NBC Slogans

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This page provides chronology and history to the slogans used by NBC.

Contents

[edit] Proud as a Peacock

"Proud as a Peacock" was the advertising campaign used by the NBC television and radio networks from 1979 to 1981, used to help introduce the "Proud N", a logo that would be used until 1986.

[edit] The campaign

By 1979, NBC had fallen to third place in the ratings. This was partially the fault of Fred Silverman, a network executive who previously led CBS and ABC to the top of the ratings.

During Silverman's tenure as president of NBC dozens of new shows failed, among them Supertrain and Pink Lady and Jeff. The 1980-81 season was the low point for NBC; the network had only three shows (Little House on the Prairie at 10th, Real People at 12th, and Diff'rent Strokes in a 3-way tie for 17th) in the Nielsen top 20. This was unheard of in a time when there were only three major networks. In addition, NBC paid $87 million to broadcast the 1980 Summer Olympics, only to lose an estimated $80 million in ad revenue (in addition to its initial investment) when the Games were boycotted by the United States.

In an attempt to present a positive image in the face of failure, an ad campaign called "Proud as a Peacock" was used, complete with a revised version of the famous NBC Peacock. However, the season flopped with the lineup changing daily, due to shows being added and dropped after a few showings, causing the slogan to generate ridicule.

The most infamous parody of the 1980/1981 campaign was "We're Loud - Proud as a Peacock", which was recorded by the same production studio as the "We're Proud", with the same cast that NBC hired to produce the original "Proud as a Peacock" campaign. The 1979/1980 season "Proud campaign" promos were produced in New York for the Radio and Television Network, and custom tagged versions were produced for all the network affiliates. Joey Levine from Crushing Enterprises wrote the Proud as a Peacock jingle, a high energy, catchy tune, which was used for both the Radio and Television promos. Several of the promos for the campaign are available on YouTube.

For the 1981-82 season, NBC would switch to Our Pride is Showing with little difference in ratings.

[edit] Localized Versions (1979)

[edit] Localized Versions (1980)


[edit] Meaning of the phrase

"Proud as a peacock" is a saying that is used to mean a vain or self-centered person. The phrase comes from the plumage of the male peafowl (females are peahens). When a male is courting, he spreads his tail feathers, sometimes five feet in length, out in a fan pattern to attract a female. Thus, someone who is "proud as a peacock" is similarly 'strutting his stuff'.

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

[edit] Our Pride Is Showing

The "Our Pride Is Showing" logo
The "Our Pride Is Showing" logo

After the less-than-successful "Proud as a Peacock" slogan from 1979 to 1981, NBC president Fred Silverman was ousted and replaced by Brandon Tartikoff . The "Our Pride Is Showing" slogan for the 1981-1982 season was a rather ironic one, since it had few hits to help bring it forward from the past year. During this season, several new NBC programs debuted:

Also, this season resulted in a third season of The Facts of Life (which actually seemed to being outdoing its parent series Diff'rent Strokes). It was also the final season of B.J. and the Bear.

Just as other NBC campaigns would do, this had localized versions, examples being WRC in Washington, DC, KGW in Portland, Oregon, and WJKS in Jacksonville, Florida (customized as "Channel 4, Our Pride is Showing", "Channel 8, Our Pride is Showing", and "17, Our Pride is Showing" respectively).

Eventually, the next NBC slogan, We're NBC, Just Watch Us Now, was created and helped NBC along the road to recovery.

Just as "Proud as a Peacock" was parodied, so was "Our Pride Is Showing." It was parodied on Saturday Night Live as "Our Age Is Showing."

This slogan was adopted by the Seven Network's Sydney station ATN-7 in 1982.

[edit] We're NBC, Just Watch Us Now

The Proud N as part of the "Just Watch Us Now" logo
The Proud N as part of the "Just Watch Us Now" logo

We're NBC, Just Watch Us Now was the slogan NBC used during the 1982-83 Television season. During this season, several new NBC programs debuted:

[edit] Be There

Be There was a slogan used by NBC during the 1983-84 TV Season. The song was composed by Rob Mounsey.

[edit] Campaign Synopsis

The full length campaign begins with scenes of a jazz band rehearsing for the song "Be There", the jingle of the promo. When the band starts performing the song, a clip show of returning and upcoming NBC shows begins over the commercials jingle. The jingle's theme was to invite the audience to watch NBC shows that were full of exciting and memorable characters. Every time the refrain ended in "You can N-B-C There/Be There!!!" A character or cast of a show would proclaim the slogan "Be There". In the first round, the cast of The Facts of Life is shown shouting the slogan while holding a cake decorated with the NBC "Proud N" logo. The second time around showed Hill Street Blues star Bruce Weitz as his character Sgt. Michael "Mick" Belker clinching his fists before saying the slogan.

