On Sept. 7 at 8 p.m., Univision viewers got their first look at the talent squaring off in the network’s new song-rich reality-competition show, Va Por Ti.
Viewers also got their first chance to build their brand awareness and affinity for Coors Light, Glade, MetroPCS, Nissan North America and pharma giant Boehringer Ingelheim.
The five companies have signed on as integrated sponsors for the series. As such, each will be prominently featured throughout in customized programming content, co-created with Univision, as well as through traditional spots.
A co-production of Televisa and Univision, Va Por Ti features three teams of contestants, each mentored by such Latin recording acts as regional Mexican artist El Dasa, former RBD member Dulce Maria and pop star Jencarlos Canela. Alejandra Guzman (pictured) and Larry Hernandez are featured as celebrity judges, and one internationally renowned Latin recording artist will be a guest judge each week.
“We know that our platforms provide powerful and one-of-a-kind engagement opportunities between brands and Hispanic consumers,” Keith Turner, Univision Communications president of advertising sales and marketing, said. “As more brands embrace the importance of engaging Hispanic consumers, we continue to develop culturally relevant platforms to help our marketing partners connect organically with this important audience.”
Boehringer Ingelheim is sponsoring the “El Duelo” (Last Chance Duel) segment in which two contestants with the lowest votes fight for their chance to stay. The contestants will have an opportunity to perform one song before the judges decide who should be eliminated. The pharmaceutical company will also sponsor the “La Revancha” (Afterlife) challenge, in which eliminated contestants are featured in a digital only, one-on-one competition on Univision’s Va Por Ti website for a chance to get voted back onto the show.
Viewers will vote digitally for their choice based on footage from the contestant’s last performance, and the online winner will be brought back for the TV show’s final phase. In addition to the in-show features, Boehringer Ingelheim will also promote its Hispanic branding campaign, “Cuida Tu Don,” which promotes awareness and diagnosis of Type-2 diabetes through a series of ads featuring Sabado Gigante host Don Francisco.
Coors Light will present “El Lounge de Coors Light” (The Coors Light Lounge), a weekly heart-to-heart segment with one of the contestants of legal drinking age. In the segment, a team captain will help dig deeper for inspiration to make that week’s performance bigger and better.
Glade will sponsor the “Sala de Inspiración Glade” (Glade Inspiration Lounge), an area backstage where contestants re-energize during rehearsal and talk about their experience on camera. The “Sala de Inspiración Glade” will feature exclusive interviews by fans who will ask contestants questions via Twitter or Vine.
Interviews and other content from the “Sala de Inspiración Glade” will also be featured online. Glade will also have an on-air presence on Univision morning show Despierta América and Sábado Gigante, with recurring featured integrations throughout the course of Va Por Ti’s first run.
Meanwhile, MetroPCS will sponsor the toll-free audience weekly voting number for contestants that are up for elimination, giving fans the power to decide who will stay and who will go. Each week, MetroPCS will also reward a deserving contestant with the opportunity to connect with loved ones through their MetroPCS devices. Furthermore, MetroPCS will sponsor wrap-up segments of the previous night’s show on Despierta América and teaser segments leading up to the Sunday broadcast of entertainment news-and-gossip show El Gordo y La Flaca.
Finally, Nissan North America will sponsor the “Va Por Ti Moments” segment of each week’s show. At any point during the competition, one of the judges could reward a contestant’s performance by classifying it as a “Va Por Ti Moment.” That contestant is then given a chance to sing a duet with the guest judge in a segment later in the show. Nissan will also reunite the top three contestants with their families during the final show prior to revealing the overall winner.
Some 28 contestants are competing to be the next Latin music star in this new reality show. Celebrity judges will evaluate the performance of the singers, and one contestant will win a $50,000 cash prize while embarking on a path that could have them become the world’s newest Latin singing sensation.
According to Univision, the Sept. 7 premiere episode reached 5.8 million total viewers 2-plus who watched all or part of Va Por Ti’s inaugural three-hour broadcast. Nationally, it delivered more adults 18-49 and adults 18-34 than ABC’s special presentation of The ABC’s of Schoolhouse Rock and the finale of Wipeout as well as first-run airings of CBS’s 60 Minutes, Unforgettable and Reckless.
