MTV - The Look: The Genesis of Branded Content

MTV the look is possibly the first of its kind branded content property where Alia Bhatt, the brand ambassador of Philips turns hairstylist in the new web series. The show has been hosted by VJ Gaelyn and Alia Bhatt will feature in all of its regular episodes. The show falls under the genre of fashion and lifestyle. The first episode involved getting your hair ready for partying.

Objective

MTV is increasing catering to teenagers and this target audience isn’t always watching television and consume content on smartphones and tablets as well. Their main source of information comes from the internet. Reaching out to this target audience by creating content they can identify with is the objective of this campaign.

Execution

MTV has partnered with Philips to create content for the common target audience. The channel has launched a variety of digital content exclusively for the web. These include short videos or vines on relationship advise and web series called Saturday Night with a leading soda brand.

This series with Philips is the first of its kind which has the brand ambassador Alia Bhatt doubling up as a hairstylist sharing some of her favourite styles, tips and tricks to create interesting hairdos along with MTV VJs. As far as sponsored content goes, MTV has Get Fit which focuses on fitness and healthy living tips and a digital travel show with Tata Nano called Drive with MTV – also exclusively web series. But this is the first time any web series has incorporated the brand and the brand ambassador making it the first branded content series by MTV.

The web series has a microsite has the look of the day, the Facebook page of MTV highlights this new show and the conversations on twitter is interspersed with references to Philips MTV The Look.

Positives

The creation of branded content with the upcoming Alia Bhatt – who also is the brand ambassador for Philips is a wise decision. What with the recent gig that Alia Bhatt did with AIB (All India Bakchod), the recall and connect with the target audience is bang on. Considering Alia Bhatt is touted to be the next big thing in Bollywood, I think the choice of the brand association is a win-win for both Philips and MTV.

Both brands will get the leverage they need. Also it goes with the persona that Alia Bhatt is quite the diva when it comes to personal style, so the genre of web series chosen is also a great choice to connect with the audience MTV and Philips want to connect with. The first episode has already received over 10,000 views in a week which is quite an encouraging sign.

Areas for improvement

Maybe these are early days and MTV is planning this already – there can be several engagements, using this content, with the target audience. There could be instagram and pinterest contests, twitter hashtags like #GetTheLook and Facebook contests planned. In fact the twitter hashtags could have been started earlier on before the launch of the web series, which could have probably increased the viewership of the first episode.

Conclusion

Since this is the first in branded content for MTV, let’s give them a pat on their back for the kind of content they have created – the right platform for the right target audience with a brand ambassador which does justice to the genre selected. Also the product by Philips doesn’t look ‘plugged in’.