MTV used a Direct Message chatbot that would allow people to vote for their favorite new artist, all on Twitter. The chatbot also encouraged fans to share their vote with their followers via a Tweet and encourage them to cast a vote. Fans could vote for a week leading up to the pre-show. After that, the top two contenders competed in a head-to-head hashtag vote, with the ultimate winner crowned during the main show.
MTV and the Twitter Content Partnerships team worked with Taco Bell to sponsor the experience. Taco Bell used the Direct Message Card to create Promoted Tweets that showed up in the timeline of people interested in MTV, the VMAs, Taco Bell, the nominated artists, and music to let them start voting in a single click.