HAVING signed one of the world’s most powerful entertainment stars as a marketing ambassador, signed on two global leading entertainment PR firms and undertaken a successful capital raising in recent months, ASX-listed digital technology and entertainment company, MSM Corporation International Limited (ASX: MSM) has really become a must follow business.
MSM recently grabbed international attention when it announced that eight‐time Grammy Award winning superstar Usher had agreed to join the company as Chief Creative Director for the MSM-backed global talent competition, Megastar.
Usher, who has a social media presence of over 68 million ‐ Facebook (46 million), Twitter (12.3 million), Instagram (6.7 million) and YouTube (3.3 million), will also be the competition’s headline judge, mentor and brand ambassador and he will use his popularity and influence to market and promote the brand across his social media platforms, whilst also maintaining audience and media attention with a high impact role as headline Judge.
At the same time as MSM was wowing the entertainment sector with the Usher announcement, the company reported that it had successfully secured commitment for subscriptions for a $10.5 million capital raising, of which $1.9 million will support marketing and production of the first Megastar tournament, and $5.7 million towards managing the competition and payments to key personnel behind the world‐first talent competition.
Part of the marketing budget will go towards strategic campaigns operated by the recently appointed international PR agencies – Rogers & Cowan – which has been appointed to roll out Megastar’s PR campaign in the United States – and 3 Monkeys Zeno – which will undertake the company’s UK campaign.
Rogers & Cowan works with a diverse roster of clients ranging from A‐list celebrities to content creators and consumer lifestyle brands ranging from John Boyega to J Balvin and brands from McDonalds to Mastercard.
3 Monkeys Zeno is part of the global Zeno Group and has multi-national clients including Netflix, Schweppes, Budweiser and Lenovo Moto.
MSM’s press and media campaign will now be coordinated via a global team and the company’s Executive Director for the Asia‐Pacific, Sophie McGill, says the key international marketing appointments will herald the next phase of the Megastar global awareness campaign.
Since June 2017 MSM has progressively released their app and opened auditions in South Africa, Great Britain, New Zealand and Canada. The is ahead of the full global marketing campaign and champagne launch of the competition in the USA and Australia spearheaded by USHER to 130m+ combined audience reach.
The next big step in the global marketing campaign is the spreading of the message of what Megastar is – and with TV talent shows still massive ratings achievers, highlighting the considerable size of the market Megastar will reach.
Usher, who will play a significant role in that next stage of the Megastar product launch and global media campaign, recently highlighted the international attraction of the event.
“Megastar is unlike any talent competition out there. It spotlights the power of emerging global talent and turns seemingly unattainable dreams into reality. I’m thrilled to be a part of this creative, next‐ generation online competition,” the international superstar and Megastar’s Chief Creative Director, recently said.
“I look forward to lending my experience as a global performer and mentor to the process, by motivating talented contestants from all over the world, to push themselves to achieve personal bests and career breakthroughs,” he said.
The Megastar concept was founded by Adam Wellisch and Dion Sullivan in February 2014 and Mr Sullivan says that the product development is right on schedule with the signing of Usher.
“We are absolutely delighted to have Usher invested in both the product and the outcome of Megastar. His career spans over 24 years already and he has inspired so many artists. He has so much experience, training and industry knowledge to impart on our Performers and his insights are invaluable to singers, dancers and performers in general.”
MSM describes Megastar as a global, mobile‐first talent competition, featuring performers of any category, competing to win US$1 million, a role in a film and various other prizes. Winners are chosen by fans voting in the competition through the Megastar App.
The first Megastar competition launches in MSM’s six core markets – the US, Great Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa – with the App available for download from the Apple and Google Stores. Additional Megastar competitions will subsequently launch in non‐English speaking markets via partnering and licensing agreements.
The MSM Megastar platform is designed to leverage the global addiction for the unearthing of the new “star” in such shows such as Idol, The Voice, X-factor, etc. The Megastar concept is made even more exciting through the awarding of massive prizes and the support of international superstars such as Usher.
Analysts are forecasting a potential world-wide Megastar audiences of 120 million plus, with MSM set to take financial advantage of the popularity of the event and brand ambassadors like Usher through In-App purchases, subscriptions, advertising and eventually merchandising and data analysis.
A recent research report has estimated that MSM may convert 0.8% of an addressable audience of 22 million in FY2018, with that number climbing to 63 million by 2025, delivering estimated EBITDAs of $5.4 million in FY2018 and $16 million in FY2020.
The Megastar concept and operation is backed by an experienced, high profile Board and Advisory team including: Chairman Adam Wellisch with over 20 years’ experience in consulting, product and business development, technology strategy, business administration and corporate governance.
Managing Director and CEO Dion Sullivan with more than 20 years’ experience in digital marketing, social gaming, e-commerce, consumer packaged goods and entertainment and recent roles within Clairol/Bristol Myer Squibb, FTD.com, Bank of America, Viacom, MTV Kids & Family, Video.jax and Betfair/TVG North America.
Executive Director; Asia Pacific Sophie McGill is been involved in the development and production of popular TV programs such as Big Brother, The Match, Deal or No Deal.
Non-executive Director – Mark Clements has 18 years’ experience in corporate accounting and public company administration and is the founder of Bailion Corporate Services.
The US Advisory Board is headed up by Doug Barry with over 20 years’ pig experience in media, entertainment and technology. He founded Selby Ventures in 2000 and was an original investor in Pandora Media, the largest global internet radio service with over 125 million registered users.
Other members include: Michael Pole, a studio executive with 25 years’ experience managing the development of successful video games, Jennifer Herman, a Zynga executive, focused entirely on the iOS App Store and Google Play and Antonio Mollins who has held roles as senior data scientist at Netflix and as a quantitative analyst at Goldman Sachs.
With TV talent shows such as American Idol seeing a major resurgence in international audience following in MSM”s target audiences, the Megastar campaign and event is a must watch experience.