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Having a generation named after it is the best possible testament to the role MTV has played in shaping how companies market themselves to youth. Now 25 years old, it has been credited with a plethora of marketing achievements, and been behind a series of moments that have held the world's attention, ranging from the screening of Michael Jackson's 14-minute Thriller music video in 1987, which redefined the genre, to the kisses shared by Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera at the Video Music Awards in 2003.

However, with the media world fragmenting and digital platforms allowing a host of other brands to put their sizeable budgets behind the music industry, MTV's dominance has been eroded. This has left the first brand to truly grab the attention of the youth audience with the ordeal of having to prove itself all over again.

A review of how MTV built its empire offers some pointers for the future. In the beginning, its success was down to accidental marketing genius, not design. The young crew behind the launch were music lovers, as opposed to marketers, guided by their instincts, rather than textbooks. They famously rejected Ogilvy & Mather's warnings that the network's logo - which exists in the same form to this day - was too blocky and ugly, and that it should remain consistent, rather than be flexible.

The logo is a reflection of how MTV 'has been more successful than any other youth media brand in two areas: reinvention and creative balance', according to Interbrand senior consultant Alex McAuley. 'These qualities have allowed it to succeed over time and in virtually every marketplace. Such continuous reinvention can been seen in its logo: although the current emblem shares the general shape and design cues as the original, regular, but subtle, changes in colour and form have ensured that it has never looked outdated,' he says.

MTV also broke the marketing rules at launch when the team promoted the channel in areas where it had no distribution with the 'I want my MTV' campaign, featuring rock stars such as Mick Jagger. The result? The reluctant networks, which did not see the potential of music TV, were forced to broadcast the channel after receiving thousands of calls from angry teenagers demanding access to it.

Power of personality

Shaped by the realisation of the inherent power that music has to talk to young people, MTV recognised the potency of creating a strong personality to attract audiences and artists alike.

'MTV spotted a movement and a desire in young people to have a brand that represented them from their eye-level, as opposed to looking down at them and creating a commercial opportunity,' says James Scroggs, vice-president of marketing, MTV Networks UK & Ireland. 'That philosophy still informs everything we do. We are a brand that is a playing field for empowering young people. Our brand transcends fashion, race and creed and sits above genre and category. What was born 25 years ago was a passion and strain of thinking about empowering a young audience. That is still the case and we are still as youthful and edgy as ever.'

MTV's influence has been far reaching. In advertising, it has changed how iconic brands such as Levi's use music, and heralded a revolution in the way that TV channels brand themselves, inspiring entrants such as Channel 4's entertainment strand, E4. MTV also influenced programme makers with its creation of Real World, the world's first reality TV show, and precursor to The Osbournes.

Voice of youth

As well as representing young people, MTV quickly recognised the pull of giving them a voice on air, through formats such as flagship show Total Request Live, where viewers choose the playlist. It has also led the way in harnessing cause-related marketing to forge deeper relationships with its audience. MTV's 'prosocial' work, raising awareness of AIDS for example, is intended to demonstrate to viewers that it is looking out for young people's best interests, not just trying to make money out of them.

'Our prosocial work is one of our most important brand assets,' says Scroggs. 'We give young people a forum to debate issues. It is fundamental to understanding our target market.'

Scroggs, a former ad man at Lowe and client marketer at the now-defunct ITV Digital, says he has never worked anywhere like MTV. 'It is clear about its brand strategy, but elastic enough for you to be as creative and entrepreneurial as you can be,' he explains. 'I never thought, for example, that I would work for a media company that was prepared to launch a condom.'

Former and current employees agree that the company's culture and structure have contributed to its success. David Pullan, Scroggs' predecessor, is now strategy marketing and brand development director for Emap's consumer brands. He describes MTV as 'a fantastic place to experiment, innovate and be brave'. Surprisingly, MTV does not appear to have been held back by falling under the ownership of corporate giant Viacom, which seems to give it free rein as long as it delivers results.

However, recent major restructures within MTV indicate that the brand needs to change the way it works if it wants to operate in the fragmented, competitive marketplace, starkly different from the one it created and monopolised for so long. In January it cut back its pan-regional sales and marketing teams to focus on local markets, while February saw the exit of key marketer Brent Hansen, president and chief executive of MTV Networks Europe and president of creative MTV Networks International.

Former MTV Networks marketing chief Giles Thomas, now director of communications agency Branded, says that Hansen 'embodied the brand, communicated it in a way that was inspirational and came to stand for what was great about MTV'. The fact that Hansen has gone, then, suggests MTV recognises new blood is required to take it to the next stage of its evolution.

Pullan believes that one of the first and most difficult questions MTV must answer is whether it is a programme-based general entertainment channel or a music channel. 'It has flip-flopped between the two, whereas at Emap we're very clear about what we are. We just do music video,' he says.

According to Emap TV programme director Dave Young, its internal research shows that 'the cultural significance of MTV is waning' and that it is considered 'the establishment, stuck in its ways and a global US corporation'. He argues that Emap's smaller, localised brands are better connected to their audiences, more nimble and 'keeping the music scene vibrant'. 'MTV UK as a channel is nothing to do with music anymore. It is just hanging on to this idea that music underlies what it does,' he says.

In the digital era, with consumers swamped by information and MTV vying with a multitude of competitors across different media platforms, it is crucial that the brand adopts a clear positioning. Indeed, there are signs that MTV is gearing up to be far more aggressive, albeit slightly belatedly. It has stated that the changes to 'development teams and process' in the US in particular aim to make MTV 'better equipped to feed all the screens audiences are using to access MTV'.

