Fuse Pokes Fun at MTV With 'Authentic' Beach High Jinks

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MTV has become too exclusive. At least, that’s what cable rival Fuse thinks. So the fledgling music network is taking a deliberately downmarket approach in its first national ad effort, which breaks today from Amalgamated.

The result is an eight-spot spoof of MTV’s Beach House series, in which tanned and toned youths gallivant in a beautifully decorated seaside abode. The house in Fuse’s ads is a rundown motel in Neptune, N.J., with a cracked pool that contains a sludgy, knee-deep puddle.

The strategy is to position Fuse as a music destination for the cool “outsider” who respects authenticity, said Doug Cameron, planner at Amalgamated in New York, which won the business in June.



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