Indian Idol Junior to take singing to an all new dimension!

Sur, Taal, Raag…are the new best friends of the young battalions blessed with an inherent talent who are set to take the nation by storm with their sensational asset…Singing! Recognizing this flair that sets the juniors apart, Sony Entertainment Television offers these endowed youngsters the biggest platform to exhibit their talent and is all set to redefine your weekends by adding melody to it with the most dynamic singing reality show Indian Idol Junior, for the first time ever starting 1st June, 2013 and will be on air every Saturday and Sunday at 8:30 pm.

The junior idols will bring alive the theme “Gaano Ka Wahi Jaadu, Ab Bachon Ki Aawaaz Mein”, with their talents and own distinct style to win the title of Indian Idol Junior. The participants who are all set to mesmerize the nation will be aged between years 5-15. Indian Idol Junior will help the youngsters to take singing to an all new dimension by providing them a platform to share their talents. Audiences will not only be witness to the child’s journey to become the nation’s first ever Indian Idol but will also bring them their innocent, entertaining and honest stories.

Judges of Indian Idol Junior Vishal Dadlani, Shekhar Ravjiani and Shreya Ghoshal enthralled audiences with their power packed performances at the launch of the new show and shared how they travelled the length and breadth of the heartland in search of the best young singing talent that the country has to offer.

Mr. N. P. Singh COO Multi Screen Media had this to say about the launch of Indian Idol Junior, “At Sony, we are constantly working towards creating new content to engage with our audiences. With Indian Idol Junior, we intend to bring the entire family together to create a wholesome viewing experience. It is a celebration of young singing talent across the country and is bound to increase the entertainment quotient of this season substantially. It gives me immense pleasure to announce the launch of the first Indian Idol Junior and I can very proudly say that this season will create a new benchmark in singing reality shows and gift the music industry with some really outstanding talent”. 

Ms. Sneha Rajani, Senior EVP and Business Head Sony Entertainment Television said, “Indian Idol Junior is the search to give India its first Junior singing star. To achieve this ambition we have gone far & wide across the country in our search for talent. The very first episode will take viewers on a musical journey with thousands of kids who will blow you away with their outstanding talent. I am also thrilled about this year's judges' panel and I believe they will provide great mentorship to the participants, to give India its best Junior singing star.

A production of such magnitude warrants only the best in the industry to make it happen. Sony Entertainment Television has once again partnered with one of the country’s leading production houses – Fremantle Media who are the license holders to the format Indian Idol.
While in conversation with Adgully Gaurav Seth, Senior VP, Marketing and Communications, Sony Entertainment Television, takes us through their marketing plans, advertisers presently on board and their social and digital initiatives in connection with the show.

Indian Idol is  a big property for Sony Entertainment Television . When asked if  any learning has been brought forward from the earlier format that could be implemented in the new format , Seth said, “  Indian Idol is a very recognized format . Indian Idol has been around for the last 7 years the brand enjoys a large amount of salience. Apart from that since  Juniors is being done for the first time , while we could have implemented some direct learnings from the earlier format , Juniors is a  bit of a step in the new direction where it becomes easy to involve and reach out to children and bring them on board both in terms of both viewership and participation so we had a very extensive outreach programme for auditions .”

In terms of learning they also  had to ensure that the content they  put up on air is wholesome. There is enough viewing material for the consumers in terms of voices they hear, the kids and endearing values that they see hence Sony is optimistic that whatever they have done is a step in the right direction and  Seth  believes that  it is going to be a very popular talent hunt this time around.

Shedding light on their marketing and promotional initiatives undertaken for the show he said, “We went across 23 cities and a lot of activation was done to ensure we got the participation which was necessary . We had 4 major auditions in Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chandigarh where thousands of people came, out of which we shortlisted 87 to bring them to Mumbai and out of these 87 we will choose the top 10 who will then go into the gala rounds for further talent.”

A massive campaign has been initiated starting with the tagline of ‘Gaano Ka Wahi Jadoo…….’which is a very different take on Hindi cinema and music  with children to bring the concept alive . “In terms of reach it breaks clutter and creates awareness. The reaction to the commercials gives you the desired response clearly so we have had a massive television campaign run around  networks , on the IPL  across another 35 channels and apart from that 360 degrees like outdoor, print , radio and activations . We are also going to launch a BTL campaign called the Society Idol wherein we will go to 15 cities across the country where mini talent shows will be organized in societies and residential colonies. Their kids will be asked to perform and a panel consisting of people from our side and some from the society itself are going to choose the best media society idols. Hence outreach programmes like these  and partnership with radio channels have been planned . So the high impact promotion that has been carrying on  for almost a month now and which will be leading  up to the week of launch is going to be tremendous,” said Seth.

Speaking about sponsors presently on board he said, “We have six sponsors. It is presented by Nissan Micra. It is powered by Horlicks. Then we have Alpenliebe, 99 acres.com , Kelloggs and Real .”

When asked if Indian Idol Junior is a premium property Seth totally agreed and said , “Yes of course  it is certainly a premium property.  Indian Idol is a big talent hunt and in terms of non-fiction impact property it is very big.”

It is evident that today GECs are banking big on digital, social and mobile.  In this regard Seth went on to inform about the  launch of their  Indian Idol app through  which participants can  audition. It is an app for the Smartphone on which an audition can be uploaded and that would ultimately reach them.   myindianidol.com  is a very big web initiative that they have  where one can watch audition videos, behind the scenes, can see contestants profiles, and also interact and engage with them. “Social media like FB & Twitter both have updates of Indian Idol where you can see what judges are tweeting about, get their inputs and their updates. All these engagements are really big and we believe that this will continue to entice the younger audience and get them on board,” he said.

GEC’s today also believe that social , digital and mobile is the way forward to render an amplifier effect. Elaborating further on this Seth said today most people own handsets and they are always online so it becomes a means of staying in touch with them and interacting with them even at times when they are not sitting in front of  their television sets. “So you build conversations and you build brand value across whenever they are interacting with any other second screen device. So we are objective and yes we are a content provider which is primarily for the television screens but our characters, our contestants and programmes stay with you even after you switch off your television sets. This is how they become a part of our lives since digital and mobile are the means to keep in touch,” says Seth.

With Indian Idol they do not see any brand extensions happening as of now and consider this property viz. Indian Idol Junior which was a natural extension waiting to happen.  “Children form a very intrinsic part of our television viewing audience as well as from the whole family viewing point of view. We believe that as and when it is necessary the format can be extended but it is not adhoc, there has to be a strong concept there, a reason to do it and it has to provide for robust content,” concluded Gaurav Seth.

So get ready to embark on a musical journey – a journey with the Juniors who will strike a chord with every Indian, move them, inspire them and entertain them for the next 14 weeks!