Dr Shashi Tharoor is the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information and a prize-winning author of nine books, both fiction and non-fiction, including the classic The Great Indian Novel (1989). His novel Show Business (1992) received a front-page accolade in the New York Times Book Review and has since been made into a motion picture, "Bollywood", and his highly-praised India: From Midnight to the Millennium (1997) was cited by President Clinton in his address to the Indian Parliament. His Nehru: The Invention of India (2003), a biography of India's first Prime Minister, was a best-seller in India, as was his most recent book, a collection of literary essays, Bookless in Baghdad (2005). A widely-published critic, commentator and columnist (notably for The Hindu and Newsweek), Shashi Tharoor is also a senior United Nations official whose career includes working for refugees (he headed the Singapore office of UNHCR in 1981-84, during the boat people crisis) and handling peace-keeping operations (he led the team on the former Yugoslavia at the Department of Peace-Keeping Operations at UN Headquarters, 1991-96).

As head of the Department of Public Information, Shashi Tharoor is responsible for the UN's worldwide message and supervises a network of over sixty offices around the globe. A senior advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, he was named by the World Economic Forum in Davos in 1998 as a "Global Leader of Tomorrow." Shashi Tharoor earned his Ph.D. at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at the age of 22, and holds two master's degrees and a honorary D.Litt. He is the father of twin sons who are seniors at Yale University.
[For more about Shashi Tharoor, please see www.shashitharoor.com].

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Managing Director, Hindustan Lever Limited.

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Hon’ble Union Minister of State for Tourism with Independent Charge, Government of India.

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Stefan Engeseth - DetectiveMarketing.com ™
After finishing his studies in economics, Stefan Engeseth pursued a career as a professional dancer. In his spare time, he read books on management, innovation and marketing, an interest that eventually led to the creation of his own related theories and concepts.

Stefan’s ideas range from innovative and future-oriented to bordering on far-fetched. Yet, they all build on the universal truth that without innovation and visions, companies will not grow in today’s highly competitive business world.

The question is, how far are you prepared to go? Stefan uses scenarios from companies such as CNN, Sony, GM, Coca-Cola and Ericsson to illustrate the enormous potential of all companies. Ranked among the top five per cent by one leading speaking bureau.

Stefan has always been fascinated by the detective’s endless search for clues and answers. He has used interviews with real working detectives to formulate theories for the business world. Detective Marketing presents his method of finding what’s hidden in the blind spot and learning to see what your competitors don’t. The detective finds your customers’ hidden needs and helps the marketer communicate it. Who knows what you will come up with.

A new book on the topic ONE will be released internationally in 2005.

Over the years, Stefan Engeseth has worked as a speaker and consultant with internationally companies and Fortune 500 corporations. Often he is described as on of the world’s leading experts in his fields (well he like to say its only common sense). Regardless of the brand favoured by customers, common sense remains a useful competitive tool.

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Vahid Mehrinfar, Executive Principal and Chief Brand Futurist of Vahid Associates headquartered in Bahrain, is renowned for his revolutionary ideas on brand futurity. He has empowered many of his clients to create successful indigenous brands and to excel in their domain, conducting international relationships beyond today and into tomorrow’s world.

An alumnus of Art Center College of Design – Pasadena, Vahid was trained as an industrial designer specializing in transportation and product design. However his zeal and intensity of cognition led him to explore other creative spheres.

Vahid’s professional career over the past 26 years has earned international recognition through work in a variety of projects ranging from art direction for film productions, corporate promotional illustrations, rendering visualization of palace interiors and private jets, architectural renditions of mega-development projects to creation of brands that have pioneered a new outlook in product development in the Middle East.

He was selected as one of Houston’s 84 most interesting personalities in 1984 by the Houston City magazine, and was selected in 1988 as one of the top 200 illustrators of America for advertising conceptualization by the Communication Arts magazine.