During the bridge, the promo shows clips from NBC shows featuring characters clapping their hands or hitting an object or another person in rhythm to the tempo. Immediately, headshots of NBC stars are shown clapping their hands together in front of their faces.

A typical promo during the campaign consisted of younger versions of NBC characters such as Remington Steele (played in the promo by Pierce Brosnan), or Mr. T from The A-Team.

The season was notable for the fact that every prime-time show that premiered during the fall was cancelled by the end of the season:

The only survivors during this season were the two mid-season replacement series:

Despite the fall setbacks, NBC was slowly beginning to regain its foothold in the ratings that had begun in the mid-1970s, and continued throughout the reign of Fred Silverman as the network's programming head, and through the early years of the reign of Brandon Tartikoff as NBC Entertainment president.

The following season, NBC would reuse the "Be There" slogan as part of their season jingle, now "Let's All Be There." By the end of the following season, NBC would be back on top.

This slogan was revived in 2007 as "Bee There" for promotion of the show "The Singing Bee".

[edit] Usage by other affiliates/networks

Individual NBC affiliates customized this and other slogans for local use. For example, WNBC in New York coined it thus, "Channel 4 There! Be There!", while KCRA in Sacramento showed it as "Channel 3 There! Be There!", actually one of the longest-running in time length of localized campaigns, running about the same length as the national campaign. In Cleveland, Ohio, WKYC coined it "Channel 3, WOW, Be There." Uniquely, a customized version of the campaign for WSMV in Nashville (also called "Channel 4 There! Be There!") contains a small snippet of Florence Warner singing "Hello Nashville" (the part where she sings "There's a feeling in the air that you can't get anywhere"), of which the popular Frank Gari-composed campaign was used on channel 4 from 1983 to 1993. A version used by WPSD (Paducah, Kentucky) incorporated the first line of My Old Kentucky Home into the promo. WECT in Wilmington, North Carolina also used this promo, and WRC in Washington, D.C., used a local version as well, plus the localized ID would be used to start its newscasts at the time. In the Altoona-Johnstown market, WJAC coined it "WJAC There, Be There!" Lansing's WILX coined it "WILX-TV There, Be There!" as well. In Pittsburgh, PA WPXI coined it "Chan-nel Eleven, Be There!"[citation needed] As with the previous NBC campaign, Seven Network adopted it. This time mostly in Sydney and Melbourne. It was also used on the Brazil network SBT as "Quem Procura, Acha Aqui" between 1987.

[edit] The Singing Bee

In a recent ad aired for NBC's The Singing Bee, the promo ends with the words Bee There, likely a reference to the slogan used by the network.

[edit] Let's All Be There

1985 "Let's All Be There" logo.
1985 "Let's All Be There" logo.

This slogan, like many other NBC slogans, was used on the Sydney station of the Seven Network in Australia between 1985 and 1987. It was also used on the Brazil network SBT as "Quem Procura, Acha Aqui" between 1988 and 1991. In Europe, it was used by Italy's Canale 5 and France's TF1, while in Asia, it was used by the Philippines' CBS-17 (now CGMA).


"Let's All Be There" was a slogan used from July 1, 1984, to May 8, 1986, to promote programming on NBC. This slogan marked the completion of the turnaround NBC had made from its low point in the late 1970s. Shows premiering during this time included The Cosby Show, Punky Brewster, Highway to Heaven, Hunter, Miami Vice, Scrabble, Santa Barbara, Super Password, 227 and The Golden Girls.

First expanded from the Be There campaign started in 1983, the phrase became synonymous with the network as the simple jingle was expanded into a three-minute song performed during the unveiling of new shows on Fall Preview night. The jingle was sung in 1984 by Gimme a Break! star Nell Carter and for 1985 NBC All-Stars show, several NBC stars at the time performed the number. There was even a version featuring Alvin & the Chipmunks, used to promote the Saturday morning lineup during the 1984 season. The slogan was dropped when NBC updated their appearance (including the introduction of their current peacock logo in 1986.

[edit] Localized Versions

Like many other NBC slogans, it was customized for use by the network's affiliates. Examples include the following:

[edit] Come Home to NBC

"Come Home To NBC" is the slogan that NBC used from 1986-1988, and the first of the campaigns to introduce the current six-feathered peacock.

It was another one of NBC's more popular slogans, while not quite gaining the popularity of its previous campaign, "Let's All Be There."

