Case Study: Interactive Flash Application Development

MTV Campus Invasion Tour

Client Profile

MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom Incorporated, owns and operates a variety of cable networks including MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, Country Music Television and The National Network. In addition to the company’s Internet holdings, including mtv.com, sonicnet.com and Nickelodeon online, MTV Networks also licenses a number of consumer products based on its various brands. The media giant, with an estimated 250 million viewer’s worldwide, selected Azavar Technologies Corporation to head up interactive promotions for MTV’s Campus Invasion Tour.

Challenge

To increase awareness and further promote MTV’s 20th anniversary programming during the network’s Campus Invasion Tour.

Technology

Front-end Interface

• Apple QuickTime Player
• Macromedia Director
• Macromedia Flash
• Macromedia Shockwave

Middle-ware

• ASP
• Java
• Lingo
• Visual Basic

Back-end

• Application Server: Microsoft Internet Information Server
• Operating System: Microsoft Windows Windows 4.0 Server/Workstation
• Apple Macintosh Operating System

How Azavar Drove the Bottom Line

• Increased time spent in sponsor areas by an average of three minutes
• Increased software uptime, reliability and usability for consumers by over 850 percent from previous years.
• Heightened consumer experience by providing virtual timelines of MTV achievements over the last twenty years.
• Created client-server based applications, flexible enough to be implemented throughout the entire Interactive Village, generating a more effective means of engaging the consumer and further adding to their ability to expose users/consumers to the MTV brand.

Solution

As a pop culture icon, MTV is known for innovating music television.  From the creation of the music video to the development of the VJ, the  network has more than just established a cult following—it has permanently changed the face of today’s culture on a global scale. MTV scheduled a full week of network airtime to celebrate its 20th anniversary with closing ceremonies to be held at the Video Music Awards. The network sought to bolster viewer ratings for the scheduled programming by launching a cross-platform promotional campaign. A large portion of the promotions were to take place during MTV’s bi-annual Campus Invasion Tour, putting the company in direct contact with its demographic on a face-to-face basis.

Headlining the music industry’s most popular artists, the Campus Invasion Tour travels to college campuses throughout the country to promote the network, its sponsors and other events happening at MTV throughout the year. The focus of the tour was to bolster ratings for MTV’s 20th anniversary television programming.

In addition to various musical performances, the tour features an Interactive Village where all MTV related activities as well as product demonstrations and sponsor giveaways are held. Companies such as Neutrogena, Toyota, 1-800-Collect and Arrid are regular sponsors and conduct the majority of their promotions during this time. MTV looked to Azavar Technologies Corporation to build a solution aimed to further engage tour-goers visiting the Interactive Village.

With a captive audience in its prime demographic, the tour’s Interactive Village was critical to marketing MTV’s 20th anniversary special. The challenge was to create a solution with maximum appeal to the "MTV generation." The reasoning behind this was to increase the visitor’s time spent in the Village by maximizing their exposure to both MTV and the sponsor brands. It was imperative to draw the tour-goer into the sponsor area, while holding their interest long enough to be approached by an MTV representative.

Another challenge involved overcoming the short attention span typical to MTV’s target demographic: college students who are 18-22 years of age. Azavar’s promotional strategists suggested to MTV that interactive kiosks be strategically placed throughout the Village to engage the visitor at specific entry and exit points, keeping them exposed to the MTV brand and sponsor promotions for a greater period of time.

In addition to strategic location, Azavar designed the kiosk interfaces to display two different virtual timelines of MTV history: one to highlight MTV’s VJs and the other to demonstrate MTV’s history of live performances. Each interactive timeline featured a brief text summation of a VJ career description or specific musical performance and led the kiosk user to a designated video clip. Quick set-up and strike down of the Village was a critical issue for MTV. Azavar developed the timelines on a server-based system that provided maximum efficiency during Village preparation.

Interface architects at Azavar designed the timelines with clean and simple layouts so as not to confuse and aggravate the kiosk user. For heightened functionality, a scrolling bar was placed at the bottom of each screen allowing the user to easily select a year for further exploration of MTV history. The seamless navigation flows and edgy Flash animated interfaces engage and entice without the need for complex usage instructions. They create an unobtrusive MTV brand awareness without alienating the user through blatant advertising and promotional gimmicks. The user ultimately controls what is viewed.

As the company has built its empire on video medium, Apple™ Computer’s QuickTime video format was used to provide high quality audio and video elements, two requirements of key concern for MTV. To further maximize the quality of sound, each kiosk was equipped with a set of headphones for added audio experience. For a futuristic feel, Azavar implemented touch-screen monitors at each kiosk instead of the traditional mouse and keyboard. Azavar’s simplicity of design and ease of use created just the feel MTV was after. Users simply approached the kiosk, put on the headphones and touched their way through twenty amazing years of MTV history.

In addition to Azavar’s promotional solutions, Azavar also designed the network used on the Campus Invasion Tour and provided ongoing technical support. Our solutions ran on seven PCs while eight additional machines housed third party software such as music creation and video editing applications. MTV’s Campus Invasion Tour ran without incident through the in-depth knowledge and technical support provided by Azavar’s network technicians.

All in all, Azavar’s interactive and promotional solutions exceeded MTV’s expectations by providing users with a heightened and more enjoyable virtual experience. The average time spent in the Village was significantly increased from previous years. MTV was equally impressed by Azavar’s ability to increase software uptime and reliability by 850% from the 2000 Campus Invasion Tour.

Contact us to achieve this kind of Webability™ for your organization.