Logo

Hey Dude, MTV Here, and We Understand Why You’re Not Watching Us

May 14, 2010  •  Post A Comment

Edited by Laurel Wentz
Advertising Age

What happens to other broadcasters while up to half the world’s audience spends a month watching the World Cup soccer games? If you’re MTV, you do an ironic international campaign that highlights obsessive fan behavior and says, "We understand why you aren’t watching MTV."

"It’s the anti-World Cup campaign," said Jose Molla, founder and creative director of MTV’s international agency, La Comunidad, Miami. In the first of three spots breaking next week, a Russian youth sits in front of his TV eating canned dog food to win a trip to the World Cup in South Africa. His sister points out he can enter the sweepstakes without actually eating the dog food. The spot ends with the voice-over: "We understand why you sign up for those promos, and why you’re not watching MTV."

"As a brand that really targets 18- to 24-year-olds, we need to talk about the World Cup, and we wanted to acknowledge that it’s going on," said Sean Saylor, VP-creative for MTV Networks International. Mr. Saylor, who grew up in Argentina and is a big soccer fan, had the idea of doing a World Cup-related image campaign. "We don’t have any content that relates to soccer. [The campaign] really talks about who we are as a brand."

The first spot "Shto," which means "What?" in Russian, is filmed in Russian, with subtitles adapted for the country the spot is airing in. A second spot, called "Spooky," is filmed in Spanish, and depicts a giant hamster who attacks his disheveled World Cup-watching owner with a chainsaw and berates him for forgetting to feed him for weeks. He demands a pizza be delivered to his tiny cage immediately. MTV is more understanding: "We understand why you’re not feeding Spooky, and why you’re not watching MTV."

The third spot, filmed in Korean with subtitles, touches on another aspect of fan behavior: a belief in the power of lucky charms. A lethal insect appears as two Korean fans watch a World Cup match. One wants to kill the dangerous bug and the other refuses because the bug brings good luck. As they argue, the bug turns them both into slimy snails, but their team scores a goal, so it turns out to be lucky after all.

"It’s interesting to do a campaign for a brand that has nothing to do with soccer, and has never sponsored any soccer team," said Jose Molla. "It’s such a huge event around the world, and people get so passionate about it, that’s it’s good for MTV to address this incredible moment, in an ironic way. It shows how people get totally into the World Cup, but from a different angle."

The spots will run on MTV channels outside the U.S. #

Here are two of the spots:


54 Comments

  1. Excellent job.

  2. Thanks for the share, I have been readin online all day and this was actully worth reading. Thanks

  3. Thanks for the share, I have been readin online all day and this was actully worth reading. Thanks

  4. Thanks for the share, I have been readin online all day and this was actully worth reading. Thanks

  5. Great post!

  6. Excellent job.

  7. Well, the post is actually the freshest on this laudable topic. I concur with your conclusions and will thirstily look forward to your future updates.

  8. Very good text. I’ve found your site via Google and I’m really glad about the information you provide in your articles.

  9. Talking about the stock exchange is always interesting and enlightening. I’ll wait for the next posting. Thank you.

  10. Thanks for the share, I have been readin online all day and this was actully worth reading. Thanks

  11. Thank you for a great post

  12. Just to let you know… your blog looks extremely bizarre in Mozilla on a Mac

  13. Thanks for your visiting this http://www.hello-free.com/freebies online store.

  14. Hi; Excellent post for me. Your post has helpful. I want to has valuable posts like yours in my blog. How do you find these posts? And you have a problem about your template.You should fix your problem about your template … I recently came across your blog and have been visitingalong. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don’t know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Very Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.Good day…

  15. It’s very good, I like it. Thanks very much.

  16. High quality info here! Keep up the great work. I love the feelings being expressed.

  17. Interesting thoughts here. I appreciate you taking the time to share them with us all. It’s people like you that make my day 🙂

  18. You make blogging look like a walk in the park! I’ve been trying to blog daily but I just cant find writing material.. you’re an inspiration to me and i’m sure many others!

  19. Bizarre… I just came across your blog by looking for ‘financial spreadbetting’ on Yahoo. But I can’t see any posts on that on here?