In 1988, NBC modified the campaign into "Come Home to the Best... Only on NBC", and turning the campaign song from a gospel-style sound into a more calypso-style sound.

[edit] Modern Rock Come on Home (1986)

1986 "Come Home To NBC" logo.
1986 "Come Home To NBC" logo.

The first promo using the "Come Home" slogan showed various everyday people in daily situations such as work or school eagerly awaiting for the day to finish so that they can go home and watch TV. The music is somewhat of a modern rock tempo. NBC stars appear periodically in front of the newly introduced peacock logo proclaiming the viewer to "Come Home" to NBC. Near the end of the promo, various families are gathered around to watch The Cosby Show. Then we see the "Come Home to NBC" logo slide up onto the screen.

[edit] Localized Versions

Videos:

[edit] Gospel-Rock Come on Home (1987)

For the second installment of the "Come on Home" campaign, NBC promoted itself with a "music video" that utlized a gospel rock soundtrack. This was the first of three promos that featured 227 star Jackée Harry and The Cosby Show star Phylicia Rashād providing lead vocals for the networks promos

At the beginning of the main promo, clips of various shows are as the scene zooms out to reveal a slide show presented by Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger). Then we see William Daniels arriving "home" only to find several stars lounging in his living room. Richard Moll, who appeared to be hanging upside down from his door post surprises Daniels. The promo progresses with various NBC stars engaging in impromptu or everyday actions. Among them are:

Throughout the ad, Harry is singing the song on a studio stage designed to look like a city rooftop. As the promo ends, the stars all tell the viewers at home to "Come Home". Then we see the words "COME HOME" resting upon a set of silver "glass" squares. The NBC peacock logo fades in at the bottom of "COME HOME".

Though the entire promo was not broadcast on TV, snippets of the promo were used, often accompanied by a remix of the song sung by either Harry or Rashād.

[edit] Localized Versions

[edit] Party Come Home to the Best...Only on NBC (1988)

For the third installment of the slogan, the slogan was extended to read "Come Home to the Best...Only on NBC". The music was changed from the gospel-rock style to a softer calypso style. The promo had a party-like theme, strikingly similar to the Something's Happening on ABC promos in that same season.

First we see a shot of The Cosby Show's Phylis Rashad rushing home to a New York-style apartment. Upon arrival, Bill Cosby welcomes her and reveals a party filled with NBC stars of the season is going on inside the apartment. The party is decorated with colorful balloons and a giant neon-style NBC peacock logo with the words "Only On" in an all-capitalized font adorns the party. We see different stars performing impressive dance moves. At one point an unknown actor reveals his boxers to the stars of The Golden Girls. Throughout the rest of the promo, stars can be seen in different poses and activitiessuch as Keshia Knight Pulliam takes a photos of the Huxtables from The Cosby Show. Michael Landon of Highway to Heaven does somewhat of an impressive dance move after a great white light from the TV is exposed (an allusion to his character being an angel). Some stars are seen holding fluorescent light bars.

As the promo comes to a conclusion, the screen zooms outward to show a panoramic view of all the NBC-stars in the party dancing in front of the logo. Then we see the words "only On" slowing descending as the words "Come Home to the Best" appear in a font similar to the previous words in front of three colored transparent trapezoids and tiny-sized texts of "The Best" ascending. The trapezoids and the slogan rotate to reveal the same "Only on NBC" logo.

Some notes on the promo. This promo prominently featured then-anchor Tom Brokaw in one of the TV's. Also, Pat Sajak and Vanna White from the daytime version of Wheel of Fortune are included, though unlike most promos, it did not feature daytime stars.

[edit] Localized Versions

Audio and video links:

[edit] Animated Come Home to the Best, Only on NBC (1989)

The final year the slogan was used, broke with traditional promos. Unlike previous ones with used real sets, this one used an artsy, surreal backdrop. The promo featured various NBC stars in various places and situations that were animated. This time, Harry was the only vocalist from the 1987 version of the slogan to lend her vocals for the final variation. As the Harry sand and the stars did their actions, words from the lyrics or the titles of the NBC program from which they starred in would occasionally appear in a window shade/random bars effect. As the songs progress, the stars of The Hogan Family are seen building a set of steel letters to form the NBC name logo. Finally after Bill Cosby flashes a number one sign, the screen cuts to the NBC peacock logo zooming out onto a vertical grey stripe. The words "Only on" appear in lowercase font above the NBC logo after a violet stripe passes above.

This was one of very rare promos that featured the co-hosts of The Today Show, which at the time were Jane Pauley and Bryant Gumbel. Jane Pauley would step down from co-annchoring duties in December of 1989. Also this was the last promo which a Disney character (Mickey Mouse) would be featured in. The Walt Disney Company would later purchase Capital Cities Communications the former parent of rival network American Broadcasting Company.

