VH1 is more than a TV network. The brand itself is a bold and successful mash-up of music,pop-culture and nostalgia, a high-energy hub where everything is “more" – more fun, more bold, and more exciting. VH1.Tumblr.com brings all of the individually celebrated VH1 properties and ideas together for consumers to indulge in and claim ownership over—it’s Best Week Ever, Celebrity Gossip, VH1 programming, music, fashion or animated gifs all in one place. VH1’s Pass the Bowl became a very popular, ongoing interview series. The way it worked, celebrities pulled questions out of the VH1 bowl, which had been left by other celebs. The answer was illustrated with a gif instead of a video. During the election, the Obama campaign started including animated Gifs in its email outreach to younger voters. But, Obama for America was no stranger to the animated medium. The campaign has been using GIFs on its tumblr for at least seven months, reblogging some and creating others on its own — and engaging with Tumblr users along the way. Most notable of these interactions was with VH1, who ended up in a full on gif war with the commander in chief’s account. Last year, the brand’s Tumblr account inspired a lot of inter-tumblr shipping. For the uninitiated, shipping is wishing for romantic relationships between two characters (or entities.) For example: Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, Suckie and Andie (“Pretty in Pink"), Joey and Phoebe (“Friends.") VH1 inspired the “Vhobama" ship (VH1 + Obama) and then Vhelton (VH1 + AfterElton) which started when VH1 were stirring up support for a contest hosted by AfterElton.com. The fictional relationship stirred up a lot of buzz and was promoted on the Daily Dot. Tumblr has been credited for single-handedly rekindling the art of the animated gif. Animated GIFs have been circling the web since 1987, yet in the past few years, they seem to have increased in popularity via Tumblr. Making their own distinct mark on the Tumblr community, VH1 set up their own gif booths at televised events, namely the network’s own pro-social Do Something Awards and Divas concert. The best gifs of popular celebrities made during the red carpet events were later posted to the VH1 Tumblr. Unlike more traditional blogging platforms, Tumblr’s social focus means that short form content tends to pick up the greatest numbers of interaction. VH1 has mastered this method. The network creates a lot of its own eye-catching, attractive content for its audience, but is also excellent ataggregating material from other sources and creatively making it part of its own unique brand identity. By continuing to tell a brand story that’s unlike anything else on the web, VH1 has amassed an engaged a predominantly young audience, a community, via its Tumblr account. VH1 has seen a 33% ratings spike over the past year, and it owes a lot of that success to the chatter happening on Tumblr.
Pass The Bowl http://vh1.tumblr.com/tagged/Pass-The-Bowl Obama Gif war http://vh1.tumblr.com/tagged/Barack-Obama (if you scroll through this tag here, there are some specific examples http://vh1.tumblr.com/post/30169823804/gif-love-an-obama-vh1-tumblr-story http://vh1.tumblr.com/post/30114335013/obama-for-america-vh1-barackobama-vh1 Shipping http://vh1.tumblr.com/tagged/vhelton http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/afterelton-vh1-slashfic-romance-tumblr/ Gif Booths Do Something Awards: http://vh1.tumblr.com/tagged/Do-Something-Awards Divas: http://vh1.tumblr.com/tagged/divas-gifbooth
