We want to fuel conversation on self-belief with Angels of Rock: Priyanka Singh

MTV is all set to embark on a journey to celebrate women with its brand new show – ‘Sunsilk & MTV present Angels of Rock’. Embodying the spirit of sisterhood in all its hues and colors, the show will see four rock-stars – Shalmali Kholgade, Anusha Mani, Jasmine Sandlas and Akasa Singh – riding across the country to inspire and draw inspiration from the nation’s women. The show will go on air from July 31, 2016, and air every Sunday at 8 pm on MTV.

Featuring a female-led cast, with an all-women crew filming it, the show aims to showcase the power of the woman of India today. The focus is to celebrate stories of achievement of women across cities, towns and villages of India and capture the essence of rural and urban India through these remarkable stories of women.

‘Angels Of Rock’ will represent a beautiful concoction of music, adventure and woman empowerment through the riding expedition of the four angels and the crew of women filming them. The show will also leverage the digital space through interesting interactive campaigns to keep the viewers aware of the latest happenings in the course of the journey and to allow them to be a part of the journey in interesting ways.

The four Angels, who have each picked their own stories which have inspired them, will travel from Mumbai to the Wagah Border with multiple stopovers on the way to meet interesting women, such as the female fire-fighters of Jaipur, the women running an all-woman radio station in a village in Gujarat, the female rickshaw drivers of Haryana in their famed Gulabi Autos, and an inspiring young lady sarpanch, among many others. They will also present original songs in each episode which capture the spirit of these stories.

Elaborating on the unique concept of the show, Ferzad Palia, Head – Youth and English Entertainment, Viacom18, said, “MTV always has its finger on the pulse of the youth. And over the last several months, our young viewers have appreciated the way MTV has taken the lead on creating content that showcases women in strong roles – be it through MTV Girls On Top or India’s Next Top Model. And now, we’re going a step ahead and celebrating womanhood in all its glory by bringing our viewers a unique proposition in the form of Sunsilk & MTV present Angels of Rock – a show that’s by the women, of the women but for everyone. The show focuses on inspiring stories of real women blended with travel, fun, and a whole lot of music created by four amazing singers. Sunsilk & MTV present Angels of Rock is a show we are really excited about and proud of and I’m sure our young viewers will also find it inspiring as the stories unfold on screen.”

Talking about this partnership between Sunsilk and MTV, Priyanka Singh, Senior Global Brand Manager, Sunsilk, said, “For Sunsilk, MTV is a perfect fit to be associated with. MTV is the No. 1 youth brand and Sunsilk has been the chosen brand for the young spirited woman of this country for over 75 years. It’s been a trend setter brand that has broken stereotypes. Unilever’s biggest global hair care brand, Sunsilk, understands the young Indian girl, her trials and her victories. Sunsilk believes in empowering her to be ‘ready for life’ and not just her hair. By fuelling conversation that is important to her and giving her access to an ecosystem where she can share and bond. A Sunsilk girl embodies confidence, positivity, drive to follow her ‘spark’ and most importantly, spirit of ‘sisterhood; the girl gang. The very qualities that our Angels – Shalmali, Anusha, Akasa and Jasmine – represent. We are proud of this association which will spark off conversations between young Indian women of stories self-belief and via this show we will celebrate them, while doing this all along in the Sunsilk way that is full of joy, colour and music.”

In conversation with AdGully, Priyanka Singh speaks more on this initiative, the association with MTV, engaging the youth of India and more. Excerpts:

What made you associate with MTV’s ‘Angels of Rock’?
For us, MTV is not only a music channel, but is also the No. 1 iconic brand. It’s a brand that understands the youth of this country, so if you have to reach out to the young, this is one of the best channels to go your way. Sunsilk is a brand that understands the young girls of this country, because we have been here for 75 years and we are one of the oldest brands in the country. But the wonderful thing is that we have not limited ourselves to hair and hair problems alone, but always try to bring something to her life. So when we wanted to do something for the youth of this country, we knew what we wanted to do and who was the right partner to do it with. Thus, the natural choice was MTV.

Apart from the promo, what are other marketing plans for ‘Angels of Rock’ on digital and television?
Both the brands are very strong in terms of marketing plans. We have drawn up a full 360-degree activation plan covering all touch points. Digital will be a very key part of this because the youth are digitalised. Apart from that, we will also be doing traditional media, including print, radio and other touch points to make sure that the show reaches out to the masses.

Are there any plans to introduce short-format contents on digital platforms such as YouTube, etc.?
People use YouTube to put out the content when they don’t have access to television. If you ask me, if you are able to put your content on television then there is nothing like it because television has the highest reach in the market. However, there will be shorter videos that you will see for sure.

According to you, in the digital space which one works better – short format content or long format? And what is the scope for innovation?
Whether it is long format or short format, it depends on the content. If it’s an engaging show and you are sitting at the edge of your seat and you want to know what happens next, then you would want to sit through the episode no matter how long it is. For instance, in series like ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Narcos’, none of us would have been satisfied had the videos been just 3 minutes or 5 minutes long. So I think there is a huge audience for long format content as people like to get involved with such content and want to know what happens next on this journey.

How do you plan to integrate the partnership into your brand communication?
The one thing about this partnership is that the content is created along the philosophy of the brand, the values that Sunsilk stands for – such as self-belief in a girl, women empowerment. The show is just integrated so well; it’s about authenticity and not about fake icons that we are putting up. It’s about real girls – how they look without makeup, how do our icons look without makeup, how do our icons deal with sticky situations. Thus, the brand is about authenticity and self-belief. As for linking it back to our communication – take any Sunsilk ad today and you will see a strong correlation between what we say across mediums. We don’t have multiple messages, but just one message which is about confident, empowered young girls and their real life stories. Those stories don’t need to be stories of transformation, you know, the big jhatkas unki life ka. Those stories could be about solving the dilemma about how to get ready for one’s best friend’s wedding. Imagine for an 18-year old, this is a huge problem, which you can go about solving in a fun manner. Why do you have to make things hamesha kisi ko hilane ke liye? Why can’t you make somebody smile?