MTV’s mascot, which depicts an astronaut planting a flag with the MTV logo on the moon’s surface, has been synonymous with the brand since it first appeared on our screens in 1981.

Over the years, MoonPerson (the mascot was renamed to be gender neutral in 2017) has also appeared on the coveted trophy at the VMAs – MTV’s annual celebration of the year’s best music videos.

As the awards mark their 40th anniversary with a return to New York, MTV’s creative team enlisted the help of London-based studio DixonBaxi to bring the 2024 campaign identity to life.

The identity builds on the distinctiveness of the VMAs’ existing brand assets, including its logo mark, yellow and magenta colour palette, tagline and, of course, Moonie.

“Starting with a simple question, ‘How does the MoonPerson view the world?’, we created a chromatic universe imbued with the energy of the VMAs and its celebration of beloved music videos,” says DixonBaxi design director Libby Tsoi.

The studio’s super-chrome interpretation of Moonie, who quite literally pulses with the energy of the music videos surrounding them, is brought to life on a cinematic scale thanks to the use of some of the biggest 3D billboards in America.

This screen-breaking approach also inspired the design of social voting kits, in order for the awards’ organisers to reach millions of fans globally.

The retro-futurism theme extends to every element of the campaign identity, including bespoke chrome type, a shiny update to the VMAs logo and chrome-inspired gradients, with DixonBaxi creating a campaign toolkit for the global MTV teams to create hundreds of different applications.

dixonbaxi.com