THE VMA’S

The MTV VMA’s Are A Go!

The VMAs are an ever-changing entity that consistently pushes the cutlural zeitgeist to new places. 2023 -2025 saw a new shift with how we marketed. Instead of treating each year like it’s own show, Executive leadership decided it was time to slap a brand on the brand.

Challenge: How do you Brand a Brand?

Similar to The Oscars, The Golden Globes, The Grammy’s The Emmy’s - we needed to paint the VMAs as the unique snowflake as it was and one thing VMA’s has over all, are the iconic pop-culture moments talked about forever. Cut To:

Music’s Most Iconic Night

A promise that this wasn’t just another awards show, but a defining cultural moment. That positioning came with real challenge: award shows today compete not only with other TV events, but with every second of social media content, streaming distractions, and short attention spans. The risk was that the VMAs could fade into the noise rather than feel irreplaceable.

To rise above, we leaned into a high-impact, cross-platform strategy—amplifying the VMA brand across 13 networks and digital touchpoints. Our creative leaned into nostalgia, surprise, and performance-driven storytelling that lived up to the “iconic” promise.

The results spoke volumes. In an events landscape that consistently is seeing declines, the 2024 VMAs drew 4.08–4.09 million total viewers, an 8% increase over 2023 — the biggest audience in four years. And perhaps most impressively, the show generated 66.7 million social interactions, setting a record for social engagement for a VMA telecast.

By leaning into the grandiosity of the “iconic night” theme, and executing with creative precision, we didn’t just meet our goals — we ignited a conversation that kept the VMAs top-of-mind before, during, and long after the show.