A Brief Recap of How Newlink Broke the Internet

Every year MTV Latinoamérica (MTVLA) celebrates the best in entertainment for millennials with a mass-audience event bringing together dozens of artists and influencers competing for a coveted “gato rosa” (fuchsia cat) prize and featuring music performances and other live entertainment. The awards show is the culmination of months of preparation, an event in which the audience can enjoy the extravaganza while seeing the results of fan voting and how their favorites fared.

By Cecilia Conroy, Social Strategist

The MTV Millennial Awards (MiAw) is undoubtedly the biggest event of the year for MTVLA, which had ambitious goals for 2017: to achieve a 20% increase in online voting compared to the previous year’s total (127 million votes) and higher TV ratings for the awards ceremony. On this occasion, the show was moved from Mexico City’s Pepsi Center (a 7,000-seat venue) to that capital’s iconic Palacio de los Deportes, a 20,000-person arena that we wanted to be filled to capacity.

Newlink’s Digital Marketing team, lead by Nahila Campos, got right to work in meeting these objectives, and so began the brief tale of how we broke the Internet.

The online campaign that preceded the #PremiosMTVMIAW was a bold, multi-pronged offensive.

Thanks to the publication of original – mainly organic – content promoting interaction via online voting, live Facebook broadcasts, exclusive sneak-peeks of the production, and Web articles about the nominees and the production, the 127-million-vote target was exceeded just one week into the campaign. But we were just getting started.

In the days prior to the awards ceremony we shifted into another gear, and not just on the digital front: Newlink Mexico’s Social Marketing team was on site two days before the event, and we pulled out all the stops to obtain material. The results were incredible as we managed to have exclusive content that catapulted the event into our audience’s top of mind.

During the show, we continued to go full bore. Paola Croce, our superstar social marketing analyst – and Snapchat queen – made the most of her All Access Pass to gather and share incredible material on the talent in real time via MTVLA’s social networks: Snapchat and Instagram stories, boomerangs, Twitter moments... once again, no stone was left unturned.

Paola also worked her fingers like never before to publish a flurry of real-time notes on the event: best looks, surprise performances, exclusive news, and special sneak-peeks. Throughout the process, Elisa Schwarz, our design guru and spiritual guide made sure all published material conformed with the required guidelines.

For the first time, the MTV MiAw Awards were not broadcast live but rather were aired on television a day after the event. This clearly posed a challenge: How could we maintain audience enthusiasm and sufficient intrigue until the next day so as to achieve the desired ratings? After all, the show is 100% geared for millennials, and if there’s one thing millennials love, it’s sharing every last aspect of their lives in real time. So how could we keep their interest even though attendees would inevitably communicate information about the event?

We continued to pursue our strategy the next day with as much determination as in the preceding days; our mission was not yet complete, and we couldn’t afford to let down our guard. Once again, we were on the front lines. Setting up shop in MTV Mexico’s offices, Newlink worked with the MTVLA team from early in the morning until late at night to continue producing content that would keep audience interest high and ensure people would be tuned in to the channel to see the incredible show. AND IT WORKED.

The 2017 MTV MiAw Awards achieved the best results in the event’s history

It was the most-watched show in Mexico in the 12-24 demographic, there was a 405% increase in viewers compared to last year, and we surpassed the target rating by 40%. We also set a new record with 658 million online votes, exceeding the original goal by 418%.

658

Million online votes

Exceeding the original goal by 418%

+405%

Increase in viewers compared to 2016.

Surpassed the target rating by 40%

#1 Show

in Mexico in the 12-24 demographic.

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Although the numbers could be termed “incredible,” the reality is that these astronomical figures stemmed from a sound strategy, sweat, and even some literal tears on the part of Newlink’s Social Marketing team. Besides putting all of our strategic and creative effort into the campaign, Nahila, Paola, Elisa, and I worked closely with the client to create a bond that helped ensure a fluid work environment. For two months, we ate, drank, and slept the MTV MiAw Awards. And although the road was not always smooth, the final destination was amazing. However you look at it, this was a resounding success for Newlink’s Social Marketing team, but it definitely won’t be the last...

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