17 Comments Add your own

• 1. Liz  |  June 28th, 2008 at 8:52 pm

  How participatory and Web 2.0! A little too Christmas-y, though.

• 2. Anonymous  |  June 28th, 2008 at 9:18 pm

  XMAS?

  There were various chimes being used almost to the beginning of the age to get our attention during the station ID. The one that got the most recognition, because it was meant to indicate an emergency bulletin or during World War II, were the four note (descending) G-E-C-C. Legend has it the last time those chimes were sounded were to announce that NBC was about to change ownership to GE, 1985.

• 3. Anonymous  |  June 28th, 2008 at 10:57 pm

  And according to Wikipedia, there’s also We Are CBS, Fox On, and Get Into The CW, which would have been particularly funny had CBS/Warner Bros. gone with The WC instead.

• 4. Anonymous  |  June 29th, 2008 at 1:22 am

  Ugh, it looks like a really annoying campaign will accompany this:

  http://www.brightcove.tv/title.jsp?title=1574710330

• 5. wtf?  |  June 29th, 2008 at 8:26 am

  just another 1.0 marketer trying to ‘revolutionize’ with a stupid brand slogan.

  brand slogans mean nothing now UNLESS you deliver on it. Just saying ‘chime in’ doesn’t mean jack unless you make that central to everything.

• 6. David  |  June 29th, 2008 at 12:02 pm

  Wow. This is the lamest thing I’ve seen in a long time. “Chime In”? Is that the best they’ve got? They have a chance to reach millions with a powerful branding message and they think their strongest asset is their three-tone chime?

  I’ll go a step further than wtf?: not only is it useless, it’s annoying.

  God, are networks *trying* to push people away? Ugh!

• 7. Charles  |  June 29th, 2008 at 12:06 pm

  That video felt like a minute from Sesame Street. Especially the part in the subway where those people were holding up those letters. Ugh. It isn’t enough that the network devotes itself to terrible reality television and programming that rarely gets them respect or ratings. But now they do something that would be lame, for any network, even for current_tv? Terrible.

• 8. Anonymous  |  June 29th, 2008 at 2:47 pm

  Ok, I’m the person who found it, but it looks like something one guy who does promos for NBC uploaded. I don’t expect this to get on the air.

• 9. Anonymous  |  June 29th, 2008 at 2:48 pm

  Also, it’s described as “Samples of possible user submitted NBC ‘Chimes’,” which suggests a feature of the Chime In campaign will be calls for UGC.

• 10. Anonymous  |  June 29th, 2008 at 5:58 pm

  Remember UPN is OOOPIN?

  Something like that.

• 11. Gorman  |  June 29th, 2008 at 9:33 pm

  And does it bug anyone else that when the peacock feathers play the notes at the end of each bit, the last note is on the wrong feather? It needs to be on the 4th from the left instead of the 3rd. Is it just me? It is? Oh. …Withdrawn.

• 12. Anonymous  |  June 30th, 2008 at 5:30 am

  @David…Actually, after 80 years the chimes ARE the one common thing tied to NBC history and there are people who have CRITIQUED the best and “worst” examples. Long after the radio network folded the chimes became an integral part of the NBC identity. Think back to the first color IDs–three chimes N B C.

  The peacock went away for about a dozen years, replaced by the NBC “snake” animation and then an N logo that they took flak over because it was a copyrighted design of another small PBS? network so the added Peacock v.3 and then trimmed it to 6 feathers and finally got rid of the N altogether.

  The chimes never fully went away. My favorite version of the NBC News Radio sounder was used in the early to mid seventies…it just burned through the AM airwaves. It buzzes whereas the 1968 souped up organ CBS has replaced around 2000 with a poor facsimile howled at you–both were classics. John Williams’ “The Mission” killed the chimes at NBC News except at TODAY but the movie themes usually had them.

  In case you didn’t notice, NBC hooked up with Universal to add properties they could push to a younger audience as well as the kids of the boomers (MY BUNCH) and while they’ve had some notable stiffs, some of the more interesting shows have been reinvented classics (American Gladiators) and a cable TV chestnut called Nashville Star.

  Of course you realize that I think putting Alice Cooper on Pink Lady with Jeff in 1980 was probably the neatest thing NBC ever did (1980). that wasn’t a weekend of Monitor.

  @Gorman I have no idea but is it one one the singular feathers that ‘plucks’ the show ID and upcoming show graphics out and closes the titles again? THAT was ingenius! NBC has no slouches in the graphic arts dept.

• 13. David  |  June 30th, 2008 at 7:30 am

  Back @ Anonymous: sure, they’ve had the chimes for years. I don’t think that qualifies it as a strong branding campaign.

  What exactly are they trying to tell us? What exactly am I supposed to take away? That they are the reliable news leaders when it counts? That their programming is both enjoyable and personally rewarding? That they are the best at something?

  Nope.

  They went with: our network has a recognizable three-tone chime you aren’t gonna find on any other station.

  If that is putting their best foot forward, we should all have no doubts that the industry is out of touch with consumer needs.

• 14. JT  |  June 30th, 2008 at 8:10 am

  Wow. All the sudden we’re not only web gurus, but marketing geniuses, as well. We sure are smart.

• 15. tdc  |  June 30th, 2008 at 10:26 am

  i’m waiting for the 4-chime version for NBBC.

  yes, we are smart.

• 16. Anonymous  |  June 30th, 2008 at 10:28 am

  dang, that last comment was suppose to be posted as “Anonymous”… wouldn’t want to get served you know.

• 17. Chimes  |  September 22nd, 2008 at 9:55 pm

  Great article on the history of the NBC chimes at the above url.

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