• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, January 29, 2010

With retailers forced to close around Manhattan, media companies have been plastering promotions where display windows once were. But in a new effort, MTV is looking to go beyond a standard billboard. Taking over the locale of a shuttered Circuit City at a heavily trafficked Fifth Avenue location, it has launched an interactive gambit designed to plug its new series "The Buried Life." The spread stretches more than a half-block long, and was previously used by ESPN to promote "Monday Night Football," also using multimedia elements.

"The Buried Life" launched Jan. 18 on MTV and focuses on four young Canadians looking to accomplish 100 things before they die -- be it kissing heartthrob Megan Fox or making a toast at a stranger's wedding.

To tie into the "Buried" theme, the Fifth Avenue ex-storefront offers a giant touchscreen keyboard where passersby can enter their answers to a central question posed by the show: "What do you want to do before you die?" Their responses are then streamed in real-time on an adjacent large scroll. People also have the option of uploading their selections to their Facebook pages by pressing a button on the keyboard.

"We wanted to take the digital experience and bring it to the street," said Marc Klatzko, a managing director at Maude NY, the MTV digital agency that conceived the stunt.

Also included in the display are three videos plugging "Buried Life" that a person can view by pressing a button. MTV has ordered eight episodes of the show, which are produced by Reveille, the company behind NBC's "The Office."

The stunt runs through Feb. 7; there is also a link with a "Buried Life" Web page. The space was secured in a deal with out-of-home firm Monster Media.

On Friday, two young people stood in front of the keyboard -- the size of a big-screen TV -- and had their picture taken, even with a wind-chill factor of 2 degrees. "We didn't realize the reaction would be that strong," said Brett Spiegel, a marketing manager at Maude, who says that in one week there were more than 2,000 answers posted for the do-before-you-die question.