MUMBAI: Early next year, India will host its first ‘The Music Run’ - an immersive 5 km fun running experience that will put music at its heart. ‘The Music Run’ has been brought to India by sports marketing and brand licensing in India- Baseline, by its creators Fresh Events Global.

Through this multi-year partnership, Baseline will promote a new concept in metro cities. “In the last eight to nine years (in India), a mass run has gained a lot of popularity. As a firm, we have always wanted to enter the space; however, we were determined to do so only when there was a concept that was innovative in its own way. The Music Run is a very different concept, which is why we have decided to enter the space with it,” said Baseline co-founder Vishal Jaison.

The firm will conduct its first run somewhere in Bangalore, Mumbai or Delhi. According to Jaison, “the plan is to have two runs every year and then go up to four- five runs next year.” He also revealed that the company is expecting around 5000-10,000 people in the first year, per run.

Set over five km, participants at The Music Run, can walk, run or dance through five different zones, each of which represent a different genre of music- rock, retro, pop, house and dance. In the lead up to the event, runners will be encouraged to ‘Play DJ’ and help decide the music that they want to listen to in each zone, through a bespoke music selection mechanic. Speakers will be placed throughout the course of the run, and the most popular song, based on shares on Facebook, will end up as one of the top songs on the playlist. When the run is over, participants will have the opportunity to witness live performances from artists at the finish zone music festival.

Considering Bollywood music is the most popular in the country, the playlist might also have tracks from that genre. “For other genres, we are looking at creating playlists internally. However, for Bollywood, we will try getting a specialist to curate the music for us,” added Jaison.

Furthermore, Jaison said, “After the run, there will be party and a dance mood created among the participants. There will be several DJs and bands playing; it will be a fun atmosphere.” For the first year, the firm plans to bring on board only India acts for the music festival. “We might think of getting International acts eventually,” he revealed.

The company will kick start promotional activity around the IP by November or December this year. It will be strongly dominated by a digital campaign, followed by a lot of activations. Jaison also stated that it is too early to provide further details on the promotional activities, as the company is in talks with potential partners.

The Music Run was first held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2014. According to Fresh Events Global, by the end of 2015, the event will touch more than 120,000 lives across 13 events and 9 countries from Singapore to Hamburg. After Asia, The Music Run will expand across North America, Europe, Australasia, the Middle East and Africa. However, the agreement with Baseline for The Music Run is only limited to India.

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