AdAge launched a hilarious and scathing review, from a marketing perspective, of what everyone can learn by NBC’s missteps with regard to the Jay Leno Show. I did manage to watch the Jay Leno Show last week and realized very quickly that Jay tries to be serious (when interviewing 1 on 1) - sort of Charlie Rose-esque – but unfortunately fails at it. They should have stuck to the parodies and “man on the street” segments.
Anyway, AdAge calls out the fact that NBC paints the Jay Leno brand as being an “institution” that everyone in America would watch irrespective of the quality of programming – because it’s Jay! Instead, the quality breaks through and we realize that Jay isn’t funny ALL the time, and thus, his status as an “institution” is falling sharply. It would not have been so bad for NBC if they hadn’t have painted the brand in such a way… it just erodes trust in the network itself. A lesson for anyone promoting product brands of any sort.
7. It’s dangerous to pretend your brand is something it’s not.
NBC executives, in marketing Leno’s move to prime time, tried to position him as a beloved broadcast institution — like they were bestowing a comedic gift on America — as a cover for their entirely cynical cost-cutting. In reality, though, it was clear all along that late-night Leno functioned as a sort of utility: an easy, default pre-bedtime diversion literally not ready for prime time, even after 17 years. NBC used to offer substantive entrees at 10 (“ER,” “Law & Order”), and figured that viewers could be forced to switch to comfort food. But Leno at 11:35 wasn’t ever really even meatloaf; he was more like that stale bag of Funyuns in the back of the cupboard you were willing to settle for because mindless late-night snacking is … mindless.
