The below comes from Levitt’s personal blog, “Dispatches from the Exit Row,” so named because True Canadian Levitt spends a lot of time on airplanes.

ICYMI, Jon Stewart left The Daily Show in August. (If that’s news to you, there’s really no point reading on.)

It’s safe to say one of the key reasons I joined Comedy Central in 2011 was my 10+ year Daily Show fandom. Like so many others, Jon was my daily sanity check – and more often than I care to admit, the place I learned about what was going on in the world.

So like almost everyone else, the week after August 6 felt like a shiva. Jon was gone. He wasn’t coming back. I had to get on with my life.

Luckily, by that point I had already spent many hours with the guy who – to everyone’s surprise, including his own, I suspect – was named Jon’s successor. And what I quickly discovered about Trevor Noah is that he is truly the perfect person to assume the throne.

I realize that sounds like corporate shilling. And let’s be clear: I am not beyond some great corporate shilling. I am a marketer after all. And marketing begins at home.

But here’s the God’s honest truth: Trevor will be amazing.

In multiple meetings to discuss his launch campaign, it became clear that Trevor is everything the next Daily Show host should be. He’s whip smart. He’s quick and funny. He’s insightful. He has a point of view. He is an amazing performer. He’s charming. He’s a millennial, but in all the good ways. He’s both self-aware and self-deprecating.

And oh yeah – I’m told he’s easy on the eyes. (I will even admit to saying, on one call discussing what cut we should use for a spot, that “we need to go with the version where we see your dimples.” Not proud of that moment, but let’s be honest – I was right.)

For the last several months, the amazing and talented team at Comedy Central has been working towards this week’s launch. It’s the single biggest campaign I have ever been involved with, both in scope and scale and – let’s face it – importance to the brand. So yes, a campaign of this magnitude is a gift for media marketing people – but it’s also scary as hell.

From a marketing point of view, we identified three groups to target for this campaign:

We staged the campaign deliberately, initially focused on converting group #1…then broadening the campaign to reach group #2…and finally, targeting the third group in our mass advertising.

  1. Current Daily Show loyalists
  2. Occasional or lapsed Daily Show fans
  3. A new generation we dubbed “progressive-minded news consumers” – people 18-39 who consume news on various platforms, who also watch comedy content, but who have not yet made The Daily Show part of their routine.

While we knew group 3 was not currently watching The Daily Show, we didn’t assume we had to introduce the franchise to them (frankly, if you’re an 18-39 news consumer and have never heard of The Daily Show, there’s probably little we can do to entice you at this point.) But we knew Trevor was a relative unknown, so the creative strategy was to introduce him – a smart, funny millennial who has a new point of view – while reinforcing that it’s still the same Daily Show that has been part of the zeitgeist for almost two decades.

There are a ton of different creative pieces to the campaign. You can see most of the video spots here. There are also three different pieces of outdoor/print creative, each spinning the creative strategy with a slightly different headline (“Brand New Host. Brand Same Show.” “The New Face of the Same Show.” “From the people who brought you The Daily Show.”)

But my favorite part of the campaign is a super cool search-based idea. I think it may well be the most elaborate made-for-Google campaign that’s ever been done by anyone. I’ve been asked not to give away too much, so let me just say this: try Googling Trevor Noah Girlfriend, Trevor Noah Crocs and Trevor Noah Wiki. Click on our search result ad (if you’re in the US only – sorry Canadians!) and get started down the rabbit hole. And let me just say this: it’s a long, long rabbit hole.

So here we are – the day before the big launch. We know it’s a marathon, not a sprint. But we also know the first show will be watched with great interest and that everyone will have a point of view. Here’s mine: Trevor is the perfect choice, but he won’t be an overnight sensation. Give him a chance to find his footing, to put his stamp on the show, and to gain your respect and trust. You will be thankful you did.

Walter Levitt is Chief Marketing Officer for Comedy Central and is based in the company’s New York City office, reporting to Michele Ganeless, President of Comedy Central. He is a key member of the senior leadership team overseeing all facets of strategic and creative brand development, advertising & promotion, social media and digital marketing.

Cube image courtesy of Levitt.

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