Entertainment and fashion icon Karan Johar makes his digital debut with ‘#fame School of Style’, India’s first online hunt for top stylists. This marks Karan Johar’s first association with a digital show in which he will host, judge and mentor participants. The show forms part of #fame’s strategic plan to emerge as Asia’s premier talent led digital entertainment network. Catering to mobile millennials through an integrated ‘talent-first’ strategy, #fame’s network will straddle over 5,000 channels and 50,000 content creators across 6 countries over the next 3 years.
#fame strategically focuses on emerging and established talent to promote them and build engaged digital communities around them. The brand’s identity further underscores its appeal as a democratic force and an ever-expanding network of talent.
Fashion & beauty has emerged as one of the biggest segments in digital video across the world. Many of the biggest digital superstars in the space are fashion bloggers, stylists and there is a large audience turning to digital media to shape their sense of style – From the latest in high fashion to DIY tutorials. ‘School of Style’ will celebrate the unique role stylists play in conceptualizing, curating and creating iconic fashion statements. Leading the show, Karan Johar will throw in various fashion challenges to the teams in each round of the show. Apart from being noticed by the entire fashion fraternity, the winning team shall take home a hefty cash prize and an opportunity to start an exclusive channel with #fame fashion.
Speaking on his association, Karan Johar said “I am very excited about the power of digital and the new wave of promising young talent that’s coming to the fore through it. #fame School of Style is the perfect opportunity to experience this phenomenon. I firmly believe that content built around emerging talent connects strongly with young audiences and digital is the ideal platform to engage with them.”
Speaking on this development, Saket Saurabh, CEO, #fame said, “#fame School of Style epitomizes our ‘talent-first’ philosophy as the property is designed to discover a new league of top stylists in the country. Karan Johar has been iconic as the harbinger of new and emerging talent. Through Dharma, he has made films that have not only captured the nation’s imagination but also given young Indians a unique voice. Apart from being a style icon himself, his multi-faceted personality makes him the perfect custodian of ‘#fame School Of Style”.
Other digital properties announced by #fame include ‘Websinger’ which seeks out promising young singing talent, ‘Gang No.1’, a search for top comedy collectives and the second season of ‘Webchef’, the country’s largest online hunt for amateur chefs.
Apart from properties, #fame’s content will center around building digital video channels with emerging and celebrity talent and innovative digital shows and formats in genres such as food, fashion, music, comedy and technology. #fame also announced its upcoming slate of digital shows and channels with emerging and celebrity talent. Celebrities that have signed up with #fame include TV star Maria Goretti, child comic star Saloni, top model, actress and fashionista Anusha Dandekar, celebrity chef Ajay Chopra, singing sensation Shibani Kashyap and style guru VJ Andy. #fame also has channels with fitness icon and fashion model Milind Soman and renowned sports commentator Harsha Bhogle.
#fame’s ‘talent-first’ strategy will also be addressed through several other initiatives. This includes aiding talent discovery through crowdsourcing platforms focused on emerging talent. #fame has partnered exclusively with Blogmint, a fast growing network of bloggers and social influencers, to act as an engine for talent inflow. Blogmint currently has 5,000 content creators in its network and this figure is expected to reach 10,000 by the end of the year. To further aid talent discovery, #fame is also building a network of alliances with talent hubs such as comedy clubs, film & music schools, art and culinary academies. #fame’s talent agenda will be further strengthened by its multi-tier talent management program, which is designed to help talent grow their digital presence and evolve as performers. #fame will work with signed-up talent to deliver a wide suite of services, benefits and revenue opportunities. The network is also focusing on building technology-based solutions to aid talent in content publishing and monetization.
#fame has adopted a multi-platform approach in distribution with strong presence across all digital and social platforms including YouTube, Facebook, WeChat etc. #fame will monetize by helping brands reach and engage audiences through customized solutions spanning talent-based content, properties and digital video services.
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