Digital catch-up

MTV's heritage and expertise in short-form programming, soundbites and empowering young people, means it is well placed to thrive in the digital environment. But as many industry experts observe, it has been slow to embrace the new landscape. Pullan puts this hesitancy largely down to MTV having been 'bitten by the dotcom crash'. 'It was going to do an IPO of the interactive business six months before the market crashed. It had to fire everyone, and that really scarred it,' he says.

During his three-year tenure at MTV, which ended in 2002, Pullan recalls considering what it should look like in a digital world. 'But look how long it has taken to make it a reality,' he says. 'Like many broadcasters, MTV is not sure how to make money on the internet, but knows how to do it in TV. Now it is scrambling to catch up. It needs to make some brave moves that will put revenue in its core business at risk.'

In fairness, MTV now has a strong digital presence with more than 140 media properties globally, including broadband channel Overdrive, which launched in April 2005, and digital music service Urge going live in May. It also unveiled a UK community-based TV channel, Flux, to mark its 25th anniversary.

Competing with community-centric online brands such as MySpace and YouTube, Flux enables members to upload content to TV, be part of an online community and control their own TV channel. They can have their say by email, mobile or remote control. 'If our brand is about empowering our audience, this is the greatest expression of that yet,' says Scroggs.

But a major problem for MTV is that there is an expectation that its launches will be groundbreaking and, according to many observers, their digital forays have not fulfilled this. 'MTV should own music on mobile and online but it doesn't,' says Richard Corbett, managing director at music marketing agency Ricall. 'It has not been as nimble as a young MTV would have been. It has not been brave about using the brand to engage a new audience through new channels, but getting audiences involved in the TV channel sounds like a fantastic move.'

Another factor hindering MTV is its 'TV mentality'. Because online and mobile are not natural environments for it in the way that TV is, brands such as AOL and 3 are muscling in and behaving in a way one would expect MTV to (see case study).

'There is still a large degree of the broadcast model in MTV's digital offerings. It's as if it has said "right, we'll package up our content and push it out". Ours is much more of a social experience,' says AOL senior music editor Mike Hales.

In the UK, 3 is now the second-biggest retailer of digital music after the iTunes store, and marketing director Graeme Oxby says a major reason for its success is knowing its customers. 'We know who they are and what they do, which allows us to market effectively. It is difficult to see how a TV station can know who its customers are, because all its data is aggregated. MTV does not have a one-to-one relationship with its customers, which is a big advantage that we have as a media business.'

As a category leader, MTV has taken its share of criticism and it is easy to forget the challenges it has overcome in the past 25 years. 'Everyone likes to knock MTV - it comes with the territory,' says Thomas, who remembers endless trade press headlines predicting the death of MTV when he was at the company.

But, while video may have killed the radio star, it looks unlikely that digital will kill the music television channel. There is still life in the oldest youth brand yet, it just takes a little longer to get going than it did 25 years ago.

MTV TIMELINE

Aug 1981: MTV launches
Dec 1981: MTV's subscriber base hits 2.1m
Mar 1982: The 'I Want My MTV' ad campaign launches
1982: MTV logo is unveiled
Sept 1984: The first Video Music Awards (VMA) are held
Jul 1985: Cause-related programming launches with the broadcast of Live
Aid
1986: First viewer-request show Dial MTV airs
Aug 1987: MTV Europe launches
Apr 1995: Launch of 'Jimmy the cab driver' ad campaign
Oct 1995: www.mtv.com goes live
Aug 1996: MTV2 launches
Oct 1997: MTV UK & Ireland launches
Mar 2002: First episode of The Osbournes is shown
Aug 2003: Madonna, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera smooch at the
VMAs
Jan 2005: Launch of 3G video services
Apr 6 2005: Broadband channel MTV Overdrive launches
May 2006: Digital music service MTV Urge launches
Aug 2006: First VMA broadcast to feature an online version on MTV
Overdrive

CASE STUDY - MTV'S RIVALS

MTV created the music TV category and for much of its life has been largely unrivalled, but now there are more than 20 music channels available on the Sky platform. MTV's biggest broadcast rival is Emap, whose TV brands include The Hits, Magic, Kiss, Smash Hits and Kerrang. According to BARB figures for the year to July 2006, MTV Networks has a 53% share of the music channel-viewing audience compared with Emap's 35%.

As MTV has moved from being a pure music channel to more general entertainment offering, with its flagship shows such as Pimp My Ride and The Osbournes, it has encountered additional competition. E4, for example, recently launched E4 Music and Trouble, both of which are trying to snatch MTV's youth audience. Trouble has also had a user-generated community site, Homegrown, in place since May.

However, in a digital marketplace, TV channels are by no means MTV's only competitors, with Napster and iTunes presenting an obvious challenge. But MTV also faces competition from brands that want to align themselves with music, using digital technology. Online brands are also hunting down exclusive music content; AOL, for example, has offered Instant Messenger interviews with high-profile bands and coverage of events such as Live 8 to get closer to its customers.

Similarly, mobile network 3 is securing exclusives, such as the first chance to download Madonna's Hung Up video. The company has also been successful, as marketing director Graeme Oxby puts it, in 'monetising' music on mobile phones and creating a community through mobile TV channel See Me TV, which launched in October 2005 and airs user content. MTV has just followed suit with its online community channel Flux, which also brings it into competition with established players such as MySpace and YouTube.

MTV'S 25TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS IN THE UK

- It has commissioned the 'world's longest music video' which aired on 1 August. Created by the general public it features a song written by The Streets frontman Mike Skinner

- On the same day it broadcast two shows, Top Videos that Broke the Rules and TV Programmes that Broke the Rules, covering the brand's 25-year history

- This week it is running an exhibition for artists from the fashion, music and graphic-design worlds to display their interpretations of the MTV logo

- This month it launched community-based TV channel Flux, the next step in MTV's evolution.