Newly minted Creative Director of the Soca Monarch Simon Baptiste believes the brand still has great potential despite the event's decline in popularity in recent years.
The event has seen dwindling attendance since Machel Montano exited the event in 2015, with several prominent soca stars also declining to participate.
"Typically brands that have been around for a while have a tendency to have its up and down moments, and I would say there is always a challenge within a market that is very saturated. We have a lot of events that are going on and what happens over a period of time is that people's choice or basically the demographics you're going after may not be there anymore just naturally because of the nature of the event that you're doing, " said Baptiste.
He acknowledged there is a need to reinvigorate the event.
"So I understand would say that about soca monarch the fact that you're right, you don't have the premier artistes that are competing. But the fact of the matter is there is a lot of potential in this event, what it represents and what it can do for the Caribbean. I think my predecessors did a phenomenal job, I'm not gonna take anything away from that and I simply hope to build upon that and bring something that could make it a little more globally impactful, " said Baptiste.
He added connecting the event to the world was one of the main reasons he signed on.
"That's really and truly where my expertise is. it's the connections that we have in the US, Europe, Asia, Africa and I'm hoping. It's not gonna happen right away because this is literally just a couple weeks away, " he said.
Baptiste said given the limited time frame the onus was on the ISM to deliver the best event possible, with the hope that the production value of the show can encourage artistes to come back.
"The fact is we will try to pay attention to the details, work with the right team, try to deliver the best that we can to our artistes and to the audience that watches the show. And we will just go strength to strength, I believe in the positive and the idea that there is something great, " said Baptiste, "I am hoping that we can entice as many people as possible to take part in it but that also requires from our end to ensure that the production levels and the support exist for the artistes who wanna participate so obviously they are galvanised and say yeah they wanna take part in it and do something for their fans."
He could not yet say how many persons had registered for the event.
Registration for the competition closes on Friday.