What makes a good brand?

[davidmatthew 0]

What makes a good brand? I'm doing a paper for a class on new media about branding, focusing on journalists who have created a brand for themselves. One could argue successful personalities have brands, that's what makes them successful and personal!

 

Who are anchors/reporters who have brands (both nationally and locally)?

What are the characteristics of anchors/reporters who have a solid brand?

How can a journalist take his or her brand to the next stage (i.e. with new media like Facebook and Twitter)?

 

I'm curious as to members of this forum have to say.

[Oprah 10]

I think the key element of having a good brand, at least in the TV news biz, is trust. You have to have credibility and the viewers have to trust you, or you will never build a "brand".

 

Anchors (I'm going to extend this to all on-air TV personalities) who have a "brand".....

 

National:

Anderson Cooper (Possibly best known for always being on scene at disasters....he's sort of known for going anywhere to report)

Brian Williams (maybe the closest thing to a traditional "anchorman" on network TV, he's partially built his "brand" in sort of an unorthodox way (like appearing on a lot of late night comedy shows.)...I think he's known for being serious when necessary, but also as someone who's not afraid to show his lighter side and poke fun at himself when it's appropriate

Jim Cantore (maybe TWC's most famous on-air personality.....I think his "brand" is going out and standing in the middle of some pretty nasty weather events....hurricanes/etc.)

Robin Meade (She has a big social media presence and regularly interacts with viewers.....see below for more about that)

Don Lemon (his recent coming out raised his profile, but he already had a huge social media presence and it keeps growing.)

 

Local:

Chuck Scarborough & Sue Simmons (WNBC) (Maybe one of the most well known anchor teams in local news....due to their longevity and some "funnies" over the years. The fuck are you doing?)

Tom Skilling (WGN) (Probably the most well-known "local" weather figure, if you want to call WGN "local". He's pretty much a legend in Chicago and among longtime WGN Superstation viewers)

Bryan Norcross (ex WPLG, WTVJ, WFOR) (Even though he's not working in local media anymore (he's doing freelance stuff w/TWC IIRC)....he is someone who built such a successful "brand", he was basically getting paid by WFOR just to come in during hurricanes! He has legend status for his coverage of Hurricane Andrew in 1992 when he was at WTVJ.)

 

Some local people who have a decent sized social media brand include people like Stephen Clark (WXYZ), Ann Nyberg (WTNH), and arguably, the "Queen of Local TV Social Media", WSPA's Amy Wood. (Links are to their twitters) They use social media to interact with viewers and provide up-to-date stories. One thing, as well, that strikes me about these three is that they are TV veterans and veterans of their stations -- not the first people you'd expect to be embracing social media! One thing I've noticed, at least with local news people, is that the ones who have the most followers (or fans) are the ones who interact the most. Social media is not a one-way street, and too many, I believe, treat it as such. Interaction is key to building a social media following. The only people who can get away with making their twitters a "one-way street" are bona fide celebrities. Another HUGE no-no is something I see all too often, and that is the person whose twitter feed just serves to put what's on their FB "Fan page". Not a good way to build followers (and therefore, your brand) at all. I usually find that both outlets (their twitter page and their FB page) are often lacking in interaction.

 

Hope this helps. I probably left out some people but I felt like this is a topic which deserves chiming in.

[tigermichal 0]

Interesting topic. I myself am a broadcast major who wants to break into the business. I will be interning at WCPO in Cincinnati this summer and I often hear how HARD it is to break into this industry now. I believe that times are changing and the way to build your personal brand is definitely through social media. Anchors and reporters on a local level who are involved in their community seem to be the stand outs to me.

[fox2 191]

National anchors who have brand power:

 

Diane Sawyer: caring, compassionate, cares.

 

Dan Rather: rigidly old-fashioned, old-school.

 

Ted Koppel: serious serious journalism.

 

David Muir: hair. Just kidding. I think his brand is something like "I am network news of the future".

