I Want My Sharpie TV: Brand Making a Mark With Artsy Music Lovers

Sharpie loves fan input, evidenced by last year’s takeover of YouTube’s home page with user-generated art in an interactive mosaic ad that generated more than 62 million impressions in one day.

This year, Sharpie is inviting fans to create artwork for a music video for indie-pop band, California Wives, making their debut at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, in a campaign from Draftfcb Chicago.

Now through August 6th, submissions are open via the brand’s Facebook page and website. “What we’re really about is putting fans at the center of our story,” Ryan Rouse, global director of marketing for Sharpie, tells Marketing Daily. “It’s not about ambushing an audience with an ad; it’s about taking the passion within our community and amplifying that.”

Following the MTV debut, fans will be encouraged to create original music videos featuring their own Sharpie artwork. “We want to inspire self-expression’” adds Rouse. “We’re viewing [the customizable video] as an opportunity for fans to express themselves with what they’ve started with Sharpie, and it will be shared with links back to Sharpie and Facebook, encouraging others to create their own.”

Artwork of two Sharpie fans, Emmy Star Brown and Enrico Miguel Thomas, will be featured prior to the MTV Awards showcasing their work with the product on salvaged glass (Brown) and maps (Thomas).

And in a separate campaign with another US music TV channel, Sharpie and Fuse are asking fans for a logo remix with rock band Imagine Dragons’ "It's Time" featured in the promo (below) for the contest. 

Fans are being invited to make submissions through August 16th, with public voting beginning August 20th. The winning logo will replace the official Fuse logo on air and on Fuse.tv during the week of September 17th.