How To Save CBS Evening News AND Katie Couric

Folks, about six months ago I wrote about how it was obvious that Couric was all wrong for CBS Evening News and vice versa!  The Marketing Doctor based his judgement on brand basics and he has been proven right –if only it always worked out that way!!!  In the last few days there’s been a lot of coverage about Couric planning an early departure, the most comprehensive is probably this from the New York Times.  The writing is clearly on the wall and now it is only a matter of time before Couric departs the anchor desk!

Yesterday, I spoke about the situation in branding terms on Fox.  Click here to see the video.   But I want to sum things up in a brief, forward-looking “how to” … forward-looking because after this whole marriage is broken up there are still going to be two terrific brands in need of a brandover!  Couric and CBS Evening News!

So here it goes. Couric is a great brand who made a mistake by forgetting her brand.  Couric’s warmth, intelligence, friendliness and, yes, perkiness was perfect for the morning, perfect for the format and loved by her viewers –mostly female, 25-49, and starting their day with a Today Show boost!  Couric can do serious, thoughtful and analytical –but only in small doses or else it buries her truly great brand characteristics!  Her brand was that of a morning interviewer, a free talker, someone who engaged a wide range of subjects and guests bringing energy, lifetstyle interest and more to people as they started their day!

But CBS Evening News is all about serious, thoughtful and analytical.  In fact, I’d go so far as to say an even bigger mistake was made by the higher ups at CBS who thought that they could forget the brand essentials of their own show in their haste to spike its ratings.  They should have never even thought about using Couric!  But I think what happened is they only saw her likeability and forgot her brand!

So where are we now, Tantillo?  Basically Couric should go back to a format that uses her brand to the fullest: a talk show.  My suggestion would be mornings, but the important thing whatever time of day is a format that taps her combination of warmth, intelligence, et cetera.  And in re-building the brand, I think she has to come “clean” … that is, she’s got to reassure her target market (those viewers who were once so loyal to her) that she’s really back and that the News was a mistake that she won’t make again!  And, please, Katie, don’t even think about taking on the Larry King role.  Nighttime just isn’t your brand!  Be true to your brand and don’t forget your target market –they’re not there!

As for the Evening News…  This is a harder question.  The fact is that the Evening News brand might just be a dinosaur and that nothing is going to stop that dinosaur from going extinct.  After all, even great brands can die!  CBS News seems to be moving in that direction with reports that they’ll be outsourcing some of their reporting to CNN –hard to believe that this is the network once home to Edward R. Murrow (another great brand by the way!)! 

But my advice to the powers-that-be would be to give the Evening News brand another shot!  Do what they do in packaged goods land –a lot of market research with a lot of choices.  Let’s do anchor try outs –see what the target market wants to see and then give it to them (after all, before Couric, fill-in Bob Schieffer actually started gaining in the ratings war)!!!

And, remember, it’s always easier when you keep your brand in mind!