When Al Ries and Jack Trout started talking about positioning in Advertising Age back in 1972, the concept of little ladders in our heads for brands was wildly new. Then came the Coke vs. Pepsi cola wars, Wendy's vs. McDonald's "Where's the Beef?" and Avis vs. Hertz "We try harder." Marketers embraced the idea that your message -- about your brand -- needs to fit in position next to your competitors.
Now, the next brilliant move in branding comes from Steve Koonin at Court TV. Koonin joined Turner in 2000 and quickly juiced audiences by rebranding TNT as drama and TBS as funny. Fast Company reports prime-time ratings at the networks are up 14% and 7% respectively.
The message here: Focus your brand on one thing.
Fast says Koonin plans to do this next with Court TV. Seems courtroom television had a few problems: first, it sounds like lawyers, ugh, and second, viewers like different things. Research showed some women viewers enjoyed the mystery solving while young men liked the gritty truth voyeurism.
Koonin decided to chase the young men -- a sweet advertising target -- and so is rebranding Court TV as truTV. Ginormous name change. Strong focus. The moniker moves a bit outside the courtroom to embrace shows such as Forensic Files, the true-life stuff.
The second message here: Branding takes guts. With truTV, Koonin is conceivably walking away from half his audience -- the women who focused on the court mystery side. He is changing the name radically, removing "court" which could confuse people. By narrowing his brand, he is grabbing a stronger position -- but leaving many things behind.
We're not sure how audiences will react, but we know one thing: Now we understand what truTV stands for, and we're going to check it out.
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