Discovery
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Promotion
Since 1985, the Discovery Channel has produced some of the most imaginative and effective marketing campaigns in cable television. In 2003, the Discovery Channel launched its largest brand and program marketing campaign ever. The summer-long effort promoted a number of new series and specials with brand segments that spotlighted the new tagline of the network, “Entertain Your Brain.”
Advertising vehicles included four commercials airing on network television news and entertainment programs, as well as cable television outlets, weekly magazines, national and major-market daily newspapers, network and regional radio, Internet sites, and other Discovery Network and internal media outlets. Discovery also refreshed its on-air graphics and packaging, and featured actor Ed Harris as the voice of the campaign.
This traditional marketing effort was coupled with an alternative component centered on “Smarty Pants,” the Entertain Your Brain trivia competition. The competition ran simultaneously in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Visiting city hotspots and coffeehouses, an Entertain Your Brain host and sidekick facilitated trivia gaming, while promoting tune-in and the Discovery Channel brand. The topics ranged from sharks to forensics, from Egypt to engineering, and offered prizes such as T-shirts, visors, and stickers, all featuring the Entertain Your Brain tagline. A companion campaign provided consumers across the country with custom Entertain Your Brain fact guides, complete with quirky facts. In this same vein, the Discovery Channel Entertain Your Brain factoids went wireless. Using text-messaging technology, the tidbits were sent to consumers who opted to receive entertaining factoids via their cell phones.
Guerilla marketing was also conducted around specific Discovery Channel specials and series premieres. For example, during Shark Week, major hotel pools were outfitted with pool-sized decals that cast a shadow of a Great White at the bottom. In addition, to promote the Nefertiti Resurrected premiere, thousands of “missing” posters featuring a silhouette of a bust of Nefertiti were positioned on telephone poles in 11 U.S. markets.
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