Swatch MTV Playground

In order to promote Swatch’s launch of its CreArt collection, inspired by the original 1980s Swatch brand and featuring watch designs by world-renowned graphic artists such as Grems, or fashion designers such as Manish Arora. The new collections were created to link Swatch to its roots while looking forward to the future and empowering a new generation of artists. MTV was challenged to imagine a way to best communicate their new collection, raising awareness within specific circles by focusing on ART while making it relevant to MTV’s audience and Swatch’s targeted consumers: young adults, who may not know much about Swatch’s art heritage.

Even though ART doesn’t feature in MTV programming grids as a theme, a specially commissioned survey highlighted that the audience felt passionate about art. The communication had to be engaging, interactive and visually stunning to mark its passage through MTV on air, attract artists and those who liked the arts, and at the same time support the launch of the Swatch collection by driving awareness of art to young consumers.
TV, online, events, retail, promotions and press would be utilised from both commercial and editorial angles. Well known contemporary designers, graphic artists, film makers and musicians were enlisted to validate the concept and keep the attention of the targeted audience, driving them to engage with the campaign and create their own community.

Additional efforts in engaging directly with universities and art schools around the world would further develop the relevancy and credibility of this new art space for young people. The purpose was to activate, involve and empower a very large group of exciting emerging artists around the world, creating a new community and giving them the opportunity and space to express their creativity and exercise their imagination; also allowing audiences and consumers to be able to appreciate their work and enjoy art in a relevant and exciting way

SwatchMTVPlayground was developed by focusing on a few segments in the arts: 2D, 3D, graphic art, illustration, fashion, motion design, film and music. All cross-platform activities were linked by a common and visually strong look and feel, which evolved during the year, applying art to its inception. Six communications platforms were used: TV, website, events, competitions/promotions, retail and advertising. TV reached a mass audience and persuaded young people to think about art in different ways through high quality editorial content, five customised sponsorship billboards and an MTV created commercial spot for Swatch’s new Manish Arora collection. On-air graphics and promo spots aired on high rotation across MTV, directed viewers to experience the Playground website and community, or to attend events being held across major cities. The website became the community core.

Artist works uploaded to the website, were exhibited at on the ground events which were in turn filmed and shown on-air. Events stood out as memorable experiences, creating word of mouth. The Talk@Playground series featured artists and designers such as Manish Arora, Hiroshi Fujiwara, Marc Newson, who were paired up with creative music stars like Lady Gaga, Will.I.am, Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry. They discussed their common passions & inspirations. Exclusive online tutorials featured the designers talking about creative process & methods. Competitions invited artists to upload their work while the best works were featured on-air. At the end of the campaign, two special vignettes aired on MTV showcasing highlights of Playground events around the world.

The campaign took audience engagement transforming it into creative empowerment. Both Swatch and MTV have a history of style and design, even though Swatch’s art heritage among young people today wasn’t necessarily known, MTV brought music? heritage, plus art heritage in the fields of style, graphics and design. More than 3,750 competitions entries were received. Over 11,000 people attended 8 events in Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Seoul, Berlin, Athens, Luzern and Amsterdam. Talk@Playground TV shows reached over 27 million people on MTV. Playground on-air promotional spots had a reach of 220,000,000 while Swatch’s brand spots had a reach of 84,000,000. 72% of youth in Asia felt that their attitude towards ART had changed as a result of the campaign and 48% felt that they could get more involved in art. 44% of young adults considered Swatch as a creative and innovative brand, and intent of purchase rose 30% amongst MTV’s audience. Unique visitors to the Swatch/MTV co-branded website grew 10% from the year before, and more than 50,000 artwork pieces were uploaded by user of the Playground community. The high quality of art and content ensured that Playground became a strong community where our audience could interact and discuss art, in a very 'MTV kind of way'... More activities are planned for 2010.