Through application of his unique methodologies, Vahid Mehrinfar has accumulated an enviable track record with an extensive portfolio of clients across his markets of operation, which includes the Gulf region, UK, US and Iran, and now promises to cover India. Leading banks and financial institutions, real estate development companies, private entrepreneurs as well as government bodies have been inspired by Vahid’s branding approach to induce performance.

An inspirational fountainhead, he explores creative and strategic frontiers that establish new dimensions to the present domains of design for business disciplines. Using his prodigious ability to envision what is yet to be, he aligns the unknown and the unseen with encouraging possibilities for the future. Unraveling this command as a business strategy visionary, he has helped develop effective solutions in a wide variety of assignments.

Alongside his corporate ventures, he has served in the capacity of exclusive advisor to numerous international firms, as well as advisory board member of a number of private organizations. Vahid is also the honorary board member of CGSociety (computer graphics), the most respected and accessible global organization for creative digital artists.

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George Zacharias has been President and Chief Operating Officer of Sify Limited since March 2000. He has played a key part in formulating and executing the strategies that turned around the company, and in leading the management team through the Company’s rapid revenue growth (to a US$100 million run rate) over the past five years.

He joined Sify from Madura Coats, Bangalore, India where he had worked for 16 years in a variety of sales, marketing and export assignments. He was the Marketing Director, Coats Tootal Lanka, Colombo prior to becoming, in 1997, President of Madura Garments, the leading garment and retail company in India, then a division of Madura Coats.

As President, Madura Garments, he held profit centre responsibility for the then US$23 million business that he grew to US$50 million annual revenues in the next two and a half years. He oversaw the launch of several national brands like Peter England, Byford, San Frisco as well as the launch of new retail formats like Trouser Town and Planet Fashion.

George has a degree in Chemical Engineering from Nagpur University, 1980 and an MBA from XLRI, Jamshedpur, 1982. From campus he joined Grindwell Norton and was with them till December 1983, when he joined Madura Coats.

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Education:

Work Experience

UNICEF -- since 20 years

• Programme Communication Officer, Prog. Comm section handling all mass media and research activities related to polio programme.
• Project Officer, Advocacy and Partnerships section
• Project Officer, Health Section
• Programme Officer, EPI, in charge of the Communications component of the Universal Immunisation Programme
• Nutrition Officer – Health & Nutrition Section in charge of “micronutrients” programme with a focus on Iodine Deficiency Disorders Controll Programme. Also handled Leprosy Control and ARI programme

Before UNICEF

• Independent development consultant : Women’s programmes and income generation programmes
• Worked with several bilateral and donor agencies, including Ford Foundation, Dutch Water Mission, UNICEF, etc. Retainer “consultant” for Oxfam America
• Institute of Social studies Trust, Consultant on women’s Programmes
• Management Consulting experience with Dr M B Athreya,
  § Playgroup Coordinator, Co-editor of Scottish Playgroups Bimonthly magazine
• Planning Officer, Grindlays Bank, London, The UK
• Glaxo Laboratories, Product Manager, Family Products Division , Bombay
• First National Citibank, Credit Officer, Madras

Training

• IEC training at BKKBN, Indonesia
• Training in Public Health and nutrition issues
• PRA/PLA with Robert Chambers
• Extensive training experience in management

Publications

• Presentation made at the Third World media Summit for Children , Thessaloniki Greece on The Influence of TV on Children – 2001
• Series of articles after the Gujarat Earhquake published in National newspapers, UNICEF USA website -- 2001
• Paper presented at the International Union of Health Education Conference at Amsterdam -1991
• Several articles on Health – immunisation, ORT, diarrhoea management, social marketing 1989— 1993
• Role of Indian Women in Dairying – Contributor to Book of case studies published by The Ford Foundation – 1986

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Michael Birkin is a graduate of University College, London, where he studied law. He began his career at Price Waterhouse, moving to Allied Dunbar and then to Interbrand, the Branding and Identity Consultancy, as Chief Executive. After the acquisition of Interbrand by Omnicom Group Inc. he moved to their Diversified Agency Services (“DAS”) division, as President, Europe.

