Brand/Rebrand: MTV International

07.16.2015

In 1987, Sting sang the iconic words "I want my MTV" on the Dire Straits single "Money for Nothing." Now, nearly 30 years later, he can finally have it, thanks to an MTV International rebrand that hands a healthy portion of its channels' on-air real estate over to the viewers.

Unofficially dubbed "I am my TV," the flashy centerpiece of the new MTVI is #MTVBump, an online platform that lets viewers upload their own videos to be considered as idents, or by submitting them through Instagram and Vine using the aforementioned hashtag.

At the same time, the Viacom network has provided each of the regions across the 160+ countries in which it resides with a digital toolkit packed with hundreds of lo-fi-yet-chic animated backgrounds and 3D animated objects, then given them free reign to combine them at will.

The goal, said Sean Saylor, VP of creative at MTV International, was "for it to feel fun" for each region to implement the new assets, "to mix and match them as much as they want and to make them feel unique and relevant to their audience… It's coming from the same direction aesthetically but it always looks a little different." MTVI has always packed its airwaves with imaginative design elements (a fresh new slate of its legendary Art Breaks also populate the rebrand), creating what is at least the illusion of an anything-goes aesthetic well-suited to its audience. But this new amalgamation of user-generated content and local in-house creative independence makes the illusion a reality - the brand is ceding control of its airwaves to a degree unprecedented in linear television, giving literally anyone in the world the chance to help dictate its look and feel. The results will be unpredictable, but the genius of this concept is that they will also be unceasingly timely, the purest reflection possible of what viewers are into right this minute.

"It's all about the content that our audience wants to produce," said Saylor, "to get an idea of things that could be relevant at a local scale so we can feel as fresh as possible. Our audience is constantly on social media and they refresh constantly, so most of the content [they] see once, twice and then you don't see it much more. The [linear] channel should feel like that to an extent. A lot of the [on-air] content you'll see probably once or twice and you'll never see it again."

This way of doing things brings "the creative anarchy of the Internet to TV," said Ben Hughes, managing creative director of B-Reel Creative, who partnered with MTVI to bring the Bump platform to life. "There's no one look on the Internet - it's billions of people expressing themselves in billions of different ways, and that's what makes it really rich and interesting. [We wanted] to bring that kind of free-flowing creative expression to a medium like TV, which has typically been much more controlled in terms of visual representation… One of the most exciting things about this project was that MTV was really willing to sort of blow up the visual look and feel that has existed for the brand."

Added Saylor: "We like to call it 'online, on-air.' We're taking all the elements that live in the digital space and applying them to linear branding and communication… What if we take the language of our audience and we put it into a screen? [We're] giving the brand back to the audience - not only to those people who consume us but also to the creative communities and our teams themselves."

While it's hard not to wonder how far letting the inmates run the asylum can go, for now, MTVBump is just the first of two planned modules from the rebrand. Having given viewers the tools to create videos for the network, the next step, called MTVCanvas, is a kind of digital sticker book that will let them do other forms of graphic design, applying their collective creativity to actual brand assets, some animated and some still.

"Some people might be very talented in creating videos," said Saylor, "but others might want to experiment more, are a little more shy and might not want to be on camera. They'd rather do some art. Here's another opportunity for them to create, and it feels more in line with the Art Break pieces, so this would feel part of that space."

Canvas, said Saylor, should launch some time in August. Along with Bump, it kicks off a new era where things will change and evolve so quickly, it's hard to know what to expect next.

"We've rebranded and now it's about changing constantly and being always ahead of the curve and making sure we are looking at things differently all the time," said Saylor. "Most of these kinds of platforms take on a life of their own… It's scary and exciting at the same time."

Over at B-Reel Creative, Hughes said he hopes to only continue being part of what has been a fulfilling project at both professional and personal levels: "It's been a dream project with a brand that is probably responsible more than anything else for getting me into the business. I got interested in communication because of music videos and that creative anarchy of early MTV, and to get to work with that brand on a project that's just going to push those values even more to the forefront… It's just really exciting to think of MTV being a place where everyone can see themselves reflected on-air."