Ex | Drive with MTV will be the largest digital show: Aditya Swamy

When life has been one continuous struggle in building a career for oneself with a constant search for high salaried job , for an ideal apartment  and ultimately pressure from your loved ones  to  settle down there is still that emptiness within you to achieve that unfulfilled dream . It is inherent in human nature to crave for adventure, travel, to see different places, meet different people, and savour the beauty of nature. But, our daily routine prevents us from taking that initial step whereby we can venture out to explore the vast outdoors . Under such circumstances would it not be ideal to win a sponsored road trip to make your dream come true? Now MTV India has teamed up with Tata Nano to launch a road trip campaign and make this experience possible. It's still the ultimate social road trip like it was the last season but involves more fun, adventure and packed with experiences that will be cherished for a lifetime. 

The second season of ‘Drive with MTV’ is back after a successful stint in the first one and this time the social road trip is even more social since the trip routes are being crowdsourced through Twitter and bloggers can get exclusive wildcard entries and more. ‘Drive with MTV’ is India’s first social streaming show featuring 4 teams in their Tata Nanos on a road trip across the country in 21 days. The teams share their journey live everyday across social media platforms and make points on every like, comment, share, retweet, etc. The first season saw team Nano North win based on their social media clout and take home brand new Tata Nanos.

The selected contestants will have to take care of their food, fuel, stay and every small expense will have to be incurred by them within the budget . The entire journey will be documented and will enfold live on various social media platforms and the Drive with MTV website. Each activity on the road and on the web will get the contestants points. At the end of the journey, the team with the most number of points will take home a Nano each.

While on the trip, participants will share their experiences live with their friends, followers and the online audience using social media platforms. They will tweet, post updates, share pictures and videos every hour, every day and their journey will also be aired on channel MTV spaced out in 6 episodes. 
Drive with MTV being social at its core, they wanted to involve the online audience from the very beginning and hopefully create enough buzz to get a following even before the journey starts. On Twitter friends and followers can  tweet the contestants and tell  them their favourite places in the North, South, East and West of India that the 4 Drive with MTV teams must visit. Drive with MTV has till date got over 2500 tweets and has been trending nationally. 

Adgully spoke to  Aditya Swamy, EVP and Business Head – MTV India and Ekalavya Bhattacharya, Head - Digital, MTV India in connection with  Season 2 of Drive with MTV and to learn more about this unique campaign unlike any other reality show on the television medium today.

Nano Drive with MTV is India’s first social road trip. The concept behind it being that it captures the 21 day, 2000km journey of 4 teams from 4 different zones of the country on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. During the course of journey, the teams will face several challenges. For instance, every team is allocated with a budget of Rs. 4000 a day which includes their expense for food, stay, petrol etc. Led by a MTV VJ, every team is allotted a Tata Nano.

With regard to the Nano initiative and how it is different from most reality shows today  Swamy said , “The thought was how to engage a digital audience so we thought of a travel show. It is unlike any other regular reality show with judges or contestants who vote each other in and out but this is a travel show that is entirely controlled by the digital audience. There are 4 teams that actually  travel across the country and the team have to put up videos and blogs and chat with their friends and whichever team get the maximum number of responses to  their content which they have  uploaded would be considered the winner of the season. It was a very successful last season . Last season MTV got a phenomenal response and trending on Twitter .We got almost 15 million impressions where people viewed it,  liked it, commented on it and shared it!”

Bhattacharya shared about  the uniqueness  of the show. He said, “You know a lot of people have asked me – Is it a Social Road trip because everything goes up on Social Media? Well that’s one of the reasons and not the only reason. The main reason is that we managed to tap into the Social Graphs of our contestants and they were the primary catalyst of content consumption. Teams were given a meagre amount of Rs 4,000 per day. Four thousand between the 4 of you for Fuel, Stay, Food, Toll, Water and every expense you can imagine. It usually doesn’t turn out to be enough. Hence, you need to involve your friends. You can use their aid for anything. i.e. if you know someone in a particular city – stay with them. Save money. What one also realised during the first season was that a lot of stranger’s readily opened up their hearts and houses for the contestants. So the true meaning of ‘Social’ was being seen and that’s what was truly unique about the show.”

MTV has always been a supporter of digital and social media . When asked if the promotion will also involve other platforms which would support this campaign he said, “ Though 80% is happening on the social and digital medium 20% is happening on air whether it is through advertisements on television, our broadcast network and  also through banners that have been put up at Westside, Café Coffee Day etc.” He also went on to inform about the Nano facebook page which too has a large following .

Where the positives of this entire campaign is concerned he avers that this is not a TV show but one where the digital power is with the audience where you will not see people fighting, arguing and having differences of opinion because it is purely based on audience voting. Today’s audience want more experiences out of life and travel according to him can be one of the most fulfilling experiences they can have. This is not about survival, politics, fights or eliminations but just the pure fun of a long drive and the joy of discovery.

The campaign aptly named, Nano Drive with MTV – A Social Road Trip is a road trip with a difference. It will be covered on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. This Social Media connect given to the campaign is a unique positive.

Most of the content is generated by the participants on the road. Daily posts on Facebook page Drive with MTV keep users updated on the status of each team on the road. Videos for each zone are posted daily on the YouTube channel. The participants tweet their activities from their personal accounts on twitter and also update their Facebook accounts. The four teams compete with each other to garner maximum support from the online community.

