To celebrate its 30th year on air, Discovery is turning the camera around, enlisting its fans to describe the network’s importance and effect in the TV industry.

Those fans, in this case, just happen to be some of the most successful creators in TV.

Starting off with Oprah Winfrey, who was inspired by Discovery’s Planet Earth, Discovery is concluding its campaign with Anthony Zuiker, the creator of the CSI franchise. The individual spots were created by Discovery’s branded entertainment division, The Agency.

Zuiker, in the campaign video, says that Discovery’s show The New Detectives: Case Studies in Forensic Science inspired him to look more closely at forensics.

“It was really at that defining moment that I understood that the body was the perfect specimen for crime solving,” he said. “And that gave me the inspiration to go below the tape with a forensic police drama and take a forensic point of view.”

CSI has been airing since 2000. Its series finale airs in September, but lives on through its three spinoff series: CSI: NY, CSI: Miami and CSI: Cyber.

He credits Discovery’s show as the catalyst that made him look at things differently, inspiring CSI.

“I just happened to be in the right place at the right time, in front of the right television set in front of the right television show,” he said. “I knew that this town was about taking a simple idea and making it fresh, and if you did that and you executed a script at a very high level, you may have an opportunity to get something off the ground.”

Read more at Adweek.

Brief Take: Discovery amplifies its brand by linking itself to other successful, and downright prolific, brands in television, with Winfrey and Zuiker at the top of that list.

[Image courtesy of Discovery]

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