Saturday, June 6, 2009

Can we milk the success of American Idol in Singapore?

Singapore Idol 3 is holding its official audition today and tomorrow in Handy Road, Cineleisure.

American Idol had recently crowned it's winner, Kris & the show continues to be a big hit with people from all ages. After many runs (I lost count), I am still hopelessly hooked to the show on every wednesday and thursday nights and i fear that I might be suffering from some post american idol blues now. I just can't find an alternative reality show to satisfy my craves.

I reckon Youtube should be my next best option now. How about British got talent?

The Idol show is a platform for aspiring singers to try their shot at stardom. This is one important platform for them to get noticed and famous overnight. We know that AI did produced some big names like Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson & Kelly Clarkson, just to name a few. However, this is not so in the case of Singapore Idol. All i knew was that Taufik is now a spokesperson for 7 Eleven & Hardy will be the new host for Singapore Idol 3! How successful is that?

So is it a case of a small domestic market that is affecting the record sales in Singapore or that Singaporeans are generally not exactly the talented bunch. I think we'll have a long standing debate if we harp on this. It is very much a chicken and egg issue.

From a media owner point of view, the show is just one programming strategy to find reasons for advertisers to pump their marketing dollars into the commercial slots. Ricola, i believe was one of the sponsors in Singapore Idol 2. Do you think awareness and sales have gone up after AI2? I am sure the sales people from Mediacorp will try to target sponsors who are in the KTV business, throat soothing lozenges company, or even any lifestyle brands. From a marketing perspective, I am not really sure about the ROI. The brand equity of reality shows like star search, Project superstar, Singapore Idol is lukewarm and has eroded over the years. Do you really want to associate your brand with such shows?

I hope something good will come out of this. I personally feel that there is still room to grow the entertainment scene in Singapore. We constantly need new blood to inject new ideas and freshness to the scene. Nobody wants to talk about Fann Wong and Zoe Tay forever. The media needs new faces to prime about. We need new talking points to spice up our daily routine. So in a way, such shows allow the nation to uncover some fresh faces; new public agenda to talk about; at the same time, set the stage right for people who are serious in embarking a career in the entertainment industry.

I believe and hope that AI3 will be a successful one; even though the odds seem to be against it.

Dennis T

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