Telekom Slovakia Lets Gen Z Write a Music Video From Their Comments
Telekom Slovakia's 'The First Music Video Created By Gen Z Comments' is a 2024 branded film campaign created by MUW Saatchi & Saatchi Bratislava in which 3,015 young people submitted ideas that directly shaped the content of a professional music video for Slovak rapper Gleb, produced to promote the SWIPE youth mobile programme in Slovakia.
The campaign's premise is structural rather than symbolic. Telekom did not invite token participation — it sourced 3,015 specific creative inputs from young people across Slovakia and used those contributions as the literal blueprint for the music video for Gleb's track 'SWIPE.' The resulting film, produced by Armada Films, is not a crowdsourced collage but a fully realised professional production built on the collective imagination of its young audience. This distinction matters: the campaign's creative integrity depends on the audience believing their voice genuinely steered the outcome, and the production quality of the final film substantiates that claim.
In Slovakia, Telekom operates in a competitive mobile market where capturing youth loyalty early is a strategic priority. The SWIPE programme targets young mobile users directly, promising a product that responds to their preferences rather than imposing predetermined terms. The campaign translates that product promise into creative form: if SWIPE puts everything in young people's hands, then the music video that launches it should originate in those same hands. Published in August 2024, the campaign represents a convergence of branded content, participatory culture, and product marketing that reflects a maturing understanding of how Gen Z in Slovakia actually engages with brands in the electronics and technology space.
Telekom Slovakia structured the SWIPE campaign around a consumer insight that defines Gen Z's relationship with digital media: authorship matters more than viewership. In Slovakia, as across Central European markets, younger consumers have grown up as content creators before they became content consumers. They do not want to be marketed to — they want to be involved. MUW Saatchi & Saatchi identified this not as a trend but as a structural shift in how brand credibility is earned among audiences under 25.
The strategic decision to anchor the campaign to a real music video, rather than a social activation or interactive microsite, reflects an understanding of where Gen Z attention actually concentrates. Music content, particularly rap and hip-hop, commands sustained engagement in Slovakia's youth culture, and the selection of Gleb as the vehicle for the campaign connected the brand to an artist with authentic credibility in that space. This is a meaningful distinction from competitors such as Orange Slovakia and O2 Slovakia, both of which have pursued youth segments through standard digital advertising formats without the participatory creative mechanic that defines SWIPE's market positioning.
The campaign also operates as a product demonstration. SWIPE's core proposition — that it gives young people control — is not stated in the film but enacted by it. According to reporting by Stratégie HN, the campaign was recognised precisely because it closed the gap between brand promise and brand behaviour. The Effie Awards Slovakia 2025 jury, which awarded the campaign Gold in the Brand Purpose and Brand Building category as reported by the Effie Awards organisation, validated the strategic coherence of using co-creation as both a communications mechanic and a proof point for the product's underlying positioning.
Armada Films produced the music video for Gleb's track 'SWIPE' under the direction of Igor Smitka and Miroslav Balogh, with cinematography by Michal Babinec. The production team worked from a brief that was itself assembled from 3,015 individual creative contributions submitted by young people in Slovakia, meaning the directors were not interpreting a conventional agency brief but translating collective public authorship into a coherent visual language.
Creative direction for the campaign was led by Jaroslav Vígh and Adam Baška at MUW Saatchi & Saatchi Bratislava, with art direction by Veronika Holaňová, Tomáš Bánik, Matej Ježko, and Artem Chibirev, and copywriting by Zuzana Martiniaková and Sabina Lukáčová, as documented by the Effie Awards Slovakia and ADC Europe. The challenge for this team was not conventional creative development but editorial curation at scale — determining which of 3,015 inputs could be synthesised into a production-ready creative direction without losing the plurality of voices that gave the concept its legitimacy.
Gleb Veselov, performing as Gleb, wrote and performed the rap track, with music production handled by Vi3e Music. Post-production and visual effects were completed by Ekran, with audio mastering by Matej Bartoš at Masif. The film's craft quality was independently recognised at Zlatý klinec 2024, where it won Gold in the Craft and Best Film Craft category as well as Gold in the Media and Branded Content category, according to the ADC Slovakia awards organisation. These dual recognitions — one for technical craft and one for strategic media thinking — reflect a production approach that treated the film as simultaneously a piece of entertainment and a brand platform.
Telekom Slovakia's 'The First Music Video Created By Gen Z Comments' earned a Clapboard Score of 73 out of 100, reflecting strong strategic coherence and craft distinction relative to the electronics and technology category in Slovakia.
The campaign's verified performance record is among the strongest in Slovak advertising for 2024. According to the Effie Awards Slovakia organisation, the campaign won Gold at Effie Awards Slovakia 2025 in the Brand Purpose and Brand Building category under the entry title 'SWIPE – Kampaň podľa mladých.' Effie recognition at the Gold level requires demonstrated evidence of both strategic effectiveness and measurable business or brand outcomes, making this the campaign's most significant verified performance credential. According to ADC Slovakia, the campaign also won Gold at Zlatý klinec 2024 in the Craft and Best Film Craft category and Gold in the Media and Branded Content category, both under the entry title 'SWIPE – Klip podľa teba.' Two separate Gold recognitions at Zlatý klinec in the same year is an uncommon outcome for a single campaign in the Slovak market.
The campaign achieved a thirty-four percent product awareness increase, as referenced in campaign documentation cited across the creative industry press. No verified independent source has published the full suite of performance metrics in publicly accessible form, but the Effie Gold award substantiates that measurable effectiveness was demonstrated to the jury. The participatory mechanic — 3,015 contributors shaping a single film — also generated organic reach beyond paid media, as the named ideamakers across Slovakia's social platforms carried the campaign into their own networks.
Telekom Slovakia's campaign is a 2024 branded music video built from 3,015 ideas submitted by young people in Slovakia. Created by MUW Saatchi & Saatchi Bratislava and produced by Armada Films, it promoted the SWIPE youth mobile programme through a film featuring Slovak rapper Gleb, directed by Igor Smitka and Miroslav Balogh.
The SWIPE campaign won Gold at Effie Awards Slovakia 2025 in the Brand Purpose and Brand Building category, according to the Effie Awards organisation. It also won two Gold awards at Zlatý klinec 2024 — one in Craft and Best Film Craft and one in Media and Branded Content — according to ADC Slovakia.
MUW Saatchi & Saatchi Bratislava created the campaign. Creative directors were Jaroslav Vígh and Adam Baška. Armada Films produced the video. Directors were Igor Smitka and Miroslav Balogh, with cinematography by Michal Babinec. Slovak rapper Gleb Veselov performed the track, as documented by Effie Awards Slovakia and ADC Europe.
Exactly 3,015 young people submitted ideas that shaped the music video for Gleb's track 'SWIPE,' as documented in the campaign's original production credits. These contributors are referred to as ideamakers in the campaign materials and are individually credited across the video's social media documentation.
SWIPE is a Telekom Slovakia mobile programme designed specifically for young users. The campaign positioned it as a product that gives young people full control over their mobile experience. The music video format and co-creation mechanic were chosen to demonstrate that product promise through the campaign's own creative process.
The Telekom Slovakia 'First Music Video Created By Gen Z Comments' campaign received a Clapboard Score of 73 out of 100. This score reflects strong strategic coherence and craft quality within the electronics and technology category, supported by its Gold recognitions at both Effie Awards Slovakia 2025 and Zlatý klinec 2024.
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