In 1997 he became International President of DAS responsible for all DAS companies in Europe and Asia Pacific. In 1998 he became President of DAS Worldwide based in New York.

In March 2005, he became Vice Chairman of Omnicom Group Inc. and President and CEO of Omnicom Asia Pacific.

Omnicom Group Inc. (NYSE-OMC) (www.omnicomgroup.com) is a leading global advertising, marketing and corporate communications company. Omnicom’s branded networks and numerous specialty firms provide advertising, strategic media planning and buying, direct and promotional marketing, public relations and other specialty communications services to over 5,000 clients in more than 100 countries.

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Tony Wright, Lowe Worldwide’s newly appointed CEO, is a well-known advertising internationalist with a wealth of experience. Named by Campaign magazine as one of the best five account planners in the world, and admitted to the Advertising Hall of Achievement by the American Advertising Federation, his unique talent for brand-building, strategic focus and client service has been recognized on both sides of the Atlantic. Additionally, his success at major global agencies, as well as at entrepreneurial creative “hot” shops have slated him as the ideal candidate to lead Lowe.

Prior to joining Lowe, he served as Chief Strategy and Planning Officer for Ogilvy & Mather, where he created their 360 Degree Branding Toolkit, widely recognized as the premiere model for integrated marketing. His management responsibilities for Pepsico, Unilever and Kodak, were key to being awarded the business globally. He was also the architect of the rebranding of Europe’s largest company, British Petroleum, into BP -“Beyond Petroleum.

Tony’s previous experience includes the creation of Berlin Wright Cameron, an agency which earned a name for itself by breaking with industry tradition, and which still garners headlines today. In 1990, he formed McElligott Wright Morrison White in Minneapolis, which was later folded into Omnicom. Tony also worked at Chiat/Day where he is credited as having been the driving force behind the Energizer Bunny campaign.

Tony was born and educated in London, England, and subsequently studied at l’universite Paris-Sorbonne and Freie Universitat Berlin in Germany.

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David found fame early. As a baby he was rescued from a burning church in the arms of Jenny Agutter in the movie ‘55 days in Peking.’ And as co-founder of BBDO Guerrero Ortega he’s been doing his best to recapture that early glory. Since its inception in 1998 it has been consistently ranked as one of Asia’s leading creative agencies.

The company has grown to over 80 staff, ranks in the country’s top 10 and has set a number of benchmarks for the market. The agency has won the only Advertiser of the Year award for a local client at Media Magazine’s Agency of the Year awards. The same show has named David as one of the top three agency heads in the region, while Campaign Brief Asia magazine has also named him one of Asia’s top 10 creatives.

At the end of 2004 David was named as head of BBDO’s Asia Pacific Regional Creative Council. In 2005 he was only the third person inducted to the Creative Guild of the Philippines ‘Hall of Fame.’ In that year the agency set a new local record for awards at the Asia Pacific AdFest and picked up the country’s first Silver Lion at Cannes.

He started his advertising career in London and spent five years in Hong Kong before moving to Manila. His work has won recognition at every major awards scheme - including Golds at Cannes and Clio and the Grand Prize at London International. He was educated in Devon and Sussex and through a strange quirk of fate supports Everton Football Club. He is married to a former agency rival and between them they have two very brand-conscious kids.

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Piyush Pandey has been named the most influential man in Indian advertising three years in a row by The Economic Times, India’s premier business paper. Under his leadership, O&M India has won a dozen Lions. And, in 2004, he became the first Asian to be the president of the Cannes jury.

But Piyush Pandey doesn’t have a job.

That’s because Piyush considers advertising a hobby: “When you’re having so much fun, how can you call it work?”

Before he ‘quit working’, Piyush was a professional cricketer and tea-taster. Then in the 80’s he put away his teacups and hung up his ball-guard (!) to join Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai. He became its national creative director in 1994.

Over the years he has picked up over 500 Indian advertising awards. Under his leadership, O&M has been named India’s most creative agency nine times in the last ten years. And O&M India is now ranked amongst the most creative offices in the entire O&M worldwide network.

