MTV Roadies makes it big on web 2.0

What’s the latest buzz? Do I hear the vroom of a speeding bike or is it the latest marketing strategy of Roadies 6.0? Yes. You read it right. The most popular show on MTV India, Roadies is back in action and boy did it not become the hottest talk of the town!

The credit goes to its seamless use of media that was strategically utilized to create a buzz around the show. The effort began way back in mid 2008 when Roadies 5.0 was introduced at an international platform.

TribalDDB, the marketing and creative agency of MTV India was looking at new media avenues to market the show. And for the first time, the show successfully capitalized on the emerging social media in the country.

The Internet was used extensively to promote the game show. About Roadies’ online strategy Aditya Swamy, vice-president, marketing, MTV India, said “A lot of the youth are online now and we needed to target them on this medium. For the first time, we conducted auditions online, and for the first time, we have created a dedicated website.”

Moving on to 2009, Roadies 6.0 – Hell Down Under has further utilized social media to its advantage. It penetrated the most effective of networking sites to keep the buzz alive about the show.

Spearheading this campaign was Orkut (voted by MTV as the Youth Icon for 2008). MTV came up with its official community in Orkut, which attracted thousands of members. Soon, a dedicated community for Roadies followed it. Today the count of members on both these sites together has surpassed two lakhs! Even Facebook has an official page and fan page for Roadies.

The next step was to introduce the Roadies Battleground – an online and highly interactive model of the main game. Thousands of participants enrolled themselves and tried their luck at the game. Through this Orkut application, the idea was to not only introduce a new twist in the scheme of things but to also generate word-of mouth publicity among youth.

Added to this effort were other things such as Orkut themes, initiating discussions, blogs etc. MTV also tied up with Zapak to introduce micro gaming sites. Another major way to spread the buzz was by uploading viral videos. Behind-the-camera action, uncut scenes, cheat codes etc were made available on social networking sites to keep the youth involved with the show. There isn’t one online channel which MTV India and Roadies have not tapped into, to their advantage.

The Web 2.0 campaign was well backed with MTV’s offline marketing activities. Through a synchronized offline-online communication plan, MTV managed to keep the buzz alive for their hugely popular reality show, even when the program was not running. Constant repeat runs of the show, launching the cheat code, and involving ex-roadies on shows like MTV Splitsvilla help keep the Roadie spirit alive. And not to mention, the cash register ringing!

Social Media has definitely grown in power. Gradually every marketing agency is coming to understand its importance in the field of communication. A bit of creativity and a little of sound strategy is all that it takes to create a BIG BUZZ on the web. And like the Roadies … bigger the buzz … better the results!