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TENTH-standard students conjure up the plot of a whodunit for a nationwide contest. As a precocious 8-year old devises marketing strategy in a TV channel's boardroom, primary school-goers turn in their trophy designs with the hope of catching their sports heroes live in action. Behind the scenes, marketers keep tabs on the entries, jazz up their promotions with celebrity judges and hand over air tickets and PCs to the winners. Amidst all this excitement, what's in it for the corporates?

Competitions involving children, they believe, can enhance brand recall. "Kids are generally open to experimentation and if you can weave them into your game plan, they can be excellent `carriers' of new innovations and quality products into homes," says Vijay Subramaniam, General Manager (Laundry and Homecare), Henkel India.

Schooling contestants

With the Indian literati making waves worldwide, companies are also on the lookout for aspiring young writers across schools. ITC GGSB (Greetings, Gifting and Stationery Business) whose flagship brand is Classmate notebooks, launched the Young Authors Contest in 2003. Back then, students from 800 schools across eight cities took part. In 2005, ITC received entries from over 1,800 students from 225 schools in Chennai and expects 15,000 entries from other metros in the next few months.

Previous winners went on literary trips to Europe and noted writer Ruskin Bond judged the entries. Teacher co-ordinators from various schools have been appointed for the Classmate Connect School Contact Programme and a creative writing workshop is also conducted before the contest.

"Most of the promotions are through direct interaction with the teachers and then students," says Chand Das, Chief Executive Officer, ITC GGSB. But have all these efforts helped boost the company's brand image? Das explains, "The event has been successfully used to communicate the value addition that Classmate notebooks bring to the student." He also believes that competitions, especially those which foster creative thinking, can go a long way in increasing brand recall among children.

ITC, which has so far targeted students from classes 9-12, is also eyeing classes 5-8. To tap more `talent pools,' ITC has also unveiled the Classmate Young Artist contest, which drew students from 225 schools in Chennai.

FMCG majors are promoting contests by banking on sports mania. ITC Foods flagged off a trophy-designing contest for the Sunfeast Open for school children in Kolkata. For the celebrity touch, Sunfeast roped in tennis icons Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi to visit schools. Those who handed in the top five entries (from each school) got free tickets to the Sunfeast Open. The contest activities were on for two months to sustain the excitement and reached out to 70,00 students.

Claiming that several school principals also welcomed Sunfeast's initiative, Ravi Naware, Divisional Chief Executive, ITC Ltd - Foods Business, says a contest of such duration enhances brand recall. Pokemon has whetted kids' appetite for ancient Japanese martial arts and animes. Take, for instance, Beyblades, which currently has cult following among school-goers. These Japanese spinning tops (originally called Bei Goma) with inter-fitting sections are based on an eponymous cartoon. Zeroing in on this rage, Funskool India, which has the licence to manufacture Beyblade toys, launched a Beyblade contest (for students from Classes II to VII), wherein each player has to knock down the opponent's battle top. The Beybladers are divided into three batches and one winner emerges in the final round. Funskool is holding the event in various metros and has launched campaigns at several schools, says D. D. Selvaraj, Marketing Manager.

To throw in some word power, toy company Mattel is conducting Scrabble contests at schools. "These contests have not only enhanced the brand awareness with kids but have clearly demonstrated that experience is the best form of marketing to kids," says Sanjay Luthra, Managing Director, Mattel Toys.

Young cleanliness freaks can also look forward to their share of excitement. Henkel unveiled the `Clean Kid' school contest in Andhra Pradesh to promote Henko Stain Champion Powder. The cleanest student in every school was rewarded with a Rs 5-lakh education bond in which 15,000 children took part. Without convening a direct-contact programme, Henkel promoted games for mothers and children through school magazines. Leveraging pester power, the company hopes to reach out to more moms through school contests. Vijay Subramaniam feels that kids create an "emotional touchpoint" with parents, who are the target audience.

Channelling talent

Children's channels too are getting the creative juices to flow. Disney, along with Microsoft, recently launched the `Start Your Story' contest to woo budding young writers. Kids have been invited to pen their original stories using Microsoft XP. The channel has lined up several on-air and off-air activities to promote the contest. Citing Disney's story-telling heritage, Tushar Shah, Director (Marketing and Communications), Walt Disney Television International-India, is optimistic that the contest would improve the channel's viewership ratings.

