unique opportunity to learn together in a Master Class setting,” said Devashish Sharma, Country Manager, Wattpad India. The best-selling Bloomsbury author will explain how to go about writing, developing characters, dialogues and the art of storytelling. This will cover three aspects of writing — ideation and the first page of the story, research and narrative and the finish line, which will include the final blueprint of the story after editing rounds. The masterclass will conclude with a contest for aspiring writers or authors, inviting them to share short stories on Wattpad. The top three winners will get personalized feedback from Shroff. “Wattpad is democratising storytelling and we are constantly finding ways to create value for our users. Through the association with an author as well-known as Shunali Khullar Shroff, we want to encourage users to write and expand their horizons by helping them understand the writing process better,” said Viral Jani, SVP, Investment Operations at Times Bridge. Wattpad has a user base of nearly 2.6 million users with over 4 million stories. Earlier, the platform offered sessions from Anand Neelakantan, author of the ‘Bahubali’ trilogy, and Durjoy Datta, author and screenwriter. Business Insider and Wattpad both are Times Bridge partners in India See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/thelife/news/world-book-day-here-are-the-five-books-from-the-best-of-wattpad-list/articleshow/75313130.cms">World Book Day: Here are the five books from the best of Wattpad list</a>

Wattpad to host storytelling sessions by bestselling author Shunali Khullar Shroff

<ul><li>Wattpad has 70 million users globally, and 2.6 million of them were <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/people/wattpad-appoints-devashish-sharma-as-india-head/66964720">reportedly</a> in India as of the end of 2018. </li><li>Wattpad uses machine learning to discover stand-out stories among the over 565 million stories on its platform. </li><li>The partnership with Times Bridge will help the company boost its presence in India and reach new users.</li></ul>The Toronto, Canada-based online publishing platform Wattpad has tied up with Times Bridge*, the global investments and partnerships arm of The Times Group, to grow its presence in India and reach new users. Aside from offering the publishing platform like Amazon and Fictionpress.com, Wattpad has created a community for writers. There are forums and contests to engage with peers around the world. Winners of these contests have been known to find publishers. "My Life with the Walter Boys" by Ali Novak, "The Kissing Booth" by Beth Reekles, and "Nothing Left to Lose" by Kristy Moresely, found publishers for the paperback versions through Wattpad, according to a review on another online publishing platform Odyssey. Novak’s work, for instance, had 33 million reads even before it got published, <a href="https://www.amazon.in/Life-Walter-Boys-Ali-Novak/dp/1402297866">according</a> to Amazon. That was the reach of Wattpad in 2014. Wattpad uses machine learning to discover stand-out stories among the over 565 million stories on its platform, the company said in a statement. In 2018, it also tied up with Sony, online streaming service iflix, TV show producers Huayi Brothers Korea and Bavaria Fiction, and the US cable television channel SYFY to turn many of the stories into books, TV shows, films, and digital projects. Wattpad has 70 million users globally, and 2.6 million of them were <a href="https://tech.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/people/wattpad-appoints-devashish-sharma-as-india-head/66964720">reportedly</a> in India as of the end of 2018. And its founder Allen Lau, an electrical engineer turned entrepreneur, wants more of the Indian pie. The India outreach will be led by country manager Devashish Sharma, who was <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/devashishsharma/?originalSubdomain=in">part</a> of the founding team at CoHo, one of India’s co-living companies founded in 2015. Wattpad’s partnership with Times Group, one of the biggest media conglomerates in India, will also be an advantage. “Wattpad is a bold, proven idea that has changed how audiences around the world create and experience stories. Our investment will advance Wattpad’s mission, and original storytelling, across the Indian subcontinent, unlocking the creativity of many millions along the way,” Rishi Jaitly, the CEO of Times Bridge, said. Times Bridge’s previous investments include Uber, Airbnb, Coursera, Houzz, MUBI and Smule among others. In January 2018, Wattpad raised $51 million from Chinese investment giant Tencent, Globe Telecom’s Kickstart Ventures, Peterson Group, Canso, and existing investor Raine. *Times Bridge is also a partner in Business Insider India See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/google-will-groom-these-10-indian-startups-that-use-ai-and-machine-learning/articleshow/68384856.cms">Google will groom these 10 Indian startups that use AI and machine learning</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/Spotify-got-a-million-Indians-to-try-its-app-in-a-week-but-they-will-only-stay-if-the-price-is-right/articleshow/68297160.cms">Spotify got a million Indians to try its app in a week — but they will only stay if the price is right</a>

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