CLEVELAND, Ohio – WOIO Channel 19 has a brand-new news brand. First off, the Cleveland CBS affiliate station is putting the word “first” in first place, altering its news slogan to “First, Fair, Everywhere.”
It also means a change of primary graphics color from blue to red and an overall news philosophy that embraces WOIO’s First Alert weather approach. That’s the shorthand on the new brand.
And what is a brand? Well, it’s a news operation’s philosophy, guiding motto, mission statement, goal, mantra, identifier and slogan. It’s a lot of things summarized in very few words.
“A brand is a necessity,” said Erik Schrader, vice president and general manager at Channel 19 and its sister station, WUAB Channel 43. “It tells people what to expect and what you’re going to deliver, and you hope a large part of the viewership says, ‘Yes, that matches up with what we’re interested in.’ It’s the vehicle that tells people what you’re all about – what your values are.”
Branding is a tool that has been used to promote and market everything from soft drinks and automobiles to political campaigns and sports. It has been an essential part of television news for decades, growing in importance as both technology and viewing options have exploded.
“Basically, the brand is what you’re known for in a market,” said Steve Weinstein, vice president and general manager of WEWS Channel 5. “It’s more than a slogan. It’s your identity. You need to differentiate yourself from all the other news sources out there, and that’s why it’s essential. The brand should make you feel a certain way. It’s about making a connection with the viewer and the user of your digital products.”
No brand in the history of Cleveland television has been more successful than WJW Channel 8’s “Cleveland’s Own,” adopted by the station in the early ’80s.
“A brand is a news philosophy and a marketing tool, and it should be both,” said Kevin Salyer, WJW’s vice president of promotion and programming. “It’s who you are and what you believe in, so it’s also how people see you, know you and perceive you.”
“Cleveland’s Own” has its origins in the day that then-news director Virgil Dominic remarked on how many people in front of and behind the camera at Channel 8 were from Cleveland. It remains the brand at the Fox affiliate, the market’s leader in news ratings.
“It still works because it’s still true and still has meaning to our viewers,” said Salyer, who has been at WJW for 39 years. “This has been picked over and researched by news consultants, who always want to change things and do it their way. There are some things you don’t change.”
So, a memorable and effective slogan is important, but what’s more important is what the slogan represents to viewers.
“If it’s going to be effective, you have to live your brand,” Weinstein said.
“The colors, the graphics package and the logo you choose are important, but the most essential thing is how they communicate what you do,” Schrader said. “The brand should help dictate what stories you choose to do.”
But finding a brand that clicks can be incredibly tricky.
“It’s hard to build a strong brand and it’s very easy to screw it up,” said Micki Byrnes, general manager and president at WKYC Channel 3. “And it takes time. It’s a powerful connection when it works, but it’s not as simple as throwing a tag line at the end of the spot. And some people do a better job with it than others.”
And some brands just go out of fashion. Channel 3’s news slogan once was, “Report the facts, respect the truth.”
“It felt right at the time, but I’m not sure I would do that now,” Byrnes said. “When we went to ‘See the Possible,’ it was aspirational and forward-looking, which seemed to reflect the mood in Cleveland. Tag lines sort of come and go. The important thing is that the commitment remains the same. The essence of the brand should stay the same.”
Byrnes believes branding is different from marketing, even though branding is a marketing tool.
“The tag line and colors are part of brand identity, but they are not the brand,” she said. “Brand is product. Then marketing supports that brand. The brand comes first because it’s the emotional connection people have with you and how they interact with your product.”
In terms of getting noticed and establishing identity, Channel 19 had an effective brand in its fast-and-flash days of Action News. The challenge has been to find a brand that reflects an evolving news product.
“We do research, like everybody, and it showed that Cleveland really has embraced the First Alert brand, which initially was a weather and traffic brand,” Schrader said. “That idea seemed to resonate. So realizing how people consume news has evolved, the focus and filter of how we’re going to do things will be first, fair and everywhere.
“People want to consume news when it’s happening. Accuracy still is vital, but getting the information to people quickly is getting more important. And everywhere means not just about being all over Northeast Ohio but being on your TV, your phone, your computer, your streaming device. And that circles back to being first.”
More than ever, Schrader said, stations need to be aggressive and ready to adapt.
“It’s a competitive market and environment,” he said. “We have to stand out. Action News was an effective brand for its time, but time moved on and we had to move on, too. And tastes will change. As much as I like this brand, it probably will eventually change.”