MUMBAI: Chennai-based mobile VAS company Techzone has announced a celebrity management initiative that will use the mobile platform for which Kollywood star Namitha has signed up with them to become the first celeb who will reach out to fans through voice, texts, videos, wallpapers, etc. on 2g / 3g technology platforms on mobile phones and internet.
Speaking exclusively to RadioAndMusic.com, Naveen Bhandari, Director, Techzone, described the celebrity management on mobile platform primarily as a link between the celebrity and their fans thru various technology platforms such as sms, ivr and wap….
Bhandari said that since Techzone is still testing the waters, the deal with Namitha has no commercials for the first year and is driven by his company’s cordial relations with the star. With the telcos, of course, Techzone will pursue a revenue-share arrangement with the telcos on this service. This is not a single-telco, exclusive deal,… Bhandari said, adding, We will run this content across all telcos in India to offer to all their subscribers. Techzone already has a revenue share deal with the operators, and this will be on similar lines….
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What will the telco subscriber pay for such celeb content? Is there a monthly subscription, or a per element download that is push-based? It will have both,… says Bhandari. The subscriber can pull single sms content at Rs 3 apiece, or can pay a flat price of Rs 10 for a 10-day period….
On how the initiative will roll out for each celebrity, Bhandari said, The celebrity – in this deal, Namitha — will sms once or more times a day with updates about herself, her day’s activities, new movies she has signed or is working on, or close to release, and all the events related to her films, etcetera. These would then be sent to all her fans who have registered on our shortcode….
On IVR, a voice file will be recorded by her every day. We would then send it to all her fans who have registered on ivr. On WAP, we intend to have exclusive theme-based photo shoots and create a mobile portfolio for the star. Also on WAP, we will be offering a blog whereby a subscriber can log in and leave messages — much on the lines of the internet medium….
Besides celeb texts on sms, voice on IVR and content on mobile internet, the service will make available celebrity-related contests to fans through mobile platforms. And an avenue of contacting the celeb through an sms to a shortcode.
Techzone will offer only purely copyrighted material, created by its own team in collaboration with the celebrity, of course. Bhandari says, We will create new copyrighted contents which will belong to Techzone exclusively. We also have rights for Namitha movies with us, which we intend to bundle along and offer as a package for imagery and video. At all times, we will only offer licensed contents to subscribers which are available with Techzone….
Asked about Techzone’s business model for this new vertical of celebrity management on the mobile platform, and the target celeb signings for the first year, Bhandari said, The business model for the first year isn’t on the cards as we are still testing waters in this space. However, from the second year, we intend to team up with all major south Indian stars, as by then we will be more experienced in this space….
To promote the celebrity content, apart from SMS and OBD promotions, Techzone will buy Print, TV and Radio, and BTL platforms such as bill inserts by telcos, poster activity at telco outlets, etcetera.
It would be a effort to get all the fans of a celebrity on one rationale platform to make a large fan network and offer a two-way, on-the-move connecting platform. While the celeb will see it as a great way to get a bigger and more active fan base, for Techzone, which Bhandari says has always been in the forefront of creative ideas and solutions keeping in mind subscribers, content and technology platforms,… it would be a perfect combination to offer solutions…. And, hopefully, grow into a bigger money spinning vertical by the end of the first year.
