Categories Name : Mobile & Tablets

Sub-Category : Best Use of WAP /Html/ other sites for Mobiles and Best App Developed- Products / Services / Corporate / Social/ Films / TV Shows / Entertainment/ Lifestyle / Gaming etc.

Entry Name (Campaign) : MTV India - When India Dared To Stare

Brand Name : MTV India

Metal : Gold

Covering Note / Overall Experience

MTV Roadies has enjoyed a brand following of over millions in its 15 years of flourishing existence. Touted as India’s most enjoyed adventure-reality show, hundreds of thousands fanatics from different parts of the country aim to make it through the audition rounds, but only a handful do so.
Of late however, the show was facing a peculiar challenge. While the audition rounds were filled with anticipation and intrigue, the TV viewership witnessed a decline in the subsequent episodes where the selected Roadies contestants actually took to the road.
We realized what was needed was not just marketing efforts to sustain viewership of the show but also an engagement campaign to make the ‘Roadies Fan’ feel included in one of the toughest contests of skill and strength. To make them feel that they too were part of the Roadies culture!
And with this year’s theme being Xtreme, the solution would have to be extreme too!
Meanwhile, a consequent evolution was also seen in the content consumption pattern of its fans. Its predominantly traditional fanbase, reached through television sets and newspaper ads, had now shifted base to a digital destination. We had to capture the attention of digital content consumers, primarily mobile users. Thus the media strategy was to run the campaign on a mobile platform.
It was important to make every MTV Roadies Xtreme fan feel that they are Extreme too and to give them a chance to prove it – to themselves and the entire Roadies universe. And thus came to life a never-before-seen innovative campaign called – The #DareToStare Challenge.
Now every Roadies fan could be 'Xtreme' by engaging Rannvijay into a virtual staring contest, and stand a chance to walk away with weekly prizes!

Concept

The concept was to create the 'Dare To Stare' challenge and give each and every fan a chance to go through the MTV Roadies Xtreme experience.
What followed was, fans could log in to the site (www.daretostare.in) from anywhere in the country and accept a challenge from the host of the show Rannvijay to engage into a VIRTUAL STARING CONTEST. The winner did stand to take away the grand prize, but it was more a matter of pride than anything else.
Built on the format of the show - which is a series of tasks and vote-outs - it was decided to not just position THE STARING GAME as a game for entertainment, but rather as a dare that took endurance and would clearly define the most Xtreme fan. Thus, the name of the campaign was coined as ‘The #DareToStare Challenge’. And hence the person at the other end of the game had to be the Roadies icon, Rannvijay due to his image, popularity & fan following online and offline.
A mobile-led multi-platform strategy was then put into action to execute and promote this concept, using quite an innovative approach.

Innovation

This was India’s first-ever mobile ‘staring game’ and the first-of-its-kind digital innovation for MTV. The results exceeded expectations compared to other innovations owing to MTV’s huge organic follower base, a bulls-eye media targeting strategy owing to the air-tight database and an engaging communication strategy.
It was a mobile-only campaign through and through: Everything from the tech-enabled microsite to the promotions were all mobile-based. The game platform used AI machine learning to incorporate technology, which had functionalities such as face detection, control flow, face tracking and point tracking – optical flow. This was to trace a person’s face, detect eye movement and trigger the timer at the slightest blink.
By setting up these parameters, we successfully controlled the conditions for picking up only one face at a time. Additional restrictions were implemented for minimum and maximum focus area where the face had to be detected. Over the course of the campaign, we were able to refine the technology to ensure that participating users had to play the game manually and could not use a stand-in image in their place.
The accuracy of the technology kept the users on their toes, with a huge number faltering within seconds, picking themselves up and logging yet again, ready for another staring match - in true Roadies fashion!

Execution

As part of the execution strategy, a series of videos were shot with Rannvijay staring into the screen, while engaging users in the contest by intimidating them and poking fun. Video ads across mobile display and social media inventory had Rannvijay daring them to take up the challenge and beat him.
The ads took users to a mobile-only microsite, where they had to adjust the screen to their eyes and hit Start to begin the timer. Videos of Rannvijay engaging them, trying to distract them, talking back, etc. were pulled from the back-end and played seamlessly depending on how long the user lasted. The slightest blink would end the contest and they could either submit the score or try again to clock a better time.
The top 10 users would be featured on the Leaderboard that was updated real time. This virtual staring contest resonated well with our mobile-savvy TG and they began sharing their score while daring others to take up the challenge too.
Every week, top winners got MTV goodies while the one with the best Stare Time at the end of the campaign won an Oppo F7 phone making the win feel special.

Results

The astounding response to the Dare To Stare challenge sent the stats counter buzzing hard.
The Dare To Stare campaign managed to have a boosting effect on their TVC presence. While the show enjoyed a 0.43 TVR in the month of May 2018 - prior to the commencement of the campaign - the mobile game had pushed it to a respectable 0.51 TVR since going live.
An approximate figure of 12 mn were reached, with 2.5 Lakh game plays being recorded. The activity period of 8 weeks saw over 50mn impressions recorded. India was staring for over 15,000 minutes! The average stare times were recorded at 15 and 20 minutes, with the longest stare stretching out for about 1 hour and 30 minutes.
For the hardcore stare-warriors, their valiant efforts did, finally, pay off. A reasonable number of them went on to win the weekly prizes while the Grand Winner managed to walk away with an OPPO F7 smartphone.
‘Dare To Stare’, eventually, managed to reach out to each and every Roadies fan and give them the MTV Roadies Xtreme experience.