MTV is the smallest music channel in Japan and it’s competitors own most of the country’s media. Their one asset is the Western celebs who attend the Video Music Awards Japan each year. MTV asked us to leverage their attendance, without buying media.
The theme for the 2005 VMAJ’s was ’Discover Music’. We decided to take it literally and inspired by the event’s branding we designed 200 plastic figures in five colors and named them EyeDolls. We made the EyeDolls the treasures in a scavenger hunt throughout the city of Tokyo leading up to the 2005 VMAJ event.
The EyeDoll Hunt
The hunt was launched on MTV with the dolls popping out of the VMAJ logo and supported by flyposters at the event’s affiliated retailers. Random idents giving clues on MTV showed possible EyeDoll locations and the web and mobile site announced live EyeDoll sitings for the hunters. Each EyeDoll allowed you and a friend entrance to the VMAJs and the rare silver EyeDolls got you VIP backstage passes. Within the first week the EyeDolls were being traded on Japanese auction sites. The story was picked up by the press and when the MTV team tried to hide the last set of doll, hundreds of people had figured it out already and were lying in wait. The campaign was funded by affiliated brands, such as Apple and Audio-Technica, each sponsoring one EyeDoll color.
Media: 200 EyeDolls, Launch ad on MTV, twenty five clue idents on MTV, web and mobile site, fly posters and PR.
Markets: Japan
Agency: KesselsKramer, Amsterdam
