August 2006
invENTS at Manning Gottlieb OMD develops groundbreaking TV sponsorship campaign for SingStar on PlayStation® 2.
invENTS, Manning Gottlieb OMD’s specialist entertainment division, which has been working with PlayStation for over a decade, has produced an innovative sponsorship campaign for the SingStar brand. SingStar is a social singing game on the PlayStation 2 console and one of the marquee titles in the PlayStation software catalogue. The sponsorship is an integrated partnership with MTV’s new multi-platform, interactive, entertainment service MTV Flux.
The launch of MTV Flux on television represents the next development phase of the service which began on August 1st with the rollout of social network, community site www.mtvflux.co.uk where users have been registering their profiles and building their avatars in advance of the broadcast element going live on September 6th. The launch of Flux takes the concept of virtual communities to an entirely new level where users can upload their own content on to television, be part of an online interactive community and ultimately control their very own TV channel. In a virtual community which knows no bounds, users can ‘flux’ by mouse, by mobile and by remote control.
SingStar is a singing game that demands interaction from its players and through invENTS it is sponsoring a unique piece of programming called the ‘Throwdown’. The ‘Throwdown’ is a show that screens up to 50 times a week across MTV portfolio. It consists of a 3 minute video clip which is cut up footage taken from viewers’ attempts to lip synch to the chose tune. The weekly track will be hosted on the SingStar branded MTV Flux Throwdown site in the week prior to going out. Each week, in true democratic fashion, the most viewed videos will be edited together in a 3 minute collage of SingStar mayhem.
The sponsorship was negotiated by MTV sales house Viacom Brand Solutions (VBS). In addition to selling airtime, the VBS team also sell creative solutions driven by sponsorship, promotions, events, new media and licensing opportunities.
The sponsorship, will run from September 2006 to February 2007, with different songs each week to keep the sponsorship fresh and create a back catalogue of three minute SingStar branded ‘Throwdowns’ that will be played out on MTV Flux across the sponsorship period.
Duncan Snowden, Account Manager at invENTS, Manning Gottlieb OMD said: “The brand values and interactivity that MTV Flux can offer SingStar are a perfect fit for our strategy. Empowering people to create their own content is something a lot of brands are doing. However, enabling them to broadcast takes the SingStar/ Throwdown sponsorship to another level. Integration with music and social networks is precisely what we are looking to achieve with SingStar as we move into a new era for entertainment with the launch of PlayStation® 3 in November 2006.”
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Viacom Brand Solutions
Viacom Brand Solutions (VBS), a brand focused sales house, was established in January 2001 after MTV Networks UK won the sales contracts for Nickelodeon and Paramount Comedy.
VBS represents all of Viacom's broadcast brands including MTV, MTV Hits, MTV Dance, MTV2, MTV Base, VH1, VH2, VH1 Classic, TMF, Nickelodeon, Nick Replay, Nick Jr, Nicktoons TV, Paramount Comedy, PC2 as well as E! Entertainment.
The sales team works with UK agencies and clients to develop solutions based around its youth and entertainment brands. In addition to selling airtime, the team also sell creative solutions driven by sponsorship, promotions, events, new media and licensing opportunities.
VBS can provide advertisers with top quality, appropriate and distinctive creative solutions at highly competitive rates, allowing many new advertisers to adopt TV advertising as an effective and efficient communication option.
In February 2004, VBS launched a new office in Dublin, selling MTV and Nickelodeon exclusively to the Irish Republic. In March 2004 Viacom Brand Solutions teamed up with Capital Radio Group and IPC ignite! to form a commercial alliance to create RSVP, a new one-stop service for media agencies and advertisers targeting youth audiences.