[edit] Localized Versions

[edit] International Usage

Both of these versions were also adapted to other countries in the world. For instance "Come Home to the Best, Only on NBC" became "Only the Best on 7" for the Seven Network in Australia in 1989, as well as "Come Home to the Feeling, Only on 3" for TV3 in New Zealand during the early 1990s, (although the tune sounds completely different from 1988 NBC and 1989 Seven versions), while "Come Home to NBC" became "Vem Que é Bom" for SBT in Brazil in 1991, as well as "Let's Celebrate '88" for Seven in Australia in 1988. From 2008 onwards, the slogan has been used to promote The Paul O'Grady Show on Channel 4 in the United Kingdom, with the slogan being "Come Home to the Best, only on Paul O'Grady".

You Can see the "Come Home to NBC" and "Come Home To Best, Only On NBC" promos right here [1].

[edit] NBC: The Place To Be

"NBC: The Place To Be" is the slogan that NBC used in 1990, and the second of the campaigns to feature the current six-feathered peacock. During this period, several new series arrived to supplement shows such as The Cosby Show, Cheers and A Different World. Some of the most notable changes included the premiere of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, the short-lived Ferris Bueller, and Blossom, which replaced Bueller in January 1991.

[edit] Campaign Synopsis

NBC ident showing the slogan "The Place to Be"
NBC ident showing the slogan "The Place to Be"

The promo begins with a brief shot of a music stand/lecturn which from behind, a blue spotlight comes on. After this, some NBC stars seat themselves as audience members as they are waiting to what appears to be a concert. Meanwhile an orchestra featuring The Cosby Show's Keshia Knight Pulliam with an electric guitar is seen rehearsing for the musical number. The rehearsing abruptly stops when Bill Cosby arrives at the music stand where he takes on the role of conductor.

The video then cuts to a stage in the same theatre where various stars from NBC shows such as The Golden Girls, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and even Johnny Carson from The Tonight Show dancing or engaging in different activities/motions in front of a giant wall of television sets stacked one on top of each other often showing clips of NBC shows as well as the letters N, B, and C and the peacock logo. Midway through the promo, a segment featuring returning shows such as LA Law, The Cosby Show, and Empty Nest is shown followed by one featuring freshman shows; among them the now long running and Emmy Award winning Law & Order.

Towards the end of the program, the music ceases abruptly and the lights go out. The culprit was shown to be of then host of the Late Night's David Letterman (shown on a TV) who apparently tripped on a pair of power cords. Letterman briefly laughs then re-plugs it resuming the promo. As the promo winds down we see the NBC logo above yellow lettering stating "The Place to Be" amidst brownish black background with CGI glass squares of different colors moving in different directions. Finally as the music stops, Keisha hollers and exits the stage, as the audience applauses.

The full length promo was 2:57 in length. The promo also was different than its predecessors its jingle utilized a modern rock soundtrack. It was also presented in such a manner that resembled MTV's music videos in order to appropriately fit the '90s and target a much younger audience.

For TV ident bumpers, the NBC ident with the slogan was shown with Don LaFontaine saying, "NBC...is the Place to Be!".

[edit] Localized Versions

As with many campaigns for all "Big 3" networks, localized versions of these campaigns have been adopted. The following are some examples:

  • KYTV Springfield, Missouri "KY3's The Place to Be!" (This slogan is still used today for the station, however the old ad music has not been used in several years)
  • WMAR-TV Baltimore, Maryland "Channel 2, The Place to Be!"
  • WDIV-TV Detroit, Michigan "WDIV, The Place to Be!"
  • WCSH-TV Portland, Maine "6 Alive, Count on Us!" (it used the same tune as the national campaign)
  • WILX-TV Lansing, Michigan "WILX-TV, The Place to Be!"
  • WSFA-TV Montgomery, Alabama "Channel 12, The Place to Be!"
  • WKJG-TV Fort Wayne, Indiana "WKJG, The Place To Be!"
  • WLIO-TV Lima, Ohio "WLIO, The Place To Be!"
  • WGAL-TV Lancaster, Pennsylvania "WGAL, The Place To Be!"
  • WLBZ-TV Bangor, Maine "Channel 2, Count on Us!"
  • WNNE-TV Hartford, Vermont "31, Close to Home, It's the Place to Be!"
  • WJAC-TV Johnstown, PA "Channel 6, the Place to Be!"
  • WPXI-TV Pittsburgh, PA "WPXI-TV 11, the Place to Be!"

[edit] See also

[edit] External links