Points are allotted based on likes, comments and mentions the teams manage to gather from their fans. The team with the most number of points at the end of the campaign wins a Tata Nano each.  Positive interaction between the participants and the twitter audience will be an added advantage .Twitter users are invited to tweet their favourite travel destination using the hashtag #DriveWithMTV. These suggestions are then shortlisted to form the routes for this season of Drive with MTV. The chosen destinations were then simultaneously shared on the Facebook page of Drive with MTV. The final 20 locations have been decided after a day long tweeting drive.

Sharing on how this season is different from last year Swamy said that the entire destinations have been crowdsourced . “While on their journey each team picks up one person they like  along the way so there is a lot of  involvement, interactivity and that much audience participation. So if you promote them or when you canvas for them they might just  make  you a part of their team and that is so much more incentive for the audience.  There is full democracy and power to the users on the basis of digital strength So we are looking forward to another season of Drive with MTV. It is our largest digital show that we are doing ,” said  Swamy elaborating on the second season of the campaign.

When asked about the new elements that have been added this year Bhattacharya  too informed us about having completely crowdsourced the routes this year. They did this on twitter and #drivewithmtv was trending all day on 9th May 2013. “We are ramping up the audience-inclusive quotient of the show this year by  selecting only 3 people per team. There will be a 4th person in each team, but this will be a floating member.”  Explaining the same in detail he further added , “Imagine I’m in the West team and our route is Mumbai  – Ahmedabad – Jaipur . So we’ll do a tweet-up in Mumbai  and select one person to be our 4th member. He participates in all the tasks, just like the rest of the team. The twist here is that the 4th member leaves the team at Ahmedabad and a new member joins in and this new member will be there with us till Jaipur. So each team will have to pick 8 new members during the journey. That’s a total of 32 in the over-all show. What’s in for these 32? They can also win a Nano each!”

Hence when audiences follow the show and want to be a part of a team during the journey they  simply have to reach out to the contestants on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube etc – convince them and join them! Anyone can become part of the show and what is more  it’s live and  that is the reason it is considered to be  audience-inclusive.

In terms of numbers they are expecting a lot of social traction this season with thousands of tweets, millions of likes and views and estimating a digital reach of at least 15 million people.

Is the campaign managed  in house or there is an agency involved? To this Bhattacharya replied, “ Completely managed in-house. In terms of execution we have a production house working with us on this but the idea and concept is of MTV completely.”

With another brand already having a similar show on television he shared how the  Drive with MTV campaign is entirely different from the other brand . He said, “The basic concept is not really something which is unique. It’s just a road-trip. You and me can be on a road trip and take pics and post them on twitter and facebook. But how do you make this simple concept really large? The uniqueness is the daily video shooting, editing (and going live the next day) and the story-telling aspect which we have woven into the whole show. No other show has also involved users to the level of what we managed in Season 1.”

“Today everybody is young at heart so there is no age limit!” confirmed Swamy with regard to the  age limit to participate in Drive with MTV campaign. He also informed about MTV introducing two more social media platforms other than YouTube, Facebook and Twitter that will be introduced soon for the convenience of audience interaction and their involvement in the campaign.

“Drive with Nano is integral with Drive with MTV and it is a part of the campaign. Without the Nano there would be no activity. It brings out the core message that they want to communicate. It is very real , very honest and there for everyone to see,”  added Swamy.

Nano, unlike some other brands was earlier  known to fight with perception issues of Service amongst  other matters so when asked if these issues get addressed by the social media, Bhattacharya said , “One of the main successes of the first season of Nano Drive with MTV, was the perception change which was seen in many. You saw 3 teams traverse 3000+ kilometers, in different weather and different conditions - all in a Nano! This year we are pushing the limit. So you'll see the Nano going up to Jammu, eating up the miles in 55 degrees of Jaisalmer and make people smile in the monsoons in the South of India. Since the show is completely live on Social Media, the audience can directly tweet to the participants and join all the conversations about the car. First season, we didn't have too many people keen on a roadtrip in a Nano - this season we are getting loads of entries on our website - https://drive.mtvindia.com

Swamy also added to say that Nano is great vehicle for long distance driving and is ideal when arduous traveling is involved.

The shortlisting process is on till the 20th May 2013 . 24 of these shortlisted people will be selected to form the final 12 with four teams of 3 people each who will go on the road trip of their lifetime. You need to register on this page with a fun video entry talking about a memorable trip that you had taken and why you love to travel. They look for entries that are fun, quirky and showcase the road-tripper in the contestants. They will experience 21 days of non-stop fun, adventure, discovering new places and cultures as they travel across the length and breadth of the country in the Tata Nano. The contestants will be divided into 4 groups and will start from journey from a particular point to different zones with meagre budget per day.

Interestingly, Drive with MTV has also associated with BlogAdda, a bloggers community to offer 3 wildcard entries who will form the shortlisted 24.

Speaking about other sponsors apart from Nano who is their main sponsor, Aditya Swamy concluded to say,  “ We are closing in on the other sponsors .  Since the journey itself starts in the first week of June by then we would have the other sponsors too on board.”

Drive with MTV is India's first Social Streaming show, and the second season of Drive with MTV promises to be more exciting even before it has started. When the teams will travel across the length and breadth of the country beginning the first week of June 2013 they will not only share their experiences on social media but also follow routes that have been decided through the different platforms of social media! So it is time to gear up and try your luck to win an adventurous road trip of your lifetime with Drive with MTV campaign.