 

Katie Couric: Interacting with people, talking to people, Facebooking, Twittering, YouTubing.

 

Wolf Blitzer: Politics.

 

Christiane Amanpour: Go to person for international affairs.

 

Bob Shieffer: Your friendly Washington expert.

[Jess 1115]

I think in a lot of cases, viewers seek out the station's brand - not necessarily the talent. I'll put it this way: When I hear people refer to newscasts, they almost always say "I'm watching channel 6" or "Did you see what Fox had last night?" It's not like late night TV, where you never hear them call it "The Tonight Show" or "The Late Show" - it's always "Leno", "Letterman", "Conan", etc. Viewers seek out the stations, not the reporters or anchors, and you can see that in a lot of markets where there are anonymous anchors.

 

Still, there are quite a few examples of newsies that have "brands" - or at least great name recognition. I'll recount a few, mostly from my home market in Philly.

 

Jim Gardner: I think Gardner is not only the finest example of "anchor as brand" out there today, but one of the greatest examples of how you can arguably "evolve" it. For years, he was the most no-nonsense news anchor around, with a calm, just-the-facts delivery befitting the rapid-fire Action News format. He didn't joke that often, and smiled just a few times per newscast. However, within roughly the last decade, he's very much let his hair down a bit. He plays around with the talent more. He makes off the cuff remarks that are often legitimately funny. He's letting his personality shine through, and the result is that he's become pretty much the closest thing this generation has to a Roger Grimsby - and that's the HIGHEST praise I can give to a news anchor.

 

He's also begun embracing social media: I highly recommend his twitter account.

 

Larry Mendte & Alycia Lane: I'm including them both because it's a cautionary tale of image gone wrong. Mendte was building his reputation as a showboating anchor who adored John Facenda and brought an overly dramatic tone to his newscasts. Alycia Lane was an import from Miami who - let's be honest - got viewers because she was smoking hot. When they arrived at KYW in 2003, they made their newscasts relevant again. Then, of course, they imploded, and eventually were both fired from the station. Their careers survived, and they're in bigger markets now, but they still have that stigma attached to them.

 

However, while it'd be easy to say the scandal ruined their names (at least here), to be honest I don't think either of them were that well respected in the market to begin with. Mendte was probably the most polarizing anchor we've had - some people loved his over the top style, some people didn't. Lane never managed to shake that "bombshell Latina" brand... and weepy appearances on Dr. Phil and bikini photos sent to Rich Eisen did not help.

 

Glenn Hurricane Schwartz: When Bolaris left 10 in 2002, and chosen successor Kathy Orr instead left for KYW, they were left with no choice but to go with their #3 weather guy. Therefore, 10's new chief meterologist, on a station and market where weather is king, was probably the least telegenic person possible: a balding, bespectacled guy who wore a bowtie and didn't have the best delivery. But his virtues eventually overtook his limitations: this was an experienced guy who knows weather, has experienced hurricanes, and who knows what he's talking about. When we have a serious winter storm, I scan all the stations, but the one who I trust the most is Glenn. He's usually the most on point, he provides an explanation to back up his predictions, and he doesn't act smug if it goes wrong. (Unlike 6, where they use "just as AccuWeather predicted" even if the storm totals were so far off.) His brand is "smart weather geek", and when you want to get the information, that's who you want to go to.

 

Brian Taff: I have to end with this, probably the most significant up and comer I've seen in this market. On a station where talent is typically nurtured for years, Taff managed to go from newbie reporter to fill-in to weekday anchor in just under two years. I think part of this is that he's an anachronism, a person whose style and delivery is so eerily like a Rob Jennings or, yes, an old school Jim Gardner that you think he was teleported in from the 1970s. His brand was built on that old school delivery and mentality, a refreshing change from the more anonymous new reporters that most stations usually get. I don't know if he fits on the fairly light 4pm newscast, but if we're talking an eventual replacement for Rob Jennings or Jim Gardner... I can see Taff easily sliding into that role.