MUMBAI: McDonald’s India (North & East) announced Salman Khan, McDonald’s employee from Saharaganj, Lucknow as the Voice of McDonald’s 2012 winner. Salman ‘wowed’ celebrity judges and brought the audience at FICCI auditorium to their feet with his powerful performance of ‘Jo bhi mein’ from Rockstar movie to win the unique in-house singing contest. Voice of McDonald’s is a worldwide contest to discover, recognize and reward the most talented singers among McDonald’s restaurant employees.
McDonald’s brightest singing star was awarded a grand prize of Rs. 75,000 along with the coveted title of the Voice of McDonald’s 2012. Dohit Duggal from Ghaziabad was announced the first runners up, and Pradeep Rana from New Delhi went on to win the title of the second runners up. The Audiences’ Choice Award was won by Sadaquat Ali from Lucknow on the basis of an incredible support from the audience through votes. In addition, the crowd witnessed an amazing talent display from the eleven finalists at the musical evening extravaganza.
A panel of renowned music industry professionals judged the final competition. The panel consisted of Palash Sen, singer, songwriter, musician, composer, founder and lead vocalist of India’s biggest band Euphoria, renowned sarod player Amaan Ali Khan and popular Bollywood playback singer Shilpa Rao.
On this unique employee engagement initiative, McDonald’s India (North & East) managing editor Vikram Bakshi said, “Voice of McDonald’s has brought all of us in McDonald’s together through our love for music. We are overwhelmed with the level of response that this initiative has achieved. We believe in creating innovative employee engagement programs that further strengthen our employee value proposition…VOM has created an important and significant differentiation for McDonald’s. We are proud of our people and their accomplishments.”
Launched in January, the first edition of the Voice of McDonald’s North & East region received an overwhelming response from the McDonald’s system. More than 500 talented singers entered the contest from across 126 restaurants that were narrowed down to just 11 final contestants.
Excited on winning the title, Salman Khan said, “I am proud to win the first Voice of McDonald’s 2012 title. It is a dream comes true. I am thankful to McDonald’s for providing this opportunity to the employees.”