#Get808 is a marketing campaign for MTV music channel 808. Its audience is under thirty and thinks it’s cool. Cool kids know it all. So they tend not to ask dumb questions on Twitter and Instagram.

The Royals Sydney gave the campaign a good shot. It is hard talking to this audience…

…If you try to be like them. It took Facebook all year to work that out.

“The challenge was to come up with alternative ways to pique curiosity, achieve large scale reach and create fun and innovative ways to get Australians creatively involved”, Michelle Lucia, marketing manager of MTV Australia and New Zealand, stated.

Did the agency succeed?

The teaser campaign was executed in the two weeks prior to the reveal event at the MTV headquarters in Sydney. There were #Get808 messages in sky writing (above Bondi Beach in Sydney and Federation Square in Melbourne), guerrilla street promotions, a website…and models in body paint at the ARIAs – along with a bizarre 15 second teaser that was broadcast during the event.

People were invited to post a picture via Twitter or Instagram of any 808 activity that they spotted or created themselves, hashtag #Get808 and await contact until they received an invitation to the 808 reveal event. 10,000 visitors had a look at get808.com and 1,700 joined the community on Instagram and Twitter. It’s not a result that takes your breath away, is it?

“With the 808 messaging we had our audience buzzing with anticipation for news, content or sightings. It was a celebration of the fact that MTV Music lives at the centre of popular culture: helping create it, spread it and mess with its form, regardless of medium,” Dave King, strategy director, The Royals, stated nonetheless.

The campaign probably works best as a reminder that kids are just people trying to say, “I’m me,” after a lifetime (so far) of being told to what to do, wear, think, watch and eat. Sure, they can be a pain to have around the house. They tend to house, “I’m me,” in attacks like, “What would you know,” “You’re so naïve,” and “It’s not like in your day.”

It’s exactly like in your day: same game, different toys. And comments like, “ooo now I feel like I’m getting closer to reaching something next level shiz…” and “Heading to the secret #get808 location hoping to see awesome things. I love a good surprise!” feel as though they were written by a marketing exec to newbie adults, just like they do to experienced ones.

Foxtel’s new pricing and packaging options were advertised (heavily) on TV thoughout November. MTV Music (channel 808) and MTV Dance (channel 810) were among the 40 channels included in the new ‘Entertainment Pack’ available in all subscriber homes – along with some glittery lures. The shift increased distribution of MTV’s two Australian-produced and programmed music channels by more than 1 million homes.