WAVE, Grays’ NBC affiliate in Louisville, Kentucky’s first television station, brought back the station’s original logo to demonstrate a new direction for the station. Reminding viewers of your history through the years leaves them with a sense of permanence. Not a bad thing for any business.
WAVE, Grays’ NBC affiliate in Louisville, Ky.’s first television station, brought back an early logo to demonstrate a new direction for the station. WAVE began broadcasting in 1948 and used the logo from 1958 until 1974.
Reminding viewers of your history through the years leaves them with a sense of permanence. Not a bad thing for any business.
Kris Ellison-Baete, WAVE’s marketing director, says the station branded itself as WAVE 3 News for many years, and its positioning statement was More Local Now.
“We are focusing in on the call letters which have such a really rich tradition and a huge brand presence in the market,” Ellison-Baete says. “People trust us for news, but it allows us to really own all of that extra original content that we are constantly doing on all the streaming platforms, the social media content, the digital content and it just allows us to focus on that brand of WAVE.”
The campaign features a 60-second promo from the station’s past, former anchors, long-ago events and news stories, going back decades.
And using nostalgia in marketing is an effective advertising technique, just ask Mercedes Benz, where their classic models often race right alongside their newest models in TV spots.
In a recent Market Share column about KAKE in Wichita using nostalgia in its marketing, I quoted from a HubSpot blog that nostalgia is the advertising equivalent of comfort food, and can transport us back to a simpler time that urges us to focus on the things we already know are great.
Ellison-Baete says the station had several goals in mind with the campaign.
“We want to be able to speak to the viewer that has been in the market for a long time and has that affinity and nostalgia for WAVE and we definitely hit the mark on that.” shared some comments
Ellison-Baete shared some comments from viewers about the campaign:
“I love seeing the original logo.”
“Like the vintage logo.”
“Glad to see WAVE-TV embracing its past by re-adopting the historic station logo. It was a familiar sight growing up in the Crowner household.”
Ellison-Baete says the other goal of the campaign is to position the station as more forward thinking, especially to younger audiences, “letting them know that we are going to be able to give them really great content everywhere they are.”
Condensing the station’s marketing to focus on just WAVE is liberating, Ellison-Baete says. Instead of concern about explaining the slogan, More Local Now, “we are now able to just be our brand, live our brand,” Ellison-Baete says. “We can just do our thing.”
Sign up for Marketing Monday, and get the best of Market Share delivered FREE to your inbox. Marketing Monday premieres an original, exclusive story every Monday, plus features the best Market Share columns from the week before, all in one email. Articles about innovations, developments and successes in local TV marketing, especially news marketing. Sign up now for Marketing Monday by creating a Free Membership at TVNewsCheck.com, and choose the FREE option.
One more thing: I’m always looking for story ideas about great local TV news coverage, and local TV marketing, great sales ideas and commercial production, and station hires from your market. To suggest a story, please reach out to me at [email protected] or at 817-578-6324.
Gray TV Cleveland, home to WOIO-TV CBS 19, the CW43 and Telemundo Cleveland affiliates serving Cleveland and Northeast Ohio is seeking a Director of Engineering and Technology. The station that is “First, Fair, and Everywhere” produces over 60 hours of news on a weekly basis and deliver content in both English and Spanish on a 24/7 basis on our digital platforms! Director of Engineering & Technology is a department head leadership position, managing the station’s technology with a core team of engineering and IT staff. Click here for more specifics and how to apply.
Comments (0)
Reader Interactions