Begun on July 16 across Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata, the event invites entries for a music competition. Planned as a simple acoustic singing competition, the event invites performers to play the guitar, a compulsory element, and sing a song of their choice in any language and genre. Once entries for the four cities have been received, the qualifying rounds will take place on two different days at a Barista Lavazza outlet.

The qualifier rounds will take place in Delhi on Aug. 3 at Basant Lok and Aug. 4 at Kamla Nagar; in Mumbai on Aug. 3 at Sterling and Aug. 4 at Santa Cruz; in Bangalore on Aug. 3 at Sadashiv Nagar and Aug. 4 at Frazer Town; and in Kolkata on Aug. 2 at City Centre 2 and Aug. 3 at Park Street. The finals will take place on Aug. 4 in Kolkata at Camac Street; and on Aug. 5 in Delhi at New Friends Colony, in Mumbai at Chembur, and in Bangalore at Koramangala.

In Mumbai and Bangalore, around 10 bands will be selected to play at the finals. From these, one band will be chosen as the city winner and will receive free coffee for one year (one coffee free everyday for a year) at Barista Lavazza café, along with a Barista Lavazza gift hamper and a Barista Lavazza signature guitar.

In Delhi and Kolkata, the finals will be a bit different, with Barista Lavazza for the first time is experimenting with two celebrity bands to be part of the show. Two bands each from both cities will get to open for Half Step Down in Delhi and Cactus in Kolkata, and be judged by them as well. In both cities, the celebrity bands will also perform live and unplugged at the Barista Lavazza outlet. The winners will again, receive free coffee for one year (one coffee free everyday for a year) at Barista Lavazza café, along with a Barista Lavazza gift hamper and a Barista Lavazza signature guitar.

Commenting on the initiative, Nilanjan Bhattacharya, COO, India and SAARC, Barista Lavazza said: "Friendship Day evokes the feeling of nostalgia and helps one reminisce about the special days and moments spent with friends. While refreshing our memory about our ‘best' days during school, college and after study days, it brings a smile on our face. At Barista Lavazza, we are glad that we are able to create and provide a platform such as the ‘friendship jam', which gives our guests the opportunity to come together with their friends and enjoy the same through two binding forces of music and coffee. We are confident that this year's friendship jam, with celebrity band performances, will be enjoyed and remembered for years by our guests and their friends."

Speaking about the reach of the initiative, Bhattacharya said: "The events are being organized in the four cities of Mumbai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Delhi. Next year, we intend to take this to even bigger heights and expand it to cities beyond just the metros. It's been just four years since the beginning of this event and every year, we see a rise in its popularity, along with a huge increase in the number of participants. Each year, we have to add more outlets for the event in order to meet the growing demand. The event is still in its learning curve for us; we are optimistic that we shall soon take this initiative to other cities. As compared to every year, we envisage a rise of around 25 per cent in our participant list."

A new addition to the initiative this year is the online element wherein participants have the chance to win by sharing their music videos online. Participants can upload them on the Barista Lavazza Youtube page and two winners from across India will win the same prize as the bands. Commenting in the same, Bhattacharya said: "As most of our customers, especially from cities where the event is not being held on-ground, are expected to participate, we have this year opened the channel of YouTube for them. They too can be a part of the entire Friendship Jam event by sending in their entries through the social media forum which includes Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. We are confident that we will be receiving a lot of online entries this season. Viewing all the entries, on-ground and online, is likely to take up more time than last year; hence, we have decided to keep this process simple and separate. For this segment, we have an internal jury who would be deciding the winning teams at the end of the online contest on Aug. 5."

The event has been promoted thorough all possible touch points, with emphasis on the internet and social media. For registration, the participants can either fill out forms available at any of the Barista Lavazza outlets in their city, call the toll free number 1800 1027 271, register online on Barista Lavazza's Facebook / Twitter page, email at friendshipjam2012@lavazza.co.in, or visit the Barista Lavazza website (www.barista.co.in) for announcements and entry receipts.