A+E Networks revealed a marketing push to help its brand stand out with a new ad campaign, dubbed “Brave Storytellers,” featuring stars from its unscripted shows talking about what motivates them.

Using the mantra “It’s Only By Looking Closer That We See,” personalities such as Scientology and the Aftermath’s Leah Remini and Wahlburgers’ Donnie Wahlberg will promote not just individual series, but A&E’s culture as a whole with a new look and feel, The Wall Street Journal reports.

For instance, in one ad poet IN-Q highlights different types of people and towns from across the country, setting a new tone meant to help the network stand out in a crowded, competitive and increasingly digital television marketplace.

Once known for arts and entertainment programming, the campaign also aims to better define the network’s shift toward nonfiction shows, and to differentiate A&E from other channels and services in order to draw more viewers.

“Consumers are looking for those trusted brands to help with search and discovery and streaming content choices,” A+E Networks CEO Nancy Dubuc told WSJ. “If you don’t have a brand where [viewers] are seeking you out, you’re just a collection of television shows.”

Indeed, the move comes as A&E has seen an uptick in ratings for the first time in three years. A&E’s average viewership among 18-49-year-olds was up 2 percent year-over-year in the second quarter of 2017, according to Nielsen data. The slight increase follows a decline from 2013 - 2016, where ratings in that demographic dropped by about half.

Dubuc said the timing of the “Brave Storytellers” campaign will hopefully help sustain the recent growth.

“We could have done the brand campaign a year ago, but it would not have been with the ratings strength it has now,” Dubuc told WSJ. “We’re seeing this as an opportunity to expand our content and the way our audience interacts with us through the unique cultural conversation or position we have vis a vis the original brands. We know [our] audiences consume us anywhere they choose. We wanted to have a dialogue with them.”

The ads will run on A&E’s linear and digital platforms, on YouTube, Hulu and Tremor, and in programming by other networks including the Emmy Awards on CBS, and This is Us and Will and Grace on NBC.

READ MORE: The Wall Street Journal

[Image Credit: The Wall Street Journal]

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