The Media General NBC affiliate is switching from “NBC 17” TO “WNCN Raleigh – Durham – Fayetteville.” GM Doug Hamilton: "By choosing to identify ourselves with our call letters [rather than network], we simply believe we are making a local statement to our communities that our priority is to serve them first and foremost.”
DMA 24
WNCN Emphasizes Local In New Branding
Media General’s NBC affiliate WNCN Raleigh, N.C. (DMA 24) is changing its brand from “NBC-17” to “WNCN Raleigh – Durham – Fayetteville.” The station transitioned from NBC17.com to WNCN.com earlier this year.
The station said its motivation to rebrand stems from a “strong desire to more aggressively serve its local communities and it is a statement about a vision of the future.”
According to Director of Maketing Robby Thomas, “The channel number in our brand name (17) was obsolete. Our content is available on so many various channel numbers throughout our viewing area depending on your community and service provider. It was also completely irrelevant online and on our mobile apps. When our customers see our brand, we want them to see more than a peacock. We want them to see smarter local news. We’re an award-winning, forward-thinking news operation dedicated to serving this community with quality content across multiple platforms.”
WNCN recently won the 2013 Edward R. Murrow Award for “Video Newscast” in Region 8, which includes Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia. The winning newscast featured a special investigation, Poison in the Water, that earned Media General’s D. Tennant Bryan Award for Investigative Journalism earlier this year. The report also triggered legislative action and a public education campaign by Governor Pat McCrory.
The new brand comes with a new look. New motion graphics for the evening broadcasts of WNCN news at 6, 7 and 11 p.m. include glass textures, modern 3D effects and a new music package. Thomas provided creative direction for the project that combined the talents of freelance motion graphics artist Chris Nasso, Stephen Arnold Music and MGFX, Media General’s in-house graphics production agency.
WNCN remains a loyal NBC affiliate. “Our ties to NBC remain strong, dating back to NBC’s previous ownership of this station, said VP-GM Doug Hamilton. “We recently renewed our affiliate agreement with NBC because they continue to deliver programming our viewers value, like the upcoming 2014 Winter Olympics. By choosing to identify ourselves with our call letters, we simply believe we are making a local statement to our communities that our priority is to serve them first and foremost.”
BRAND CONNECTIONS
The geographic tagline, “Raleigh – Durham – Fayetteville,” identifies the three largest metropolitan areas with WNCN’s DMA.
Comments (1)
stephanie twist says:
December 5, 2017 at 12:49 am
The ra-branding though good for this business to generates more consumers, still the competition of broadcast industry is really huge. What could be more great is to service locals not only in selective geographic region. It is best to have them service areas expanded in line with the brands new name or otherwise, change the brand taglines to something more broad and comprehensive to the people and its serviceable areas. Like the idealistic tagline shared at https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/brand-slogans-and-taglines they have the best tips why taglines is important for ever business. And just in case you care about other business name tips and suggestions including slogans you can visit freebusinessnamesuggestions.com, this I consider one of reliable resources of branding, I used this for my business naming needs.