media brands
Posted by Abe Sauer on February 18, 2010 12:52 PM
After weathering the disastrous departure of Conan O'Brien from The Tonight Show, NBC was optimistic about the return of Jay Leno. However, Leno's brand has been significantly damaged over the affair. In fact, in one survey, nearly 70 percent of respondents said they wouldn't watch Leno anymore.
NBC would love for The Tonight Show to return to the way it was a year ago, but it's clear that isn't going to happen – at least not now. So what is NBC doing to reinvigorate The Tonight Show brand? That's right: a new logo.
Proving that it is not superstitious, NBC debuted the new The Tonight Show logo on the website of the short-lived and now-cancelled Jay Leno Show: "We have a new logo too - what do you think?"
Fans answered, and, apparently, the animosity over the host change has not faded. For example, Honeypott310 wrote, "Boring Logo... Stolen show...;" bikage said, "New logo. Same tired middle of the road, cliche, lowest common denominator show. Way to fire the guy with new ideas and potential longevity to bring back the aging dinosaur. Jay Leno hasn't been relevant in years;" idontwashmysocks wrote, "a boring logo for a boring show." You get the point.
"Boring" may be another way of saying "safe." NBC certainly did not take any risks. The logo is familiarly modern and maybe a little metropolitan without being overly characteristic of Leno's persona. In terms of color, it's dark and proper – perhaps an attempt to play down the drama associated with the change. It is, however, a clear departure from O'Brien's logo, and an obvious revamp of Leno's original logo.
Branding experts understand the power, and limitations, of logos. For The Tonight Show brand, a new logo was certainly necessary, and it just may have hit the right balance between signifying change while also avoiding flashy, ostentatious messaging that would draw the wrong kind of attention to the brand as it makes this difficult transition.
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