In the golden age of media, “content is king” has permeated the creative landscape and marketplace as an unchallenged mantra. Make great shows, and buyers and viewers will follow. But economist and Harvard professor Bharat Anand calls this the “content trap” and warns against relying on old business models to chase growth. Simply taking your existing content and putting it online isn’t enough. Instead, producers, distributors and broadcasters need to rethink what it really means to provide content. Join us for this illuminating keynote that will make you ask: Can my business strategy survive the virtual era, or do I need to be doing more?

About Bharat Anand…
Bharat Anand is the Vice Provost for Advances in Learning at Harvard University, and the Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School.

Professor Anand is an expert in digital strategy, digital marketing and corporate strategy. His work has examined competition in content industries, focusing on two central challenges that companies increasingly face: getting noticed and getting paid. He created Harvard Business School’s first executive program on digital strategies for media companies. He has written more than 50 articles and case studies, and his scholarly work has received various awards and been profiled in a range of media outlets. His work on digital transformation has influenced startups and established companies worldwide.

His book The Content Trap: A Strategist's Guide to Digital Change has received acclaim for its perspective on strategy and digital transformation. It was named as one of Fast Company’s top 10 business books of 2016, and Bloomberg’s “Best Books of 2017.” 

In 2014, Professor Anand helped create and launch digital learning platforms for Harvard Business School Online (formerly HBX). HBSO’s virtual classroom has been described by Fortune as the “Classroom of the Future”. In his current role as Vice Provost, he has led Harvard University’s efforts to formulate, communicate and implement strategic priorities around online learning, and to leverage technology to create more effective teaching tools, strategies and resources for residential teaching across the university. Since March 2020, Professor Anand has been a part of the central leadership efforts to support and oversee Harvard’s transition to remote teaching.

Professor Anand is a renowned teacher and a two‐time winner of the “Best Teacher Award” at Harvard Business School. He is a recipient of the Apgar Award for Innovation in Teaching, and the Greenhill Award for outstanding contributions to Harvard Business School. 

He received his BA in Economics from Harvard College magna cum laude, and his PhD in Economics from Princeton University.