financial services

State Farm Sponsors Bollywood Contest

Bolly Star/State Farm

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.

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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."

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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