Start Here (ABC slogan)
ABC: Start Here is the slogan currently used for the American Broadcasting Company during the 2007–2008 television season. This is ABC's first slogan to appear along with the ABC logo itself since the "We Love T.V." campaign used from 1998 trough 2000. New programs that debuted during this season included Pushing Daisies, Samantha Who, Dirty Sexy Money, and Private Practice.
Campaign Synopsis
The Start Here campaign was launched in May 2007 in New York. The company wanted to re-image themselves not only just to television, but also to the internet, home video, mobile phone, and the increasing advent of podcasting. According to ABC Entertainment programming cheif Anne Sweeney, "This campaign reinforces the message that great TV starts with ABC, no matter how or where you watch it. We're inviting viewers to start with us and giving them an easy way to stay connected with our programming across various platforms."
For the new campaign, ABC did away with the streaks and sparkles theme that was used in the programming bumpers and idents for about two years. The ABC circle logo had a dramatic face lift as it looked glossier and shinier than ever before. The idents featured four circles similar to the ABC logo seeming to revolve. One circle had a television set, another had an iPod, another had a mobile device, and the last one had a personal computer on it. As the circles rotated, a ribbon swished around the four circles (similar to the CBSpirit idents twenty years earlier). Finally the circles merged into one showing a play button which subsequently changes into the ABC logo. The slogan "Start Here" fades left to right beside the logo while what appears to be liquid or water floating around the ABC logo as it disappears.
During the promos for entertainment shows, the ABC logo would suddenly "swing" from the left and rest itself atop of the show's intertitle. Bubbles of liquid then float past the logos and ribbons swooshed around in the background as the words "Start Here" appeared. The color of the ribbon varied from show to showm.
ABC also released a thirty second promo featuring shows such as Ugly Betty, Lost, Desperate Housewives, Grey's Anatomy, and Brothers & Sisters. It prominently featured the upcoming show Dirty Sexy Money. As the ad winds down a sample of the song "American Television" by Ben Lee is heard. The promo concluded with the ident described above.
To coincide with the image change and the promotion, ABC began using a redesigned logo bug on the SD and HD feeds, featuring the new glossier ABC logo which debuted alongside the new "Start Here" campaign. Another significance of this promo was that it crated an image change in the news bumpers. While it did not have the same effects used in primetime programming sometimes the ABC news logo appeared in similar fashion at the bottom of the screen. The ABC News ident unlike the regular one had the ABC logo revealed via water floating to uncover it. A blue ribbon swerves past the logo from the right bottom corner into the distance. The familiar ABC news fanfare is heard, but the "Start Here" tagline does not appear and no announcer is not heard.
Use by Local Stations
As with many other ABC image campaigns, many ABC affiliates have adopted portions of the Start Here look in promos and bumpers in some way, shape, or form. Some stations like WFAA-TV use the glossier ABC logo in their promotions attached to their usual logo, and some stations like WISN-TV use a customized version of the Start Here ident