Hungama kick-started a `Captains Hunt' where kids could be part of the company's board of directors and even have their say in marketing and programming strategies! Young viewers also had the chance to rake in some moolah by participating in the Kids Ka Kamaal contest. Prizes ranging from diamond jewellery to cars were given away. Explains Siddharth Kapur, Senior Vice-President(Marketing & Communications), Hungama TV, "The response to our contests has been overwhelming with lakhs of entries coming in from across the country. Contests give kids the opportunity to interact with the brand."

Fashion-conscious pre-teens have become an important target group for Pogo. Along with Mattel, the channel launched the Fashion Guru contest for which participants had to send designs based on `My Scene Barbie' themes. The three winners got their 15 minutes of fame by appearing on the Prime Pogo show. Monica Tata, Vice-President (Advertising Sales), Turner International India, was quoted as saying in a press release, "The contest will once again provide kids with a sense of ownership and a feeling of `it's my TV' ."

Mattel, which was part of the MTV Nick Contest for its My Scene brand last year, is bullish about on-air promotions. The company has recorded online entries from 50,000 children under the age of 12 for its televised contests. Sanjay Luthra feels this would translate into greater brand awareness for Barbie and Hot Wheels.

Contest synergies

Through its tie-up with Rupa & Co, ITC has been able to rope in popular writers as judges for its Young Author Contests. Rupa has also published the short stories penned by the top eight finalists under the title Someone, Somewhere at 23.13. The publishing unit expects to sell 20,000 copies of the compilation of the top 2005 entries. ITC's Das reveals that the company is open to partnerships with media brands.

"We intend to use the Classmate Connect School Contact Programme as a medium to enhance our brand partner's salience among the common target group," he adds. Disney and Microsoft have also found marketing synergies. Combining Disney's story telling heritage with the XP platform would help fire the imagination of children, it is pointed out. Disney's Tushar Shah reckons that the contest would not only boost awareness of the Disney brand among children but rub off equally on Microsoft Windows XP. Adding some froth to its promotions, Disney tied up with soap maker VVF's Doy Princess for the Little Princess Hunt. Girls had to send in drawings of imaginary princesses and the five semi-finalists even shared grooming tips on the channel. The prize was a trip to Hong Kong. Are the participants only driven by the lure of freebies or trips to Disneyland? Or do they send in their writings and sketches to give vent to their creativity? Tushar Shah has an interesting take: "While the prizes are a great motivating factor, we believe that kids primarily use these opportunities as creative outlets. With kids, the fact that you provide them reasons to keep coming back to do different things excites them."

Promo power

TV viewers also had a go at code-breaking in the Kim Possible Code Tod contest. Disney Channel provided about 22 lakh special spy goggles to help break the code aired during the Kim Possible Show. After a slew of 360-degree marketing initiatives, Disney received over two lakh entries. In fact, the Kim Possible contest under the title `Oggle Goggle' was taken to other Asian countries as well. Shah recalls: "It was a record of sorts for our genre of television and the contest the biggest ever kids' marketing campaign in terms of consumer contact."

Funskool adopted buzz marketing tactics during the Beyblades contest. Besides putting up posters and distributing fliers at schools, the toy major also kept Beybladers updated about the contest. Without losing sight of its marketing strategies, ITC distributed free samples of Classmate notebooks and Sunfeast biscuits to the Young Author contestants. For livening up its in-store competition, Mattel puts up point-of-sale material as well as thematic displays. Mass media is used to reach as many kids as possible for on-air contests and could take up anywhere between 15 and 20 per cent of its budget for brand promotions. A school programme would have 80 per cent of the budget allocated for the same. Hungama courts prospective contestants through print media, television, school contact programmes and road shows. Vice-President Sidharth Kapur mentions that contests form an integral part of the channel's promotional plans. "We have already focused on contests as a key driver of brand equity and will continue to do so."

Looks like competition is hotting up across the board. For greater control over kiddie mindspace, businesses have launched a host of contests. School-goers too are game for an adrenalin-filled contest, be it the rapid-fire quiz round or the final countdown to a literary prize announcement.

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