Bamp-badamp-ba-danna-damp, ba-danna-damp!
MTV’s sonic signature by Jonathan Elias
To borrow from Longhi on Caravaggio, there was life before MTV and life after and the two were not the same.
Indeed, if I simply mention some song titles or lyrics, you will no doubt conjure up the images from the then-new art form: video.
Here goes: Take on Me, Whip it, Come on Eileen, And I ran…In a big country…Rock the Casbah…Don’t Come Around Here No More…Sledgehammer!..same as it ever was…Thriller….Vogue!.
Did you hear the songs? Could you picture the videos?
Well, 44 years ago, on August 1, 1981, MTV was unleashed upon the world.
And when I look back at that enterprise, I see so many interesting ways of thinking and doing things, I thought I’d call a few out for you here. Because four decades later, we are in the midst of another creative revolution with AI, and hopefully, there’s something here you might be able to use for your own creative journey.
First and foremost, MTV was unconventional.
The original idea was called “TV1.” It was hatched in a broadcast world of three television networks. It was a true disruption to the lily-white, banal plastic aesthetic of network TV. TV1 (soon to be MTV) was the vision of a young creative executive named Bob Pittman. His idea was to “do TV differently.”
And that idea was “music television.” And while there had been previous attempts to do TV and music, they somehow never sang.
Bob and team had a thesis that TV and music weren’t successful because people kept trying to make music fit the TV form — narrative. But with MTV, they had TV fit the music form — mood. MTV would prioritize emotion, design and attitude. It was a concept that merged the two dominant cultural forces of the time — television and Rock ’n Roll.
The funding was unconventional.
The creation of MTV was born out of a joint venture between Warner and American Express. Of course, Warner Bros was in the entertainment business, but American Express?! The MTV pitch to the board of Warner-Amex was greeted with skepticism. But there was one guy in the room who bit — Amex CEO James Robinson. In fact, the conservative, “bank guy” made the first move to put up half the cash for the venture. And after that, Warner CEO Steve Ross was compelled to go in on the entertainment side. You never know who might be the most passionate to give you money for an idea, eh?
An unconventional ad campaign: “I Want My MTV!”
In the early days, MTV couldn’t just show up on your screen. Cable operators ruled this part of the visual spectrum. And these cable guys were accustomed to being paid for channel access—a cost the fledgling MTV simply could not afford. So, rather than beg to get on, MTV created demand from the most important people in the mix — the audience.
To make this happen, the network launched the iconic “I Want My MTV” ad campaign. Created by ad legend George Lois, the campaign featured the world’s biggest rock stars literally demanding MTV. At the time, this was unheard of. Unlike today, rock stars would never sell out to do ads. But here you had the biggest stars: Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Pete Townshend, the Police…and rising star Madonna, all shouting the same line in different executions: ‘I want my MTV!” The campaign was a stroke of genius. It mobilized viewers to call up their cable providers and shout over the phone: “I want my MTV!” In due time, MTV was on damn-near every cable box and damn-near every young person’s TV.
An unconventional business philosophy: “Math and Magic.”
As creative as MTV was, it was also data-driven. But data didn’t rule the decisions; intuition did. Bob Pittman came to television through radio. As a young programmer, he pioneered a new form of research. Instead of relying on record sales to determine what should be played, he and his team developed a system where they called people randomly from the phone book and invited them to weekly music discussion panels. Those discussions would inform the playlist. And he brought this method of direct audience research to MTV. It was a way to have math inform the MTV magic.
But let me take this “Math and Magic” a step further. MTV needed to sell advertising time to bring in the revenue. No revenue, no survival. So the MTV folks came up with an unconventional approach. Rather than simply sell airtime, they created a unique partnership with a brand. The idea: Don’t simply do ads, participate in MTV programming. And thus, the MTV-Pepsi partnership was born.
You see, at the time, Coca-Cola was all math. As the market leader, they stuck to their established formula. It required a media outlet to have a national rating and reach of at least 65% of the country before they would advertise on it. MTV met neither of these criteria for ratings and reach. As a result, for six years, Coca-Cola refused to buy a single ad on the most influential youth platform in America.
Meantime, Pepsi was doing all manner of creative stuff with MTV, including a robust partnership with arguably the most popular artist of the time: Michael Jackson.
And while Pepsi and MTV were being incredibly creative, Coca-Cola was messing around with “New Coke.” Within six years, Pepsi achieved what was described as the most significant market share gain ever recorded in the history of the soft drink wars. Coke was forced to change. And to make up for six years of lost ground, Coke had to outspend Pepsi two-to-one for the next decade. See, it pays to be creative.
An unconventional “Film School”
The music part of MTV was clear. The record companies had full portfolios of artists eager to share their music and expand their audiences. But the TV part. This was entirely new. Sure, there were promo films going back to the Beatles and Help! But MTV proved to be something else.
You see, suddenly there was a need for 24 hours of content. And once the record labels started seeing the power and popularity of say, the Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star,” or Run-DMC’s “Walk This Way,” they started throwing real money at these videos. And young directors who couldn’t get near a movie set suddenly had budgets, creative freedom, and a global audience.
It was the perfect creative storm: low stakes, high reward. Fail fast, learn faster.
So…
David Fincher learned his obsessive visual style crafting Madonna’s “Vogue.” Antoine Fuqua created the cinematic template for hip-hop with Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise”—that video launched his path to Training Day. Spike Jonze brought playful chaos to Beastie Boys’ “Sabotage.” Michel Gondry invented his dreamlike aesthetic with Björk collaborations which led straight to Eternal Sunshine. Hype Williams defined an entire visual language for hip-hop that’s still being copied today.
These weren’t accidents. These were apprenticeships disguised as music videos.
I could go on and on about MTV…
But I’ll stop here.
Let’s review.
Music and Television.
Vision and Reality.
Creativity and Business.
Math and Magic.
Risk and Reward.
All of which leads to this: Your idea and___________?
Rob Schwartz is the Chair of the TBWA New York Group and an executive coach who channels his creativity, experience and wisdom into helping others get where they want to be. This was originally posted on his Substack, RobSchwartzHelps, where he covers work, life, and creativity.
Header image by Frank Okay on Unsplash.
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