For decades, CBS was known as the “Tiffany Network.” Now, CBS president/chief marketing officer Mike Benson is ready to “break some Tiffany glass.”
The executive, who has given CBS a modern image overhaul since taking over in 2019, has now turned his attention to the comedy brand. To mark the fall launch of the Eye network’s four comedies, Benson has introduced the “You’re Laughing at CBS” campaign.
“People will say CBS is old and boring, but if you look at our programming, that’s actually not the case,” Benson said. “I think from a brand perspective we have a lot of work to do to show that we can have a lot of fun. That we’re willing to make fun of ourselves as much as we want people to come in and laugh at the shows that we have.
The “You’re Laughing at CBS” tagline will focus on returning hits “Ghosts” and “The Neighborhood,” as well as the new “Young Sheldon” spinoff “Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage” and freshman Damon Wayans/Damon Wayans Jr. cowardly “Daddy’s house.”
“We thought this could be a really good time to add a new dimension to the brand with what we have in terms of comedy, and put a little more focus on it,” Benson said. “We felt like it basically started with, ‘You’re making fun of CBS,’ but then I really wanted to be provocative and have fun with it.”
As part of the new Laffer brand, CBS is also introducing a smiling version of its Eye logo, which it has nicknamed “Chuckle.” (And yes, that’s a sly nod to the character “Chuckles the Clown” from the CBS series “Mary Tyler Moore.”)
“We have this ‘Chuckles’ version of the logo that we want to stamp on all of our comedies, just to show that they’re classified as funny,” Benson said. “And we really want audiences to start seeing that smiling CBS intent.”
In addition, Benson said CBS will start referring to the term “sitcom” as “sit-down” comedy, to distinguish it from the explosion of “stand-up” comedy on other outlets.
“There’s a lot of stand-up comedy,” he said. “But we don’t look at this from the perspective of what comedians do, but from the value we provide our audience almost every day.”
CBS is kicking off the comedy rebrand with an event on Wednesday, September 18 at the NeueHouse in Hollywood (in the same building that was once CBS’s original West Coast headquarters). “CBS Presents: You’re Laughing at CBS, A Night of ‘Sit-Down’ Comedy” will feature “The Neighborhood” star Max Greenfield and “Poppa’s House” star Damon Wayans Jr. introducing an evening of screenings and question and answer sessions.
The “You’re Laughing at CBS” branding will also be shared on-air and on social media, featuring content from the Eye network’s comedy casts. Right now the branding is focused on the four shows, but Benson said this could eventually be expanded to late night and hour-long shows with comedic tropes like “Elsbeth.”
The tag “You’re Laughing at CBS” shares a sensibility with Netflix’s comedic tagline “Netflix is a Joke,” which uses a similar tongue-in-cheek pun.
“Netflix does great marketing, and what they did in terms of stand-up comedy I thought really suited them,” Benson said. “It was a good reminder that sometimes your campaigns need to be as loud and loud as the programming itself.”
“Ghosts” and “George & Mandy’s First Marriage” will both be released on Tuesday, October 17, while “Poppa’s House” and “The Neighborhood” will premiere on Monday, October 21.
In addition, Benson said CBS has marketing plans in place for new series, including Kathy Bates’ “Matlock,” the “NCIS” prequel “NCIS: Origins” and the unscripted entry “The Summit.”
“We have a really great provocative campaign that’s still true to the show ‘Matlock,’ but Kathy Bates is starting to position herself as if she might not be the Matlock you actually expect because there’s such a great twist at the end of the pilot… and with ‘NCIS: Origins’ Leroy Jethro Gibbs is someone that all NCIS fans know, but we really want to go out there and create a sense of mystery around who and what he is.
It’s a year after the Hollywood strikes delayed last year’s TV season, and the presidential election has also distracted audiences, so marketers like Benson know they have a lot of work to do to attract viewers. “It was a super challenge and strategically it was very important for us to bring football back,” he said. “I’m not just talking about the NFL, but we’ve put a lot of effort into bringing back both the Big Ten and the NFL, and then using those as platforms to give us the reach we need to build excitement for the fall to build.”
Here’s a first look at the CBS promo for “You’re Laughing at CBS”: