Ibibo’s one of the more popular Indian social networking sites. From moulding itself into an entertainment hub to introducing the idea of Ibibo networks, Ibibo’s attempting everything to replicate the success of other social networks. Ibibo seems to have got a touch of Apple fever from launching iVideoshare to a hots of other i-tools on the Internet primarily for promoting music and entertainment. Here’s everything we covered on ibibo.
Now, Ibibo’s gone ahead, tied up with Sony Music to promote Kailash Kher’s new album. The prize – be among the top three ibibo singers to join Kailash Kher and sing with him in a professional studio. One of the three will get to compose a song with Kailash Kher. The song will be recorded and made available on ibibo.com and distributed online. Ibibo claims this from the press release, “For the first time ever, a mobile device is being used as a gateway to a singing competition. Ibibo users will be prompted to sing Kailash’s hit single ‘Na Batati tu’ straight from their mobile devices, using ibibo’s proprietary voice platform.” Ibibo is hoping to target consumers out of the internet space.
The following is how it works : Participants wishing to take part have to sms ‘Kailasa’ to 5676746. They will receive an automated call that will prompt users to sing ‘Na Batati tu’ from their mobile phones. On completion of singing/disconnection the user gets an auto generated sms with a ‘claim code’ and will have to register on ibibo.com to ‘claim’ and promote his/her entry.
If marketed properly it benefits both ibibo.com and Sony Music. Here’s why :
Sony manages to create the buzz about the son and ibibo.com targets not just its standard internet audience but manages to leverage the mobile space. Registration on ibibo.com is an essential requirement for participation. So ibibo.com comes out with publicity, as the “new technology” messiah to music, and a lot of registrations on its website. Now, a good look at the terms and conditions have two judging criteria :
1) The Participant may share the song sung by him/her with his or her friends, who will vote for his/her song.
2) At the end of the term, a panel specially constituted by the Company and Sony Music shall choose a maximum of four (4) (or three – press release confusion) best singers from amongst the Participants and they will be declared as winners (“Winner(s)”). Winners will get to sing in a studio in Mumbai with Kailash Kher. The best singer from amongst these Winners as chosen by Sony Music will get to record a song with Kailash Kher.
By asking users to ask their friends to vote, ibibo also manages to get the aspiring singer to 1) use ibibo actively 2) invite more people to ibibo.com so that they can vote for him. Both parties achieve a good amount of publicity if the mobile singing stunt hits it off.
Ibibo claims that it is the first competition where singers are expected to sing on the mobile. There have been other social media campaigns where people have to submit songs. But this apparently is a first. I was unable to understand from just the press release whether this was part of Ibibo’s iSinger. Ibibo’s iSinger is already a pre-existing singing competition. And it uses the same concept – sing on your mobile, and get a chance to sing with your favourite music director. The feature exists in various languages. So is “for the first time ever” technically?
