Digital entertainment group MSM Corp has announced a celebrity headliner for its smartphone talent competition, and in doing so is testing the old adage that all publicity is good publicity.
Usher — Justin Beiber’s mentor and eight-time Grammy award winner — will join the ASX-listed company as chief creative director as well as a mentor and judge for the Megastar competition.
The announcement comes as Usher is also fighting accusations of having sex with three people without revealing that he had the STI herpes.
Two women and one man have launched legal proceedings in New York against the singer for failing to warn them that he had the disease after sexual contact in 2012.
MSM Corp (ASX:MSM) is bringing the “Got Talent”-style format to mobile, and is kicking off the concept by launching the first competition itself. A grand prize of $US1 million and the possibility of movie roles are the teasers for the company’s six core markets.
Usher will be Megastar’s first A-list brand ambassador, using his social media following to attract viewers in the UK, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa where the competition has already launched, and Australia where it launches in September.
The company also simultaneously announced a successful $10.5 million capital raising at 20c a share.
The extra cash will pay for marketing the show and production — and $5.7 million has been allocated for celebrity judges and mentors.
Megastar and Usher will jointly launch a global media spray in September, and no doubt hope mass market success, rather than Confessions Part II, is the follow up.
So far the R&B icon’s appointment seems to be working, with MSM shares up about 10 per cent at 12pm Monday after it came out of a trading halt pending the announcement.