7Up woos the South market with its 'Star with Allu' contest

PepsiCo's clear lemon drink, 7Up is trying to beat the heat. It has launched a talent-based consumer promotion in Andhra Pradesh (AP), where consumers will be judged on their dancing skills and showmanship. Seven winners will be selected, who can then star in a music video with Tollywood heartthrob, Allu Arjun.

The contest, called 'Star with Allu', has been launched across 13 cities in AP: Rajahmundry, Kurnool, Guntur, Vijaywada, Hyderabad, Vizianagram, Nalgonda, Tirupati, Nizamabad, Vizag, Nellore, Warangal and Karimnagar. The month-long contest will end on October 15.

To register for the dance competition, consumers need to collect and submit two crowns of the 7Up glass bottle or one label of the 7Up PET bottle, along with ID proof and their photograph.

To promote the contest, Mudra's events arm, Celsius has launched an integrated campaign, employing TV, radio, on-ground float activations, trade branding, OOH, flash mobs and ambient installations.

Click and print zones have been created in malls and other trade outlets, where cutouts of the star have been placed and passersby can get their photos taken.

Emcee-led floats will also roam the streets, where a lot of games, on-the-spot contests and consumer engagement capsules will be conducted. While participants are instantly gratified with Allu Arjun portrait T-shirts, bandanas and caps; the emcee and volunteers give out information about the contest, including city specific details like the audition venue, and invite consumers to participate.

Vandana Verma, country head, Mudra Celsius says, "The idea behind this is that 7Up wants to gratify its loyal customers for patronizing the brand and aims to bring together the craze for Allu Arjun -- the heartthrob of Tollywood -- and 7Up drinkers on one platform and make the seven lucky ones stars overnight."

During the auditions, 20 people will be selected from each city. These 260 people will be judged from their videos recorded at the auditorium and 20 people will be shortlisted. The grand finale will take place at the end of the month, where the 20 dancers will perform at a press conference and Allu Arjun and his team will pick seven to star with him in the video. The video will be recorded shortly thereafter and will see 7Up branding.

Verma shares that the core reason for doing this in AP is that the market is very important to the brand, given the climatic conditions of the state. The lemon drink is a hit with consumers looking to beat dehydration due to the heat. Also, the contest is dance-based, because people in this state love dancing.

For the record, Celsius is Mudra Max's events arm and currently offers integrated event solutions. It provides clients with services including creating brand experiences, thematic programmes and maximizing the impact of brand communications. Celsius has operations in the top six metropolitan cities of the country. It currently works with 20 odd clients, including PepsiCo, SABMiller, Volkswagen, RBS, Wrigley's and Philips.

Verma shares that one of Mudra Celsius' plans includes forming a joint venture with an international entertainment company and partnering it here in India. While talks are on with many companies, nothing has been finalized yet.