About this podcast
Earned First is a groundbreaking media and events platform dedicated to elevating public relations and communications professionals across Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa. Hosted by respected industry journalist Arun Sudhaman, the Earned First podcast delivers crucial insights and intelligence for the global public relations industry.
Episodes
The newest 20 of 39 episodes
- Kaizzen’s Vineet Handa on monetisation, Middle East expansion and AI enemies · 37 min · Episode 39Vineet Handa, founder and CEO of Kaizzen, joins the Earned First podcast to discuss one of the more unusual independent agency stories in India. Founded in 2008, the firm sold a…
- Jean-Léopold Schuybroek: Four decades of building independent PR · 25 min · Episode 38Jean-Leopold Schuybroek, chair of PROI’s International Development Group, joins the Earned First podcast to reflect on four decades in the consultancy business. The Interel…
- Geopolitics, Mastercard & OpenAI's CCO search · 39 min · Episode 37Earned First's David Blecken and Arun Sudhaman look at the backlash over Singapore Airlines' stake in Air India, Chinese brands going global, and Mastercard's global PR pitch…
- Why corporate affairs pros want change, with GlobeScan's Chris Coulter · 36 min · Episode 36GlobeScan CEO Chris Coulter joins the Earned First podcast to break down findings from the latest Oxford-GlobeScan Global Corporate Affairs Survey. Now in its seventh edition…
- Culture, Cannes & cockroaches with Charlotte Mceleny · 47 min · Episode 35Charlotte Mceleny returns to discuss Cannes Lions 2026: the creator economy's growing dominance, the industry's fixation on "culture," and renewed momentum behind CCOs and…
- Cannes: Chris Foster on creative shifts, earned momentum and acquisition lessons · 28 min · Episode 34Earned First's Cannes podcast series concludes with Omnicom PR CEO Chris Foster, who joins Arun Sudhaman for a wide-ranging conversation about creativity, culture, CCOs and…
- Cannes: Burson's Craig Buchholz on the PR Grand Prix, the CCO's rise and more · 26 min · Episode 33Craig Buchholz, US CEO of Burson, joins Earned First at Cannes Lions 2026 the day after the agency's Kit Kat Heist campaign won the PR Lions Grand Prix. He discusses what made it…
- Cannes: We.'s Nitin Mantri on community, crisis and counsel · 24 min · Episode 33Recorded at Cannes Lions 2026, We.Communications Asia-Pacific president Nitin Mantri discusses how brands such as Adidas and ITC have built genuine community participation rather…
- Cannes: Jim O'Leary on agency upheaval, AI myths & Cannes' transformation · 31 min · Episode 32Newly-installed Penta gobal CEO Jim O'Leary joins the Earned First podcast at Cannes to argue that legacy agency models are buckling under client demands they weren't built for…
- Podcast: Zeno's Barby Siegel and Thomas Bunn on the CMO-CCO growth gap · 34 min · Episode 30In the first our Cannes podcasts, Zeno global CEO Barby Siegel and chief client impact officer Thomas Bunn examine the firm's Clarity 2030 research, which studies CMO attitudes…
- Tetsuya Honda on Japan Inc's global comms challenges · 45 min · Episode 29Tetsuya Honda spent nearly 20 years at Fleishman Hillard before leaving to build Honda Office, a strategy-only consultancy operating without permanent staff or execution…
- Burson's Red Surtida on GEO's 'credibility paradox' · 35 min · Episode 28In this episode, Burson's Asia-Pacific head of intelligence and transformation Red Surtida joins Earned First founding editor Arun Sudhaman and research and insights editor David…
- Holding groups, CMOs & Cannes with Charlotte Mceleny · 40 min · Episode 27Charlotte Mceleny has seen the PR and marketing industry from both sides, through 15 years as a journalist, then inside a holding group at MediaMonks. In this conversation, she…
- Mazen Nahawi on conflict, communications and courage in the Middle East · 45 min · Episode 26Mazen Nahawi, founder and group CEO of CARMA and RAIYN, joins Earned First to assess the communications landscape of the ongoing US-Iran conflict. Drawing on CARMA's media…
- AI and the future of women in the workplace · 47 min · Episode 25Christine Fellowes, founder of NINEby9, and Jane Morgan, chief client officer at Ashbury Communications, join Earned First to discuss Nineby9's latest research report, AI and the…
- QI Group's Ramya Chandrasekaran on AI, culture & the evolving role of the CCO · 33 min · Episode 24Ramya Chandrasekaran, chief communications officer at QI Group, joins Arun Sudhaman to discuss how AI has moved from experiment to embedded practice inside her team, why…
- Mary Njoki on PR transformation in Africa · 35 min · Episode 23In this episode, Arun Sudhaman speaks with Mary Njoki, founder and CEO of Glass House PR in Nairobi, about the findings of the State of PR in Africa report — a survey of 54…
- Stagwell's Margaret Key on why she left Publicis & what comes next for PR networks · 43 min · Episode 22Margaret Key, Asia Pacific CEO at Allison Worldwide and executive director at Stagwell, on why she left one of the most successful holding groups in the business, what…
- Gil Bashe on the healthcare sector's trust crisis · 36 min · Episode 21In this episode of the Earned First podcast, Gil Bashe, chair of health and purpose at Finn Partners, argues that healthcare’s most urgent crisis is no longer innovation or…
- Kelly Bennett on PR talent, independence & life after Omnicom · 31 min · Episode 20In this episode of the Earned First podcast, Kelly Bennett, founder and managing director of New Zealand's One Plus One, explains how he has built and grown an independent PR…
