Bates to handle CHannel [V] Popstars 2003 project

Bates India has been entrusted with the responsibility of creating the communication for CHannel [V]'s forthcoming Popstars 2003 project. The decision was communicated to Bates yesterday, and comes in the wake of a three-agency pitch held sometime in February this year. The identities of the other contenders for the project are not known.

Confirming this to agencyfaqs!, (JS) Mani, senior vice-president & general manager, Bates India, said, "We have been given the mandate of promoting the Popstars 2003 initiative through a multi-media campaign. Bates will create all the communication that leads up to the formation of the new Popstars band for 2003." In effect, what this means is that Bates will be working on a turnkey project for the nationwide talent hunt for the [V]-promoted pop band.

For the record, CHannel [V] Popstars is the music channel's ongoing initiative aimed at launching pop bands in India. The initiative was flagged off last year, and following a six-city hunt, the channel helped create India's first custom-built pop band, Viva, which has since cut its first album. Popstars 2003 is [V]'s attempt at duplicating Viva's successful launch by following it up with another pop band this year. agencyfaqs! understands that this year round, the channel wants to launch a four-member boy-girl band (Viva was an all-girl band), and the hunt for the winsome foursome kicks off on April 15.

"From the time the initiative starts to the time the final selection happens and the band is formed, a good six-to-eight months' time would have passed," Mani explains. "Our assignment is to promote the Popstars concept all through the selection process, both through national-level advertising, and through localized communication in specific cities where the hunts would happen. We have to get the youth excited about Popstars." Mani is not willing to disclose the size of the project (in billing terms), but going by past estimates, the assignment should be worth Rs 2-3 crore.

Speaking briefly about the communication brief, Mani reveals that CHannel [V] wanted the contending agencies to launch Popstars 2003 by keeping Viva as a part of the campaign idea. "I think we scored in the way we wove Viva into the communication for Popstars 2003," he says, choosing not to go into details. "We have used Viva's ambassadors very effectively in the communication."

Incidentally, this is the second time that Bates will be handling a project for one or the other of STAR's channels. It may be recalled that early in 2001, the agency landed a ‘special brand-building project' for STAR Plus' hugely popular Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC). The agency also won the account of movie channel STAR Gold in October last year. What now remains to be seen is the extent to which Bates is able to generate buzz about Popstars 2003. © 2003 agencyfaqs!