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Noise, which is one of the top wearable brands in India, was established back in 2014. The company was co-founded by two brothers, Gaurav Khatri and Amit Khatri. They started off by selling smartphone covers and cases, then moved to wearables such as truly wireless earbuds, and smart watches, and then more recently launched Luna Ring and more. The aim was to create affordable, high-quality, wearable technology accessible to a broader audience. They identified a gap in the market for feature-rich wearables that didn't break the bank. Storyboard18 spoke to Gaurav Khatri, co-founder of Noise, to understand the decade-long journey so far and the road ahead for the company.

Edited excerpts. 

<strong>Tell us more about the highlights of the 10-year-old journey of the company.</strong>

It has been a beautiful journey. We have seen growth more than 100% year on year. We have seen the achievement of being the third-highest smart wearable brand in the world. 

<strong>You and Amit were doing completely different things before starting off Noise. You are a commercial pilot yourself. So how did you decide that this is the space that I want to be in?</strong>

I think the reason for loving the tech was also being a pilot. Pilots are always surrounded by the big machines and there's a new tech innovation that is happening there. And in the cockpit also, you see a lot of tech available there. So probably an attachment came from that.

I just did not thrive in my pilot career in the initial days. Probably I had no other way to build my career. It was just that e-commerce was booming and things were showing a positive response in India, and a new India was coming up. The generation was very, very different from how probably our parents or my older ones used to buy the products. So the idea was to now figure out the tech, which has not yet come in. Not only in India but worldwide also it has not been so big, which we feel that there is a potential that can become big in the coming time. So gadget was close to me, and fitness was close to Amit. And fortunately, we were just scrolling around with different, different gadgets every probably three months, six months, we were buying, trying, and then that's the reason probably we got into wearable as a space, earbuds as a space. But yeah, wearable did well for us, so we just continued that.

<strong>What were some of the initial challenges that you faced?</strong>

The most common challenge when you don't come from a background of tech, is probably hiring the right talent and also getting the right partners who work for you. When you work in the technology space, you need the right set of partners who work and create the product, who are ready to work on a smaller scale and someone who believes in you. People who believe into you, getting them motivated and getting them convinced is the biggest challenge, I would say, that was there for us. Beyond that, the rest of everything is more of an operational challenge. So, that's the journey.

<strong>Going forward, what are some of the products and innovations that we expect from Noise that you are most excited about?</strong>

There's a lot that is happening with the global giant Bose, you will see soon. But yes, a lot on AI, a lot on health.

<strong>What is your and Amit's ambition with Noise going forward?</strong>

So when we started, we used to just think about India as a market. Now we're trying to figure out a way how to make it, India's first brand to go global and make a bigger name there.

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Noise co-founder Gaurav Khatri reflects on 10 years of transforming wearable technology

In the latest episode of Media Dialogues with Storyboard18, Delshad Irani sits down with Shweta Jain, a prominent Chief Marketing Officer and one of India's most influential marketers.


Jain's career spans significant roles at Diageo, a major player in the alcoholic beverage industry, and now she serves as the Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at The Leela Group, a renowned name in hotels and hospitality. This episode focuses on the evolving role of forward-thinking CMOs.


Jain reflects on the unique opportunities presented to Indian brands today, noting, “We’re witnessing a once-in-a-lifetime moment where Indian brands are capturing global attention. This rare convergence of opportunity is something we haven’t seen in many years, and these years are all about seizing these moments and sharing our stories with the world.”


At The Leela Group, Jain and her team are harnessing these opportunities, especially around the festive season and emerging trends in leisure travel. She highlights how changing patterns in short breaks, longer indulgent holidays, and new travel occasions are shaping their marketing strategies, bringing together a blend of trends and energies for a dynamic approach to customer engagement.



