Channels tap into the reality of branding

“Queer Eye for the Straight Guy” may have been off the air at Bravo for more than five years, but the highly influential series has never completely winked out over there.

In fact, you could say they’ve built their network around a show that no longer exists.

“The five genres that [“Queer Eye”] embodied — beauty, fashion, food, design, pop culture — those are the tenets of what we are structuring the network and basing our content on,” says network general manager Frances Berwick. “We want our world to be beautiful and glossy, with productions that are beautiful and glossy.”

And if you want beautiful and glossy productions for your beautiful, glossy network, you could do worse than relying on reality television to create it. In the rush to remain relevant and visible among hundreds of other competitors and today’s attention-fragmented audiences, cable channels have recently begun wising up and becoming a 360-degree experience for their viewers. Some may have gone the way of edgy, original programming (paging AMC and FX), but, more often than not, when a cable network decides to do a makeover of its brand, it turns to reality television to make it work.

“Branding is more important now than ever, because there are hundreds of choices for the consumer,” says Daymond John, who judged on reality show “Shark Tank” and recently authored “The Brand Within.”

To John and many other experts in the business, it’s no surprise that networks are using reality shows to brand themselves. For one thing, they give networks a relatively cheap and fast way to personalize programming by showing audiences people they can get to “know.”

“We want to show A&E as offering engrossing, ‘lean-forward’ television,” says Bob DeBitetto, president of A&E and Bio channels. His network has long had a hand in nonfiction programming, but he credits their 2-year-old motto, “real life drama,” as what helped the network truly come into focus for viewers.

“You watch ‘Intervention,’ you are involved,” DeBitetto continues. “Reality programming has a big part in driving that; we were a niche network, and now we’re one of the top five entertainment platforms.”

Fine-tuning programming from “pure documentary service” to straight-up reality television has been part of Discovery Channel’s evolution. Clark Bunting, president and general manager of Discovery, points to Steve Irwin (the late “Crocodile Hunter”) as the catalyst for that change.

“[Irwin’s show] was a pivotal moment for resetting the bar of what reality was about,” he says. “Reality works best when it feels first-person.”

Sister network TLC is about 65% reality, according to President Eileen O’Neill, who explains that non-reality shows just don’t work for their largely female audiences.

“We have dabbled in other formatted approaches and played with contestants rather than characters, and that hasn’t resonated with our audiences,” she says.

An extra benefit with reality television is that many reality show stars are so self-promotional that, as they advertise themselves, they advertise their show and the network — with minimal costs to the channel.

“The stars of ‘ Desperate Housewives’ probably wouldn’t tweet out information on their show, because they know the network handles it,” says John. “But reality show characters take full advantage of Twitter and social media avenues to link their brand divisions together — like the Kardashian family.”

The Kardashians can be found on E!, where this active willingness to advertise is not lost on executives, according to Suzanne Kolb, marketing president for news and online at E! and Style. “Our new strategy with reality is to have stars that are positive ambassadors of our brand,” she says.

Whether any of this makes any difference come Emmy time, however, remains in the air. Programming executives certainly hope so, and A&E’s DeBitetto likes to point to “Intervention’s” 2009 win for reality program.

“That’s a testament to good brand management,” he says. “For us, branding was not just important, it made the difference in having that show break out of the pack and be seen as a leader in the genre.”

All of which means that the strategy of using reality TV shows to shape and sometimes even create an entire network’s vision isn’t likely to go away.

“Brands are interesting,” says “The Apprentice’s” Donald Trump, who knows a thing or two about branding outside and inside the television box. “Some just happen, and others are meticulously created and maintained. But any brand you create requires a long journey to get there. It’s a valuable thing … if you’re lucky and talented enough to establish it.”

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