NBC Brands Itself GM Style

An article in today's Los Angeles Times reminded me of a line in Al & Laura Ries' The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding.

In describing some of GM's many branding boo-boos, Ries & Ries wrote (p. 170):

What's a Chevrolet? In truth, a Chevrolet is a large, small, cheap, expensive car or truck.

The short version of the long, sad story is that Chevrolet tried to be all things to all people, and at the end of the day, didn't mean much of anything to anybody.

Fast forward to present day: Angela Bromstad, president of NBC's prime-time entertainment, had just told a room full of reporters and critics that one of NBC's problems was that it had strayed too far from its brand.

Later in the news conference, Paul Telegdy, who is in charge of the network's unscripted programming, was asked about NBC's brand. Here's how he responded:

Well, that's something that we have spent a lot of research and focus on, in terms of core pillars on what is and where is it an NBC show. We refer to certain key identifying characteristics of NBC shows. That they be human first, deal with real people, people that our cast, our viewers identify with. That are fundamentally positive and that embraces our comedy brand but also, an optimism....

Well, you get the idea. There is some content in his answer but the average listener's eyes would have glazed over long before he got to his third sentence.

So, what's your brand? Do the people who work for you know what it is, and can they articulate it in a meaningful way?

Can you?