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The Leela Group's Shweta Jain on seizing a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Indian brands

<strong>Note to viewers: Revised advisory issued on July 3 by MIB on Food & Health sector only with a provision of an annual declaration.</strong><em> 

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), On June 3, adhering to a Supreme Court directive, announced a new mandate requiring advertisers and ad agencies to submit a Self-Declaration Certificate (SDC) before any ad publication or broadcast. The initiative aims to curb misleading advertisements and protect consumers, but achieving this goal remains a significant challenge.


To delve into the impact of these measures on the advertising industry, Storyboard18's editor Delshad Irani spoke with Gowree Gokhale, Partner at Nishith Desai Associates; Lloyd Mathias, Business Strategist and Investor; Kazim Rizvi, Founding Director of The Dialogue; and Ahmed Aftab Naqvi, Global CEO and Co-Founder of Gozoop Group.


According to Mathias, there is a need for measures that penalise rogue advertisers without compromising freedom of expression. He proposed methods such as temporary bans on advertising for repeat offenders to ensure accountability and integrity in advertising practices.


“The government has kind of, put the onus or responsibility on advertisers, who, in turn, have pushed it to the agencies. And at the second level, they have also put the onus in a sense on broadcasters and media owners, saying, you guys are the second level of defence. However, the real problem is rogue advertisers who have made misleading claims and who have actually misled people, which possibly triggered this whole exercise in the first place. And, therefore, I think the onus has to shift in terms of how do you monitor rogue advertisers without creating a censorship issue,” Mathias stated.


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“I think the idea should be how do we reinforce integrity, and how do you penalise rogue advertisers? If someone has been an offender, I think there has to be a method where he or she gets penalised. If you've deliberately made a false claim, despite certification of which there are regulations in place, do you get banned from media, so to speak, so no advertiser registered in this country can take your communication for a six-month period? That will make advertisers far more cognisant about their responsibility to society. And like I said, there will always be rogue elements, like there is in any society. But I think the issue that needs to be resolved is at that end. What we have really done is right now just complicated the whole issue. At one level, we talk of the ease of doing business, I think this has just needlessly thrown open a can of worms," he added.


He also suggests a system of naming and shaming as a potential solution to enforce integrity within the industry.


Meanwhile, Ahmed Aftab Naqvi pointed to the self-regulatory frameworks of major digital advertising platforms like Google and Meta. These platforms enforce strict guidelines and penalise advertisers who violate them by blacklisting their accounts, which serves as a strong deterrent.


Naqvi suggested that adopting similar punitive measures, such as advertiser blacklisting, could effectively deter deceptive practices in traditional media.


<strong>Read More:</strong> <a href="https://www.storyboard18.com/how-it-works/relief-for-advertisers-as-mib-restricts-sdc-for-ads-to-food-and-health-sectors-only-36128.htm">Relief for advertisers as MIB restricts SDC for ads to food and health sectors only</a>

Experts urge govt to penalise rogue advertisers without curtailing free speech

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Over the past few months, Metaverse has received a lot of attention. Some brands are viewing marketing in the metaverse as an opportunity to reach a larger audience in an engaging manner. Increasingly, automakers are getting onto the metaverse bandwagon to enhance their customer experience.

Mindshare India recently conceptualised and enabled the first ever electric vehicle (EV) launch in the metaverse for Volvo Cars in a space called Volvoverse. This is a first-of-its-kind collaboration across WPP agencies.

Watch to find out how and why they did it. 

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Meeting Amin Lakhani and Amit Jain in Volvoverse 

<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start">﻿</span>Sudhir Sitapati joined the homegrown FMCG giant Godrej Consumer Products as MD and CEO last year when the world was beginning to open up in a post-pandemic era. 

In a candid interview with Storyboard18's editor Delshad Irani, Sitapati tells us how he articulated his vision for GCPL and his approach towards marketing and brand building. Sitapati also shares how Godrej is democratising categories, his advice for young marketers and leaders, and what he thinks is the secret to creating brands and businesses that are built to last.<span data-mce-type="bookmark" style="display: inline-block; width: 0px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 0;" class="mce_SELRES_start">﻿</span>

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