  20. Love all the opinions expressed here! How is everyone? Love how everyone expresses whatr they feel 🙂

  21. Interesting thoughts here. I appreciate you taking the time to share them with us all. It’s people like you that make my day 🙂

  22. A great publish certainly! That’s the sunny side of your writing, you publish in a very lucid manner and I’ve no problem to understand what you’ve mentioned, even though I’m a novice. Keep the great give good results going by proceed blogging new and entertaining posts.

  23. I love the way you write and also the theme on your blog. Did you code this yourself or was it done by a professional? I’m very very impressed.

  24. I saw a program concerning that on television at the weekend. Thanks for explaining it more thoroughly

  25. Great wordpress blog here.. It’s hard to find quality writing like yours these days. I really appreciate people like you! take care and see you soon

  26. High quality info here! Keep up the great work. I love the feelings being expressed.

  27. Have you regarded as adding some differing opinions for the post? I believe it will seriously improve viewers’ geting a grasp on.

  28. I love the way you write and also the theme on your blog. Did you code this yourself or was it done by a professional? I’m very very impressed.

  29. Kudos to you! This is a really good blog here and I love your style of writing. How did you get so good at blogging?

  30. I had only previously noticed one web page when I googled into your web site – I didn’t recognize how in depth it’s! Brilliantly accomplished! I hope you have earned awards for it, they’re deserved.

  31. Kudos to you! This is a really good blog here and I love your style of writing. How did you get so good at blogging?

  32. You completed several nice points there. I did a search on the subject matter and found the majority of people will go along with with your blog.

  33. Hi there. I definitely value the factors you made. I dont think Ive really thought about it in that way. I can genuinely appreciate the way you approached the subject matter and what you said genuinely gave me a brand new perspective. Thanks for taking a few minutes to write this all out.

  34. I really like the colors here on your blog. did you design this yourself or did you outsource it to a professional?

  35. Nice blog here! Also your website loads up fast! What host are you using? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

  36. A great publish in fact! That is the sunny facet of your writing, you write in a very lucid manner and I’ve no issue to recognize what you have said, although I am a novice. Maintain the superior perform heading by proceed blogging new and entertaining posts.

  37. I love your blog.. very nice colors & theme. Did you create this website yourself or did you hire someone to do it for you? Plz reply back as I’m looking to create my own blog and would like to know wheere u got this from. thanks

  38. Great blog!! You should start many more. I love all the info provided. I will stay tuned 🙂

  39. I love the expression. Everyone needs to express there own opinion and feel free to hear others. Keep it up 🙂

  40. Way to focus and straight to your point, i love it. Keep up the work people. Dont let anyone stop us bloggers.

  41. High quality info here! Keep up the great work. I love the feelings being expressed.

  42. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

  43. Nice blog here! Also your website loads up fast! What host are you using? I wish my website loaded up as fast as yours lol

  44. Nice!! Great Ifo. Great People. Great Blog. Thank you for all the great sharing that is being done here.

  45. High-quality storie, it’s real amazing. I did a search on the issue and found the majority of people will consent with your site. Thank’s for you inform.Welcome to my web site about bass lures.I suppose you made certain nice points in features also.

  46. That’s bloody ordinary isn’t it?

  47. I reckon something truly special in this web site .

  48. What a release to learn a piece of paper that could be present at last in truth significance reading! I’ve been looking for all-around concerning this matter but men and women now put rubbish posts, or short worthless posts. I contain noticed a couple vids on youtube but it’s now the equal as reading a good post.

  49. I love the way you write and also the theme on your blog. Did you code this yourself or was it done by a professional? I’m very very impressed.

  50. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills and also with the layout on your blog. Is this a paid theme or did you customize it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one these days.. 🙂

  51. The new Zune browser is surpr isingly good, but not as excellent since the iPod is. It works effectively, but is notas quick as Safari, and has a clunkier interface. For those who sometimes prepare on utilizing the net browser that isn’t an problem, but when you??? re planning to browse the net alot from your PMP then the iPod is greater display screen and far better browser may be crucial.

  52. I like the variety of their tactic. The hand rendered type treatments are stunning.

  53. Excellent weblog, thanks for writing th is post

  54. Love the blog here. Nice colors. I am definitely staying tuned to this one. Hope to see more.

Leave a Reply to Lionel Flirt Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)