MTV and ZYNC From American Express(SM) Announce the Final Two Job Candidates Nominated to Become the First Ever MTV TJ

NEW YORK, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- ZYNC from American Express and MTV, a division of Viacom Inc. (NYSE: VIA and VIA.B) today announced the final two candidates selected via public nominations for the "Follow Me: The Search for the first MTV TJ" competition, www.zync.mtv.com. The two candidates will join the 18 previously announced would-be MTV TJs. The 20 contestants will now go head-to-head in Twitter challenges with the goal of becoming the first MTV TJ "Twitter Jockey."

Annette Torres of Englewood, NJ and Dannielle Owens-Reid of Chicago were selected by MTV to fill the two remaining slots for the MTV TJ position. The public nominated their choices via www.facebook.com/zync and www.zync.mtv.com.  The sites logged 16,138 unique nominations for people nominating themselves and their fellow Twitter users during the two-week voting window from June 14 and June 28.  

Starting today, the 20 candidates will participate in a series of challenges created with ZYNC from American Express. The challenges are designed to mirror the ZYNC(SM) Card's ability to empower and showcase personal expression and individuality. The search will culminate with a live televised finale on August 8, when five remaining finalists will battle it out live on the air. The MTV viewing audience will then choose the winner from the final five. That one lucky person will become a brand-new face and voice for MTV across its social media platforms, including MTV.com, to expand the two-way dialogue between MTV and its global audience. This first-ever MTV TJ will serve as the eyes and ears for audiences, asking what fans want to know about their favorite celebrities, reporting on what's going on in the halls of MTV, and more.

For a list of the 20 candidates along with a bio, Twitter handle, photos and videos, go to www.zync.mtv.com.

"Follow Me: The Search for the first MTV TJ" comes on the heels of the official launch of the ZYNC Card, a Charge Card from American Express that gives Cardmembers the framework to build a Card that best suits their lifestyle. The ZYNC Card allows Cardmembers to customize their Cards by adding optional bundles of benefits called Packs, which offer additional rewards and benefits in specific lifestyle areas, such as music, fashion, giving back and many more.

The Competition (July 7- August 7)

The competition officially kicks off on MTV.com today with the wanna-be MTV TJs competing in a series of Twitter challenges that range from discovering a local band to interviewing MTV talent. Judging will be done by an internal committee at MTV, which will significantly consider results provided by TweetLevel http://tweetlevel.edelman.com, a specialized Twitter scoring service developed by Edelman that will measure a range of factors, including influence, popularity, engagement and trust. After five challenges, four candidates will advance to the finals, with one remaining slot to be voted on by fans via the ZYNC Card Facebook community and announced on July 21. The five finalists will leave their hometowns and descend on to the Big Apple for the final round of face-to-face challenges.

Live Finale on MTV (August 8)

After weeks of intense challenges, the competition will jump to television for the finale on August 8 from 10 – 11 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, where the final five contestants will square off live on the air in a series elimination rounds, including two ZYNC-centric challenges. Only two candidates will be left standing to make one last plea to the MTV audience, who will then text their votes to name the winner. After the nationwide votes are tallied, the first MTV TJ will be announced, and will begin work immediately reporting for his/her first assignment at the 2010 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles on September 12.

More details:

• Contest rules and additional info can be found on: www.zync.mtv.com/about
• ZYNC Card Facebook page: www.facebook.com/zync

About ZYNC from American Express

ZYNC from American Express is a pay-in-full Charge Card. Cardmembers can customize the ZYNC Card by adding optional bundles of benefits called Packs, which offer rewards and benefits in specific lifestyle areas, such as music, giving back, fashion, food, travel and more. The ZYNC Card is available for an annual fee of $25 and Packs vary in price from no additional cost to $25 per year. ZYNC Cardmembers are enrolled in the Membership Rewards Express® program and get one Membership Rewards point for every eligible dollar of spending, valuable retail and travel protections, and award-winning customer service. For more information, please visit www.zynccard.com.  

About MTV

MTV is the dynamic, vibrant experiment at the intersection of music, creativity and youth culture. For over 28 years, MTV has evolved, challenged the norm, and detonated boundaries -- giving each new generation a creative outlet and voice that entertains, informs and unites on every platform and screen. On-air, MTV is the number one rated full-day ad-supported cable network for P12-24 and P12-34.  Online, MTV.com averaged 24.5 million monthly unique visitors during the first quarter of 2010 -- up +8% from Q4/2009 and up +13% year-over-year. Average video streams for the first quarter of 2010 increased +8% from the Q4/2009 and is up +6% over the same time period last year.  And MTV's successful sibling networks MTV2 and mtvU each deliver unprecedented customized content, super-serving young males, music fans, and college students like no one else. MTV is part of MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Wanna know more? Come on in… www.mtvpress.com.

SOURCE MTV