As part of the initiative dubbed Cartoon Network's `Get Tooned' loyaltyprogramme, five children from India have been chosen to feature in cartoonfilms as `Banana Boy', `Construction Kid', `Flamenco Kid', `Ninja Kid', and`Rollercoaster Kid' created by the network. Similar spots featuring kidsfrom different parts of the Asia Pacific region will also be aired as partof `Get tooned'. Cadbury India Limited is the presenting sponsor of thepromotion in India.

``The initiative is part of an on-going effort to provide our targetaudience with a chance to feel part of the Cartoon Network. In this case, byliterally becoming `cartoon stars' themselves. We are continually trying todevelop fresh and creative ideas that reward their loyalty,'' says TurnerEntertainment Networks Asia Inc, vice-president and creative director IanDiamond.

`Get Tooned' follows close on the heels of a series of channel-buildinginitiatives Cartoon Network has been involved in since mid-1999. In Julythis year the channel had launched a phone-in promotion: `15 Seconds ofFame,' with a view to enhance interaction with viewers. As part of this on-going promotion, dedicated hotlines have been set up in five major metroswith interactive voice responses programmed in the voices of famouscartoons. Sponsored by Titan and Nutrine Mahalacto the promotion will go ontill mid-January 2000. If the 1.2 lakh viewer responses received for `15Seconds of Fame' so far is any indication, the initiative has gone down wellwith the channels audience in India.

In yet another initiative titled `I.R's Birthday Bakery', the channel hasbeen celebrating kid's birthdays since September this year by featuringtheir names on animated birthday cakes.

``Initiatives like `Get Tooned' are ways of involving our target into thefabric of the channel. We are making an effort to regionalise CartoonNetwork without changing the programming content drastically,'' saysDiamond. Where `15 seconds of Fame' and `I.R's Birthday Bakery' areinitiatives specific to the Indian market, `Get Tooned' covers other CartoonNetwork markets like Taiwan, Australia.

As a precursor to `Get Tooned', the channel kicked off a contest inSeptember this year inviting viewers (read: children) to send in a recentphotograph of themselves and state in 20 words why they deserve to `Gettooned'. Five of the best entries from each region were chosen subsequent tothe on-air solicitation In a bid to get the buzz going, a cartoon crew fromCartoon Network was in Mumbai last month to shoot live-action video clips ofthe winners. Titled, `Preparing for Toon stardom,' these 45-second videoclips depict the transformation of the children into animated characters.

Launched in the Asia Pacific in 1994, Turner Broadcasting Systems Inc'sCartoon Network reaches out to 15 million house holds in the region. Ofthis, the channel has reported a reach of 8.5 million homes in the Indiansubcontinent in September this year, up from 6 million homes until asrecently as April 1999. More important: advertising revenue generated by thechannel during January-September 1999 was a whopping 150 percent higher thanthe ad revenue generated in the corresponding period last year.