Campaign India Team
May 29, 2013

Sony sets the stage for Indian Idol Junior

Q&A with Gaurav Seth, SET, on marketing the show and advertisers on board

Sony sets the stage for Indian Idol Junior

Sony Entertainment Television is extending its singing reality show Indian Idol to kids with Indian Idol Junior that starts airing on 1 June. Gaurav Seth, senior VP, marketing and communications, Sony Entertainment Television, takes us through marketing plans and advertiser response so far.

Tell us about the show

This is the first year for Indian Idol Junior, which is in line with our singing talent show Indian Idol. The new show is for the age group of five to 15. The idea was to extend the India Idol brand and expand the talent base. We have had tremendous success in locating talent across the country and bringing it in front of our judges – Vishal (Dadlani), Shekhar (Ravjiani) and Shreya (Ghoshal). We have shortlisted the talents who will now go into the theatre round and from there we will select the 10 finalists.

Can you share the marketing plans around the show?

The audience base for Indian Idol junior is slightly larger. Leo Burnett, which is our advertising agency, created three television spots and we used those as the teaser campaign. We used three famous songs, which marked historic moments in Hindi cinema and replaced the actor singing the song with an Indian Idol junior talent. We received tremendous response to those spots. This was carried on to radio. The campaign was also extended on outdoor, print, digital, BTL, mobile and so on. For instance, in the audition phase we created a mobile app. We had a website where one could do online audition and then send it to us. Since its launch phase, the idea has been to create a 360-degree campaign around the show.

 

 

Tell us about the BTL activities.

We have designed a 15-city BTL campaign, which we call the ‘Society Idol’. We go into societies, colonies and residential areas and organise a contest there to choose a junior idol for those individual colonies, which will then be gratified.

How many advertisers do you have on board? In percentage terms, can you disclose how much inventory you have pre-sold?

We have six sponsors on board. This includes Nissan Micra, Horlicks, Kelloggs Oats, Alpenliebe, 99 acres and Real. In terms of the total utilisation, there will be a lot of spot buying happening and I do not have the exact figure on me today.

The spot rates of non-fiction reality shows tend to be higher than those of fiction shows. Are advertisers paying a premium for a new show like Indian Idol Junior?

Indian Idol is a well established brand. So despite its first year, Indian Idol Junior appeals to the entire family and therefore it is a show that commands a premium.

Source:
Campaign India

Related Articles

Just Published

14 hours ago

Lodestar UM launches 'Full Colour Media' proposition...

Promises to deliver brand differentiation for clients as AI and algorithms tend to make brand messaging identical and bland.

18 hours ago

Duo, Jackie Shroff and a streaming twist—Duolingo ...

Duolingo and Amazon MX Player’s unlikely collab blends language learning with OTT entertainment, proving that edutainment can be fun and unexpected.

19 hours ago

Ventes Avenues, Trophée attempt to unlock $20.7 ...

By teaming up to merge gaming with real-world commerce, the two companies seek to make brand interactions and purchases seamless within gameplay.

19 hours ago

GroupM’s TYNY 2025: India’s advertising market to ...

The report estimated that the market is set to reach Rs 1,64,137 crore in 2025, adding an incremental Rs 10,730 crore.