MTV has rolled out its first global tour sponsorship in the MTV Presents Britney Spears Onyx Hotel Tour 2004.
Kicking off Tuesday (March 2) at the San Diego Sports Arena, the tour will play more than 25 cities in North America before visiting Europe, Latin America and Asia later this year. MTV’s sponsorship will include a number of on-air, online and onstage components to support Spears as she tours behind her multiplatinum Jive Records release “In the Zone.”
“There are not that many artists that appeal to every territory with an MTV channel, but Britney Spears is one of the select few,” says Joe Armenia, VP of music marketing and promotion for MTV. “We have been waiting for the opportunity to make a global splash, and the Britney tour is it.”
As part of the all-media sponsorship, MTV will be in all advertising and on every ticket throughout the tour, as well as have a presence on-site with interactive promotions and venue signage. In the United States, three episodes of MTV’s “Total Request Live” will be dedicated to behind-the-scenes action on the tour, and tour spots will run worldwide. Mtv.com will feature exclusive downloads, streaming video and ticket and merch auctions benefiting the Britney Spears Foundation.
“For the better part of the rest of the year, we’ll be on the road with Britney,” Armenia says. “This is more support than we’ve ever given an artist in the U.S., let alone all over the world.”
Why Spears? “We love the association with Britney; she has always been a core part of this channel,” Armenia says. “And our fans love Britney.”