You Are the Brand

Thirteen/WNET.org: Beyond Sesame Street and Bill Moyers

“The THIRTEEN brand has always been associated with integrity and intelligence as it stands apart from a lot of the pressures that impact the commercial world.” These are the words of WNET.org president and CEO Neal Shapiro. Thirteen is the PBS flagship TV station with the most public television viewers among the nation’s over three hundred public broadcasters. It is also a major piece of its parent company, WNET.org, based in New York. I’ve been affiliated with WNET.org andThirteen for over twenty years as an on-air host, executive producer , anchor, and creative director of numerous news and public affairs programs. While I’ve worked in commercial media broadcasting for many years, there has always been something special about being a part of the PBS brand, and, more specifically, Thirteen . Neal Shapiro is right. Integrity and intelligence are the right words to describe this brand. However, in the branding process, even seemingly positive words can project the wrong image.What one person sees as intelligent, another might see as high-brow or inaccessible to the average person.That’s the balance between intelligent and elite that Shapiro and the rest of my colleagues at Thirteen have to strike. How do you create intelligent, thoughtful programming that doesn’t look and feel like everything else on the crowded television dial, yet is not above the interest level of the audience?This is a challenge for Thirteen and WNET.org, which doesn’t develop its programming based on projected ratings, but realizes nonetheless that the audience size is critical to raising the corporate, foundation, and government dollars needed to produce PBS shows. Finding this middle ground in which to root the station’s brand is the job of 55 Thirteen/WNET.org Beyond Sesame Street and Bill Moyers Adubato_(Brand)_final 4/11/11 11:28 AM Page 55 Shapiro and his team. Shapiro has an extensive background in the TV world as the former president of NBC News as well as MSNBC. He also has had close ties to the TODAY show as a top executive. Shapiro knows successful commercial programming and knows the importance of building theThirteen brand in a way that will appeal to a wide audience, while at the same time offering unique programming . At the same time, Shapiro has the added responsibility of convincing corporations and foundations to support our programs . And again, this is where “branding” comes in: One of our major selling points is that being affiliated with PBS programming helps the image and brand of these supporting institutions. Now consider how crowded the media landscape has become over the last decade. I’m not just talking television, but there is competition from the Internet as well. People have so many choices. So many options. So the question becomes: How do you get an audience to feel that special connection to a public television station? According to Shapiro: “Many people who started watching Thirteen from its birth are still tuning in to the channel. Thirteen has the value of having generations grow up with it.Those whose first experience with public television was Sesame Street are now grandparents , and they can watch Thirteen with their children and their children’s children and go through the cycle again.” Sesame Street. Can you think of a better brand in the world of children’s programming ? Who doesn’t know Big Bird, Elmo, and Cookie Monster ? My kids grew up on the show, and I bet that yours did as well. However, it’s not enough to have great children’s programming that touches several generations to build a successful brand in highly competitive and global markets. Our other programming, including Charlie Rose, Bill Moyers Journal (Moyers recently retired), Frontline, as well as newer programs like Need to Know and New Jersey Capitol Report (which I co-anchor with Rafael Pi Roman), is critical to keeping the Thirteen brand current and thriving. Thinking Global/Staying Local As I stated, Thirteen and WNET.org are part of a much larger brand—PBS, the Public Broadcasting Service. The venerable Roper 56 YOU ARE THE BRAND Adubato_(Brand)_final 4/11/11 11:28 AM Page 56 Poll has shown year after year that PBS is one of the most respected institutions in America and by far the most respected media organization out there. Any station knows that the PBS brand...