SS Music launches talent hunt; allocates Rs 1.5 crore for promotions

In a bid to strengthen its grip over the southern markets, Southern Spice Music channel has launched a talent hunt for musicians, performers and entertainers across south India. Christened ‘The Next Best Thing', the ground promotion for this event will be kicked off in Kerala soon and will be spread over 11 days in five key cities of the state.

"The idea is to bring together a community of talented musicians and entertainers and give them a platform to perform. This lot will not only entertain audiences, but will also compete for a chance to have one of their original tracks put on CD and a video made for the same," said Bryan Oliver Peppin, head of programming & production, Fortune Media (a company floated by the Martin Lottery Agencies, one of the largest bulk distributors of lotteries in the country), which runs the channel in India. The channel will handpick three of the best original compositions, two regional and one English composition and make videos for them.

"We start off with Kerala as it has responded really well to the channel. Other States will follow after a two-month gap as we will take May and June to spread awareness and do our build-up for the grand finale," said Peppin. The Kerala leg will be kicked off on April 3 with Kozhikode, then head for Thrissur on April 6, hit Kochi on April 8, Kottayam on April 10, and Thiruvananthapuram on April 13. By June-end the event will hit Andhra Pradesh, and then head for Tamil Nadu, followed by Karnataka, and wind up either in Bangalore or Hyderabad. The dates and details for the rest of the cities that will be covered are yet to be finalised.

The channel has allocated Rs 1.5 crore for promotional activities and has tied up with BMG, Universal for this, under which the music company will help SS Music to identify celebrity artistes for judging their shows. Before the arrival of the promotional team in a designated city, press advertisements in at least two of the leading dailies - in English and in local languages - will be released. Mathrubhumi will be the event's main publicity vehicle in Kerala. Apart from the standard posters and fliers, the on-ground activities will include hoardings at prominent locations. SS Music plans to promote the event heavily on the net too - on sites such as yahoo.com, msn.com, rediff.com and google.com. It plans to tie up with radio stations such as Radio City and Radio Mirchi for on-air promotions.

According to the channel brass, the south has been completely denied its legitimate rights when it comes to interactive media. Coke [V] Pop Stars and the MTV VJ Hunt had a distinctly north-west focus, with marginal attention to the region. So the big thrust down south. It seems SS Music has started negotiating with advertisers for title sponsorships and associate sponsorships for every city. The title sponsorship rate is pegged at around Rs 15 lakh (per city for the event and road shows) while the associate sponsorship amount is in the region of Rs 8-10 lakh. © 2003 agencyfaqs!