MTV partners with Philippines tourism board for youth engagement drive

The collaboration will see MTV host what is billed as one of the biggest hip-hop concerts in Asia, which will take place in Manilla in the second quarter of 2015. The event will form part of a wider tourism campaign for the Philippines Department of Tourism, which is touting 2015 as the ‘Visit the Philippines Year’.

“This is, indeed, one of the exciting events to look forward to during our Visit the Philippines Year 2015,” said Ramon Jimenez Jr, secretary of the Philippine Department of Tourism. Much of the focus for the campaign is on promoting the destination as a primary tourist destination for young people in Southeast Asia.

As well as supporting the Philippines in its tourism drive, Paras Sharma, vice president of MTV brand and digital media Asia at Viacom International Media Networks, described the partnership as a “very significant milestone” for the global entertainment channel, as it aims to further localise its content in Asia.

“This is not only another move demonstrating our commitment to strengthen local programming and to cater to the specific viewing preferences of Filipino millennials, but is also yet another milestone that reinforces how invested we are in this market,” Sharma told Campaign Asia-Pacific.

MTV is well known for hosting large scale shows and music events and has a history of partnering with tourism boards around the world. Last year's MTV World Stage Malaysia is one example. The collaboration with the Philippine Department of Tourism, through its Tourism Promotions Board will see the launch of MTV Music Evolution—a live concert that aims to show the evolution of a music genre through the years.

“We Filipinos like to entertain and perform for people. MTV Music Evolution will not only put the Philippines on the map of international music, but it will also serve as a global stage for the world to witness what Filipinos do best," said Jimenez Jr.

“We certainly expect to deepen our brand engagement with our youth audience in the Philippines and across the region through this collaboration, while giving likeminded brand partners who want to engage this youth audience an opportunity to do so with us too,” added Sharma.

Sharma said that MTV would execute a “dual marketing plan” to create awareness of the event with both local youth and the youth around the world.

“Marketing activities with media campaigns across key targeted markets will include consumer promotions, a dedicated microsite, and supporting social media and press campaigns,” he said, adding: “We are certainly also looking to augment the event and open to work with local and regional advertisers who want to reach out to youth in the Philippines and outside of the Philippines too.”

MTV, which claims to have a worldwide reach of more than a half a billion households, said the live concert would also be recorded for global telecast across 60 channels and 150 territories.