Every year, MTV works to reinvent multi-platform coverage for the Video Music Awards, which mark the biggest night in music for the network. In the days leading up to the star-studded show at NYC's Madison Square Garden, we strived to take advantage of VMA talent access to create unique content for use across all platforms - digital, social and linear.
In the days leading up to the VMAs, we secured a few moments with Future to create a 360 video. We aimed to nail creative that was true to the artist & MTV's brand, teased the luminous VMA stage, and made full use of the 360 space.
Using a hand-held GoPro Omni rig, our camera operator dressed in a bulky Moonman costume with the knowledge that he would appear prominent in the final shot. Future sauntered through an LED-light-filled tunnel to the bottom of the VMA stage, ensuring that the end result would build anticipation to both his upcoming performance and the amazing stage design.
In the space of hours, the final product was shot, stitched, edited & uploaded in order to take advantage of our lead-up time to promote the show with an unexpected performance teaser.
Tapping into a partnership with Facebook, we were able to test out their recently-launched cross-posting tool to debut the video on both MTV and Future's fan pages, exponentially furthering our reach of the content.
To top it off, we "flattened" the 360 image for linear usage, giving the content a full day's worth of on-air interstitial time to build anticipation to broadcast - making this truly a multi-platform effort.
The 360 video alone garnered over 3.8M streams to date, most of which accumulated in the critical pre-promotional days leading into the VMAs. Creatively, the end product felt dreamy, anticipatory and compelling enough to inspire full use of the 360 environment; not to mention, selectively show off a glimpse of the VMA stage.
