It looks like SS+K (whose site is shamefully under construction in a very 1998 way), has been leading the effort to brand MSNBC as a "Fuller Spectrum of News". Though it's alluding to the peacock logo MSNBC inherited from its NBC parentage, there's clearly an allusion to having a broader focus of coverage than Fox News, too.
The lame part is the showcase at the "Spectrum" site, though. There's a thing called "Spectrum TV", which I thought might be an interesting visualization of their new initiative, but is basically just a trailer showing off the colors of the rainbow. There's a screensaver, but I'm not really going to download an executable onto my system so that MSNBC can advertise itself. And there's a game "NewsBreaker", which I think is just a Breakout clone with headlines. That's about two decades too late, and you can't even play it yet anyway. They've got a long way to catch up to the addictiveness of Desktop Tower Defense.
And then of course the whole thing is wrapped up in a Flash movie so I can't link to any of these elements anyway. It'd all be forgiveable if the lettering in the new logo wasn't so wonky-looking. Hello, design blogs, help me out here!
]]>The marketing campaign is intended to signal the beginning of an entire relaunch, the [very meager] first step of which is the logo redesign. You will see the site change dramatically (very dramatically) in coming several months. I think by the end of summer you'll see us doing stuff that you can't find elsewhere.
I agree: right now, some of the marketing material looks weird without the context of a future you can't see. It was one of those things where the timing of various pieces didn't match perfectly, but I hope the end effect will be noticed.
Also, I'd be curious what you think of other parts of the marketing campaign, which includes tv and print. For instance, check the ad in the most recent New Yorker, opposite Talk of the Town. I think there's something kinda edgy about it, but, as with all marketing campaigns, not everyone likes it.
-Rex (Exec. Producer at MSNBC.com and that Fimoculous guy)
I do know, all too well, how hard it can be to have all the components of an initiative all launch at the same time, and I am definitely curious about the "spectrum of news" idea, so I'll be keeping my mind (and eyes) open. Thanks for the info.
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