Of course it’s always Beyoncé’s world, but apparently the real MTV VMA winner on Sunday night was the New York City drugstore chain, Duane Reade. According to Amobee Brand Intelligence, social chatter about Duane Reade picked up during an outside Nick Jonas performance on 8th Ave in front of the location. Between the beginning of the show at 9 p.m. ET and 2 a.m. ET, there were 245 VMAs and Duane Reade tweets.
But that’s not the only reason the brand was getting attention. Some people were watching the finale of HBO’s The Night Of, where a character named Duane Reade is one of the murder suspects. There were 40 tweets around the brand name and the drama series. Overall, digital content engagement around Duane Reade increased 231 percent from Sunday into Monday.
Thanks to "The Night Of" I know what a Duane Reade is and I saw one behind this outdoor VMA stage and got unnecessarily excited. #crazyworld
Advertisement— Jake (@sphere10) August 29, 2016
Other digital engagement around the VMAs was about the weird pairing of anti-smoking commercials airing back to back with promos for a new MTV show called Mary + Jane, about two girls who sell weed.
Freaking out over my brother's view of @nickjonas at #VMAs. Love the Duane Reade in the background. #SoNYC pic.twitter.com/ctXTFtCfO5
— Christina De Nicola (@CDeNicola13) August 29, 2016
Of course, the music was also worth tweeting about. According to Twitter, these were the most tweeted moments of the show:
- Beyoncé finishing performing songs from Lemonade
- Kanye West premiering his new video, “Fade”
- Rihanna accepting the Vanguard Award from Drake
- Kanye West giving a speech about ‘Famous’ video and saying, “I see you, Amber” to Amber Rose in the crowd
- Rihanna’s second performance
It was a big night all around—but Duane Reade should really do something about all that attention, because they missed a good opportunity.