Ad Club Mumbai voted Piyush’s commercial for the adhesive brand Fevikwik as the commercial of the century. And his work on Cadburys, as the campaign of the century. Not surprisingly, people in India refer to chocolates as Cadburys.

Piyush hates being called the Godfather of Indian Advertising, a title often thrust upon him. He would rather be known as the Minister of Fun at O&M Advertising.

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Executive Director -Consumer Electronics (Philips Electronics India Limited)

Shivakumar is an Engineer from IIT-Chennai and an MBA from IIM, Kolkata, where he finished top of the Marketing Class. He has just returned from an Advanced Management Program at Wharton.

Shiv has spent 15 years with Hindustan Levers, working across a wide range of brands in Oral Care, Beverages and Hair-Care. In 2003, he moved to Philips as the Executive Director responsible for Consumer Electronics.

He is a regular contributor to business literature. He loves teaching and is a regular faculty and guest speaker in many business schools across the country. His favourite topics: brands, strategy and leadership.

Shiv is married to Hamsini, who is the Vice President, Account Planning in JWT, India.

Shiv will be speaking about the meaning of brands, in the last decade, to the consumer and to the business. He will then talk about challenges for brands in the next decade, taking into consideration the changing individual, changing society, influence of technology and the economic system we operate in.

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Professor Seshan Ramaswami is Visiting Associate Professor of Marketing at the Indian School of Business where he has been teaching a course on Consumer Behaviour for the past three years. He was the pioneering marketing faculty member at the Singapore Management University and at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, and has also taught at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Ramaswami has an undergraduate degree in Mathematics from St Xavier’s College, a PGDM from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad and a PhD in Marketing from the University of Florida. His main academic research interest is in understanding consumer decision making with a focus on experimental methods that uncover contextual biases among consumers. His research has been published in the Journal of Consumer Research and the Journal of Retailing.

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Earl J. Wilkinson is executive director of the International Newspaper Marketing Association, or INMA, a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting advanced marketing principles within the newspaper industry.

INMA today is the world’s fastest-growing press association with more than 7,000 members and subscribers in 125 countries.

As CEO of INMA:

• Earl is the publisher of Ideas Magazine and The Newspaper Industry E-Newsletter – two closely followed products among top executives of U.K. newspapers.
• He is the primary architect of INMA’s four web sites, including the award-winning INMA.org.
• He is the author of more than a dozen books and reports on the newspaper industry – notably the annual “Outlook” report on what the next year holds for newspapers.
• He has spoken at nearly 50 industry conferences over the years on six continents.
• He is widely quoted in financial newspapers and trade magazines on the future of newspapers, media strategy, and marketing.

And in his spare time, Earl is the editor of the newspapers and media section of Encyclopedia Britannica.

He comes to us today from Dallas, Texas, where INMA’s head office is based.

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Rama Bijapurkar is a recognised thought leader on market strategy and consumer related issues in India. She has her own consulting practice; and serves on the boards of Infosys, CRISIL, Godrej Consumer Products, UTI Bank etc; and is a visiting professor and also member board of governors of IIMAhmedabad.

Her first job in 1977 was in advertising with Lintas where she lasted exactly for a year. Then she worked in market research with Pathfinders, was one of the founding team of MODE, was deputy managing director of MARG and then moved on to consulting working with McKinsey and later set up her own practice.

A passionate crusader for customer centricity in business, Rama has a lot to say about what the advertising can do to help that process.

