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Coca Cola, Ford back on ‘American Idol’
MUMBAI: US broadcaster Fox has announced that Ford Motor Company, Coca-Cola and Cingular Wireless will return as sponsors of its reality based show American Idol.
On 18 and 19 January the debut episode of the fourth season attracted a record-breaking 65.6 million viewers. Ford has been a leading supporter of the show since the show debuted in the US in 2002. Ford vehicles will again be featured during the “Idol” action, as contestants will be seen driving and riding in a variety of the automaker’s cars, trucks and SUVs.
The show will serve as the key platform to integrate Ford’s next generation of all-new vehicles, all built for the road ahead, including the 2005 Focus, Mustang, Freestyle and Escape. Ford will also give the winner of the show the keys to the 2005 Ford Mustang.
A variety of branded elements and programmes will connect Coca-Cola and fans of the show, while helping to bring them closer to the shows experience. The contestants will interact and prepare in an updated version of the popular Red Room. A series of Coca-Cola behind-the-scenes interstitials will provide viewers an insider’s perspective on what contestants experience as they work to Make the Dream Real.
During commercial breaks, viewers will also see Coca-Cola ads from the new “Make It Real” campaign, which debuted during the show’s season premiere. Other activities designed to provide consumers with a completely integrated show experience are planned for a variety of retail outlets in the US where Coca-Cola is available.
Meanwhile Cingular will highlight the suite of LG phones including the new F9100 handset, the perfect text voting phone from LG Mobile Phones, and showcase interactive text messaging through a variety of fun and engaging marketing activities. Fans can use their wireless handsets to text message their vote for their favorite contestants each week, chat with contestants, play interactive games, download ringtones and graphics and participate in weekly trivia contests, as well as enter the American Idol sweepstakes.
New to the scene is Cingular’s Fan Club Appreciation. Details of this new programme will be shared later in the season, so stay tuned!
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Happy Pawdcast launches merchandise with The Souled Store
Season 2 success leads to co-branded line celebrating pet-parent bond.
MUMBAI: The Happy Pawdcast just gave fans something to wag their tails about because when your favourite pet show gets merch, even the couch starts feeling like a runway. Building on the momentum of Season 2 which reached over 14 million pet lovers, clocked more than 20,000 hours of content consumption and engaged over 23,000 users, The Happy Pawdcast has teamed up with The Souled Store for an exclusive co-branded merchandise collection. The line translates the podcast’s emotional core into wearable designs that celebrate the everyday bond between pets and their parents.
Hosted by Sonali Bendre and Icy Behl, Season 2 featured candid conversations with celebrity pet parents including Remo D’Souza, Diana Penty, Kubbra Sait, Rohan Joshi, Karan Wahi, Tusshar Kapoor and Amala Akkineni. The episodes tackled responsible adoption, stray welfare, pet emotional well-being and debunked common care myths, earning strong resonance across digital platforms.
Sonali Bendre said, “Season 2 reaffirmed how deeply people connect with stories around pets, responsibility, and companionship. This collaboration with The Souled Store is a natural extension of that bond, taking the conversations beyond the screen and turning shared emotions into something tangible for pet parents.”
Rose Audio Visuals head of marketing & branded content Megha H Desai added, “With Season 2, The Happy Pawdcast evolved from a content property into a strong, community-led IP. The collaboration with The Souled Store reflects our approach to building meaningful extensions around our shows where audience insight, brand alignment, and scale come together.”
The Souled Store co-founder Vedang Patel noted, “Pet parenting today is as much about identity and expression as it is about care and responsibility. This collaboration allowed us to tap into a deeply engaged, emotionally invested community and co-create designs that feel authentic and accessible.”
Produced by Rosepod (the podcasting division of Rose Audio Visuals), the merchandise marks the podcast’s shift from audio-video content into a broader lifestyle IP, while aligning with The Souled Store’s focus on pop-culture-led, community-first products and its animal welfare initiatives through World For All.
In a pet-parent world where love often comes with a leash and a hoodie, The Happy Pawdcast isn’t just telling stories anymore, it’s letting fans wear them, proving the bond between humans and their fur-babies deserves more than likes, it deserves to be flaunted.
