Pepsi is title sponsor of MTV’s forthcoming Indie channel

Viacom18 has revealed that it will launch an Indie music and sub-culture channel, for which PepsiCo India will be the title sponsor.

 

The channel will be called Pepsi MTV Indies and will be led by music, but will also showcase independent films, art, comedy and more. The channel will be launched later this month in high definition.

 

Responding to an e-mailed questionnaire from Campaign India, Aditya Swamy, business head, MTV India, said, "The idea was first born when we launched the show Roots on MTV almost four years back. Since then, Indie music has evolved over the years. Recent times have seen an outburst in the Indie sub-culture, with the rise of various music festivals which has received an over-whelming response from the audience. Also with various properties like Coke Studio@MTV and Sound Trippin over the years, we thought the environment was just right for launching a channel like this. It is a completely untapped space in India. Pepsi MTV Indies has been created in collaboration with various independent artists. It’s a channel mainly for the youngsters, an audience which both MTV and Pepsi connect to. We at MTV had been thinking over the idea for a long time but it took us around six to eight months to evolve."

 

MTV will conceptualise the content. Swamy added that Pepsi’s expertise in marketing, distribution and consumer reach will help this become a bigger platform.

 

On the revenue model, he said, "It will be subscriber revenue, advertising revenue, brand licensing, digital and live events. We will mainly be part of various college festivals and existing music festivals. As the brand is established, we will take it to the next level."

 

Sudhanshu Vats, group CEO, Viacom18, added, “At Viacom18, we believe in sharper segmentation whether it pertains to the genre, the audience or by markets. Indies is a move that further strengthens our bouquet of varied offerings. India is moving from a collective to an individualistic content consumption habit. The youth and music genre offers great opportunity for growth and we’re sure that this move will help us build an ecosystem for creating a lot of live content as well.”

 

Deepika Warrier, vice president- Po1 marketing PepsiCo, India said “Pepsi as a brand has always stood for anticipating the pulse of the youth ahead of the curve. Our positioning, as manifested in our tagline OH YES ABHI, celebrates the impatience of youth who want the excitement, the spotlight, the action, the stage, right now! Music is a key youth passion point and Pepsi’s biggest platform globally. We are excited about partnering with MTV to launch this new platform, as we continue to set and fuel trends, creating a gateway to new experiences for our consumers.”

 

Alongside the launch, Pepsi also unveiled its new product packaging with the global logo and visual identity.

 

“The launch of the channel coincides with the debut of Pepsi’s global logo and visual identity system in India. Celebrating revolution, engagement and the impatience to be more, Pepsi continues to change the way the young see the world and the way the world sees them,” added Warrier.