MUMBAI: While a slew of talent hunts are poised to crowd the airwaves; in comes the series of blinding promo blitz. But the music channel that built its fortune on such talent hunts, doesn't seem quite keen on joining rest of the clan. Instead Channel [V] has adopted a unique stance to promote its fare.

Barring the customary print, on-ground campaigns, Star network's music arm is taking it slow, on the promotions front, for its talent hunt [V] Super Singer.

"We have built up our brand name on talent hunts. For many, the name Channel [V] is synonymous with talent hunts. After all we have successful three years to show. We don't need to indulge in the promotions hoopla," quips Channel [V]'s head honcho Amar Deb.

But what about the competition? "What competition? Despite the minimal publicity, we got a huge response from our first audition city, Delhi. It would be wise if others, who have just joined the race quit," he adds.

"In addition, we have a bug on the left hand corner to promote the audition songs or the jury of the contest," Deb informs. What about the new age media's like the Internet or the SMS? "We have the mandatory Internet campaign, which is the same as the Popstar 2 campaign. But we have the advantage of Star networks huge SMS interface 7827 and we are using it effectively," he adds.

Despite persistent efforts, Deb wouldn't be drawn into commenting about the budget for the promotions. But he said that the promotions are more 'robust'. The first leg of the hunt has already begun, with the auditions held in the capital on 20 and 21 September.

Boasting about the 'heavy-weight' jury, Deb says, "We don't have the over-exposed television faces as our jury. Our 'rock star' judge Adnan Sami is a true music phenomenon and we know he will bring in a lot of that genius talent. In addition to Sami, we will be having one local expert from each city to judge the talent."

In addition to the title sponsor, electronic major Samsung; the hunt has nine other sponsors including indiatimes.com, Silk-n-Shine, Parle Magix, Liril, Brylcream, Centre-fresh gum, McDonalds, Baba Pan Masala and Maruti Suzuki.

In the second lap, the zone-wise, candidates short listed from 10 city auditions, will participate in zonal auditions held in five cities namely Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata. The level three, aka the quarter finals, will have 40 selected potentials flown to Mumbai, where they will be groomed and trained. The final 20 will be chosen in the studio by the studio audience. Whilst the fourth lap, semi finals will see the judge narrow down, the final five. It will be followed by another session of intensive grooming and training, hobnobbing with the best in music industry. During this round, the viewers can vote for their choice of Samsung [V] Super Singer via SMS.

The big prize includes a recording contract for the release of a music album with the country's leading composer and lyricist, an opportunity to playback for a leading Bollywood producer, and release of a music video to launch the album. While the winner bags the contracts, the other four finalists will also contribute one original track each to the album.

Channel [V]'s last find, Popstars 2 "Aasma" will be touring to promote the talent hunt, along with [V] VJ's.

While Deb is loathe to volunteer any information on the programming, he insisted that all the advertising slots are already sold out. His parting shot, "Unlike certain others, we are not sitting 'idle'".