State Farm and Saavn have partnered to hold a contest to find an American singer to perform in a Bollywood musical. Entrants can audition in person or upload videos online, and the winner will be selected by Bollywood fans' online votes. The winner will receive a trip to India to film a role in a Bollywood movie coordinated through one of Saavn's partners. The companies plan to promote the contest through social media, in-theater advertising, and potential TV spots.

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State Farm Sponsors Bollywood Contest
Tanya Irwin, Jul 06, 2009 05:00 AM
Aspiring singers, forget "American Idol." State Farm Insurance and Saavn have partnered to find one
talented U.S. singer to become the next Bollywood singing sensation and perform on the silver
screens of India.
The winner of the contest -- who will be selected online at Bollystar2009.com by Bollywood fans
around the world -- will be given the chance to sing in a Bollywood musical.
State Farm will promote the contest throughout the summer with Asian marketing firm interTrend,
based out of San Francisco. Saavn is the world's largest digital marketer and distributor of
Bollywood entertainment.
"At State Farm we think nothing's more important than being there for our customers and we seek
out ways to connect with consumers in relevant ways," said Mark Gibson, State Farm assistant vice
president of advertising, in a statement.
Contestants can participate in auditions on July 11 and 12 in New Jersey and California, or upload
a video to Bollystar2009.com. The videos that receive the most votes will move on to become
finalists. The winner will receive a trip to a film shoot site and the role in the movie will be
coordinated through one of Saavn's partners.
To promote the contest, the companies are using social media channels (Facebook, MySpace,
YouTube, Twitter, Bollywood blogs). A daily winner will be posted and they will receive free music
downloads from Saavn. In-theater advertising (on-screen ads and signage) is also planned.
"There is a big Bollywood opening this weekend (Kombat Isq, Denise Richards and Sylvester Stallone
are making cameos) and State Farm is sponsoring free popcorn to promote the contest," says Diana
Nasello, a spokesperson for Saavn. "Ads will also run across key Bollywood Web sites and we are
considering buying TV spots to promote the live events."
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Bollywood is the main film industry in India. Each year, Bollywood produces more than 1,000 films
seen by billions of people.
The contest will help bring Bollywood music to new audiences, says Paramdeep Singh, co-founder
and managing director of Saavn. "We have hundreds of music videos on the site that music fans can
explore and probably many will love the beats as much any diehard Bollywood fan," Singh says.
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