Will NBC's Brand Survive Conan O'Brien?

The NBC network is finally getting the late-night ratings it has craved for so long. In fact, ratings for the "Tonight Show" are up almost 100 percent. Too bad this boost is coming at the expense of the network itself. The "Tonight Show" host Conan O'Brien is airing his grievances with NBC on-air. How much more can "the peacock" take before the broadcast brand suffers irreparable harm?

Knocking the boss has been a staple of evening talk shows for the last few decades. David Letterman was a pioneer. Generally though it has always been good-natured. Not anymore. After releasing a statement refusing to negotiate with the network, Conan O'Brien has been laser-locked on ruining NBC's reputation, devoting his entire monologues (and some of the rest of the shows) to this goal. A sampling:

"There's a rumor NBC is so upset with me they want to keep me off the air for three years. Yeah, my response is that if NBC doesn't want people to see me, just leave me on NBC."

"Good news from Afghanistan. Critics of the war have stopped referring to it as 'another Vietnam.' Bad news, they're now calling it 'another NBC.'"

Noting that NBC expected to lose $200 million on its broadcast of February's Winter Olympics, O'Brien said, "Folks, is it just me or is that story hilarious?" He quipped that the network would spice up the Olympics by, among other things, adding flags made out of "breached NBC contracts."

O'Brien isn't content just devaluing the NBC brand though, he's also going after Jay Leno, the host NBC is moving back in to replace him: "Hosting the 'Tonight Show' has been a fulfillment of a lifelong dream to me. I just want to say to the kids out there, 'You can do anything you want in life... unless Jay Leno wants to do it too.'" Adding insult to injury, Jay Leno, probably in an attempt to make himself appear more sympathetic and less like a collaborator, has been dumping on NBC as well.

Simply put, it's brutal and it is happening every night for almost all of O'Brien's 10-minute monologue. And yet, NBC remains silent. Marketer and brander Adam Hanft sees this silence as a dangerous move, telling CNN:

"The bigger long-term issue is that clearly the NBC brand has been damaged. When you have your talent mocking you, it's embarrassing. Being an old brand doesn't give you any insulation anymore. They're making a big mistake by not being visible and vocal and engaging in the conversation. There's nothing to be embarrassed about because something didn't work."

But what can NBC really do to protect its brand? Censoring O'Brien would fuel the flames of his support, creating even more backlash against NBC. Perhaps the best strategy the network can employ is to take its lumps and try and hurry O'Brien offstage, which could happen as soon as next week. Then, NBC can dream of the inevitable ratings spike when Leno returns to his original time slot, and hope everyone forgets the peacock's involvement in the whole affair.