HONG KONG – Prudence Foundation, the community investment arm of Prudential Corporation Asia, and Turner’s Cartoon Network have turned to the next generation of Asian kids to provide inspiration for a new music video of Cha-Ching Money Smart Kids, the globally recognised and award-winning financial literacy programme that’s now in its eighth year.
Following a regional search for the most talented kids on TV, online and social media, six young individuals were identified to lend their voices to a rap song called “10 Things”, which will begin airing on Cartoon Network on 15 August. The young talents performed a choreographed dance which was then animated and fused with the audio to create a catchy and engaging music video.
Marc Fancy, Executive Director, Prudence Foundation, said: “We are delighted to bring together this group of influential young talent from around Asia to jointly develop a new Cha-Ching music video. They all lend their unique personalities to the initiative, allowing us to create a great new video to help children learn more about financial literacy. During the many years of this partnership, we’ve focused on the four fundamental money management concepts of earn, save, spend and donate. This song aims to tie together those principals with 10 relatable and easy to understand things for kids to remember in their daily lives, both now and in the future.”
The song was recorded in Singapore in May and will be aired on Cartoon Network’s on-air, online and social channels reaching kids and families in tens of millions of households over the next few weeks.
It features: Marcus Cabais from the Philippines, Gisele Chiam from Singapore, Gia Khiêm (aka Henry) from Vietnam, Zara Leola from Indonesia, Charmaine Chia from Malaysia, and Siri Chaikul (aka Mac) from Thailand.
Vishal Dembla, General Manager of Turner in Southeast Asia, added: “Kids and the plurals generation are famously difficult to engage. Not only do you need to talk to them with an authentic voice to secure their attention, you also need to win the support of a key gatekeeper — their parents. The group of young talent in “10 Things” will help us achieve this.
“Together with Prudence Foundation, Cartoon Network has continually developed award-winning animation, apps, games, songs and websites that have to manage to reach families in a fun, 360 way.”
As Cha-Ching is a non-commercial and educational community programme, the kids did not receive a talent fee. Instead they donated their time, talent and influence to help reach kids children across Asia, in line with one of Cha-Ching’s donate principle.
In addition to its airing on Cartoon Network, “10 Things” as well as its related content will also be uploaded onto a number of Cha-Ching platforms, including its YouTube page, website and Facebook page, over the next five weeks.
Cha-Ching is an initiative of the Prudence Foundation, the charitable platform of Prudential Corporation Asia. Produced in co-operation with the Cartoon Network, the leading children’s channel in Asia Pacific, and with the backing of Dr. Alice Wilder, an expert in educational and child psychology, Cha-Ching takes an engaging and age-appropriate musical narrative approach to teach children about four key fundamental money management concepts – Earn, Save, Spend and Donate.
It rolled out in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and the Philippines in 2011, and then in Cambodia in 2015, Taiwan and UK in 2016. In 2017, the programme arrived in the US. Cha-Ching is currently available in English, Bahasa Indonesia, Bahasa Malaysia, Cantonese, Mandarin, Thai, Vietnamese, Khmer and Burmese.
Cha-Ching is a series of three-minute animated television music videos for children aged 7 to 12 that were produced by and aired on Turner’s Cartoon Network. Other elements of the programme include a website (www.cha-ching.com) with games and applications featuring real-life money management scenarios, online resources and activity plans for kids, parents and teachers.
The Cha-Ching School Contact Programme was implemented across Asia since 2012 and has reached more than 400,000 children directly. A new Cha-Ching curriculum with structured lessons plan for teachers was launched in schools in the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia in 2016, and reached more than 100,000 students in 2017. The Curriculum is expanding to Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia in 2018.
Watch an example of a Cha-Ching music video:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqgMsoZlig0&w=560&h=315]