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Education

• 1966: Graduated from Sainik School Kunjpura, Karnal
• 1970: Graduated with Economics(Honors), Fergusson College, Pune
• 2000: CMAS 2 Star Scuba Diving Instructor

Profile

• 1971: Joined advertising as an Accounts Executive in ASP, Delhi for one year. Was subsequently transferred to the Bombay office.
• 1977: Established Genesis Film Production.
• 1972: Joined renowned Feature Filmmaker Shyam Benegal, as an Asst. Director on ‘Ankur’, ‘Manthan’, ‘Bhumika’ (Award winning Hindi Feature Film).
• 1999: Was one of the few Indian Directors to direct international commercials for clients like Uni Levers and Pepsico in Burma, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Asia Pacific Region. Also started the specialty Tea House in Bombay, the first of its kind in the country.2000: Received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award from IAAFA for his contribution to Advertising and Film Art.
• 2003: Genesis was voted the top production house by Brand Equity in a nationwide survey of agencies.
• 2004: Continues as Director for Genesis Film Production, one of India’s leading production houses, established in 1977.
• 2005: Honour received from the Advertising Club at the 38th ABBY Awards Bombay, the Distinctive Recognition Award.

Social Activities

• 1994: Co-Founder Member of Reefwatch Marine Conservation an NGO involved in Marine conservation and awareness, education, scientific research and data collection.
• 1995: Was President of IAAFA, the Academy of Excellence for recognizing and promoting technical excellence in the field of Advertising Films in India for 5 years.
• Since 1994: Has been a highly coveted speaker for forums on Media and Films and for various TV channels like NDTV, STAR TV, CNBC. Has also been guest lecturer in many esteemed Film and Mass Comm Institutes of the country like, FTII, Symbiosis, Sophia Polytechnic, XIC, NID.

PRAHLAD KAKAR’S ENTERPRISES

GENESIS

Prahlad Kakar founded Genesis Film Production Pvt. Ltd. in 1977 and virtually invented television advertising, after having assisted Shyam Benegal, one of India’s most renowned filmmakers. “To tell a story in 30 secs in the most engaging way possible” remains Prahlad’s raison d’etre for remaining passionate about ad filmmaking even twenty-five years later. Genesis, as is common knowledge in the business, continues to train generations of dedicated filmmakers. Through the years, corporations like Nestle, Pepsico, Brittania, Levers have continued to communicate their brand stories through Prahlad Kakar.
Making films that capture the dreams and aspirations of his vast target audience, Prahlad has ruled the ad film making business and has won several awards for technical excellence, Innovation and creativity in advertising over the years in India. Genesis won both gold and silver awards including campaign of the year for the Pepsi commercials at AAAI in 1996. The public films for Ceat won awards in the New York Festival of Advertising. Commercials directed by Prahlad have also been nominated for Lions at Cannes.
Twenty – five years down the line Prahlad Kakar has earned himself a Lifetime Achievement Award by the IAAFA in the year 1999 and has got Genesis the top Production House for two years in a row for years 2003 and 2004 by the Brand Equity.
** Prahlad has a reputation for being irreverent and direct with clients and crew in the advertising world, and is more popularly known as the Enfant Terrible who never grew up. Prahlad’s passions include his diving school in the Lakshadweep islands and his own brand of gourmet cooking.

OFFSPRING AND OFFSHOOT

Genesis has given birth to Offspring and Offshoot, production companies that are owned by Mitali Dutt Kakar. Prahlad Kakar remains Principal Director for her production houses as well. Mitali Dutt Kakar’s vast production experience, production design detailing and aesthetic sense has made her one of the top producers in the country. Mitali has produced successful campaigns for Pepsi, Nestle, Cadbury Schweppes and Britannia (to name just a few) that have been successful both in national and international arenas. Offspring co-ordinates all of Prahlad’s Vietnam work, where he directs films for Levers and P&G.

REEF WATCH

Reef Watch Marine Conservation (RWMC) is a non-profit NGO, which is registered under the Charity Commissioner’s Act in Mumbai, founded by a group of dedicated, like-minded scuba divers certified by CMAS (World Underwater Federation). They have been diving extensively for the past decade, during which they have observed and documented the status and health of coral reefs around the Lakshadweep Islands off India. RWMC evolved from our genuine concern for the fragile marine ecosystem.

