PepsiCo’s Quaker Chewy is following in the footsteps of Converse, which has been one of the biggest brands committed to helping emerging music geniuses get a stage where their voices can be heard. While the shoewear brand is primarily targeting bands, the snack brand is launching young music talents competition, running in the USA, and is happy to welcome standalone singers aged 8-14, who can upload videos of them performing one of the four songs selected by the brand to the Quaker Chewy Superstar Search website. The winner of the contest will receive a contract with the industry expert, record a song and get $5,000 in cash—not a bad start for a superstar-to-be.
For the talent search project, the brand teamed up with the non-profit organization Little Kids Rock, focused on making music education more accessible in schools across the U.S., as well as recording artist Nick Jonas, of the platinum selling, Grammy nominated Jonas Brothers, who is providing inspiration and tips for the young talents at the online destination.
The competition also goes beyond digital with the Quaker Chewy Mobile Recording Studio, which is rolling out across the U.S. from June 9 through August 4, and will visit New York City, New Jersey, Cleveland, Chicago, Nashville, Atlanta, Dallas, Denver and Los Angeles during the three months for those who don’t have professional equipment to make a video to enter the competition. «The Quaker Chewy Mobile Recording Studio is a one-of-a-kind studio on wheels. By giving parents and kids a unique opportunity to record a performance in a studio, we’re nourishing their potential and letting their musical talents shine,» commented Bill Fiely, director of Quaker Snack Bars. On recording the video, the contestants get an emailed version of the final ‘take,’ which can be uploaded to the contest’s page.
The brand will name 5 finalists, each to be awarded $1,000, on August 12 and will ask the public to vote for the best performance online—the grand prize winner to be determined on September 13 will “record a song produced by Nick Jonas, appear in a produced music video that will stream online and a portion of which will air on national television, enter into a management contract with Jonas Group, LLC” plus will get the money prize as mentioned above. Will they find new Justin Bieber?