As, the name suggests, RWMC is currently involved in marine awareness programmes with an objective to help identify and protect the coral reefs from further damage. With a team of professionally trained divers and many concerned individuals who are committed to the cause of protecting and preserving the marine environment, RWMC has reached out to people especially women and children, schools and other educational centers and with their support worked on various projects that have contributed to creating Ocean Awareness amongst people.

Our divers monitor and report the status and health of the coral reefs in Lakshadweep at regular intervals, enabling them to identify the areas of the reef that need urgent scientific attention. They also involve the local islanders in all our endeavors by creating awareness and holding training programmes in reef monitoring activities. Marine scientists from around the country have been trained in advanced scuba diving courses to enable them to dive and carry out research work. Marine awareness programmes are organized for school children in the cities, through slide shows, short films and interactive discussions, art and essay workshops etc.

RWMC contact: reefwatch@usa.net, reefwatch@vsnl.net or contact@lacadives.com
URL: www.lacadives.com Telephone: 91-22-56627381 / 82 Fax: 91-22-56669241

LACADIVES

Lacadives, India’s Premier Sports Diving Organization was set up in 1995, by Prahlad and Mitali Kakar in Kadmat Island with the active collaboration of the administration of Lakshadweep.

Lacadives has set standards, which are on par, if not better than any other in the world, for safety and committed teaching of students, Indians and Foreigners.

To date Lacadives has certified over 450 Indian Divers. It is the only CMAS certified Dive Centre in India and is also the only establishment to have Six ** CMAS Instructors working with it on a full time basis.

In March 2000 Lacadives was invited by the Casino Group to run the Dive Centre at the exotic Bangaram Island Resort at Lakshadweep.

The Instructor to Diver Ratio in Lacadives’ operations in Lakshadweep and The Andaman & Nicobar Islands (commencing November 2000) is better than any that can be found elsewhere in the world. This is what makes it India’s Premier Diving Institution.

In addition to this, Lacadives is part of the Underwater Federation of India and has established the Indian Scuba Diving Association to ensure the adherence of safety norms in this industry. To further compliment its activities Lacadives has set up an NGO called REEF WATCH, whose mission is to create awareness amongst children through workshops and practical training about the fragile Marine Environment.

Lacadives is also the first Dive Centre to have it own Live Aboard, SEA URCHIN, a 55 foot vessel, 150 HP Scania Engine, with sleeping facilities for 8 passengers and four crew. A compressor, de-salination plant, centrally air conditioned, with a 10 foot RIB and a diving platform.

THE SEA URCHIN

The “Sea Urchin”, a dive support vessel, is currently based in Karnataka. It is a 55 feet long boat, designed to be used as a research vessel for marine biologists, fully equipped with state of the art dive equipment, compressor, a diving platform, a Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) and a small laboratory to conduct experiments and verify samples found on the reef. In the future, RMWC hopes to invite scientists and marine biologists from the country and aboard to conduct workshops for students interested in this field. Other than this, the boat is also used to snorkeling off Netrani Island, near Bhatkal, 25 miles North of Kundapur. The Sea Urchin is ably supported by a 27-foot boat, the Barracuda, suitably equipped in diving and snorkeling equipment.

RESTAURANTS

Prahlad Kakar has also been involved in restaurant design. He took on the initiative of reviving the culture of tea in India with a touch of sophistication, a venture which culminated in the Tea Centre, a restaurant designed by him at Churchgate, in association with the Tea Board of India.

In 1985, he ran a Gourmet Restaurant at the Prithvi Theater, Bombay with Jennifer Kendal Kapoor.
In 2001, he started Casa Amore, an exclusive wine bar and restaurant.

Prahlad has also created Papa Pancho for designer Mamta Sekhri. It is one of the few places in Mumbai that offers traditional, home-cooked Punjabi food.

“Sarson da Saaga”, Bombay’s first “ Slow food, Punjabi- home style cooking” opened at IMAX in March, 2002.

INTERESTS

Gourmet cooking, Reading, Swimming, Snorkeling, Scuba Diving, Squash and Horse Riding.

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