CNN: Time to retire the inane "best political team on television" phrase

I'm enjoying the US Presidential race. As a marketer, it is fascinating to see how the candidates position themselves. And as a frequent keynote speaker at conferences, I also enjoy the snippets of candidates speaking on the stump.

Each primary night, I channel surf for hours as the returns come in.

Is it just me, or is CNN's slogan: "The best political team on television" incredibly annoying? I was watching CNN recently for about twenty minutes and I heard Wolf Blitzer utter the inane phrase three times. So I clicked over to MSNBC because it pissed me off so much. A bit later I came back to CNN and he said it again. Yikes! What’s up with that?

A search of CNN transcripts on Dow Jones Factiva reveals that the phrase has been used on air about 200 times in the past 30 days and 16 times on Super Tuesday alone.

A phrase like "The best political team on television" might be OK as an advertising slogan for billboards and magazine ads, because you want people to give CNN a try. But it is incredibly silly for the anchorman to keep saying it on air during the editorial content of a program - we are already watching!

There is no need to coerce viewers into continuing to watch your coverage. Anyone who is into politics enough to watch primary results instead of American Idol or ESPN or something else on TV has already made up their minds about what channels to watch and who has the best coverage. Don't interrupt our enjoyment with advertising in the form of silly catch phrases during the editorial content.

I'll be watching the Wisconsin and Hawaii primary results this evening.

Attention Wolf Blitzer and CNN: It's time to retire that stupid phrase.

Comments

[Jeff]

Most definitely! Down here in Buenos Aires, CNN is the only U.S. news channel I get. So I'm watching it a lot lately. But, man, that phrase is so annoying.

[David Hamm]

CNN is one of my TV-news sources of choice. But I've often wondered how it can substantiate such a bold and inane claim. I don't think it can.

Ironically, this morning CNN's tagline bothered me more than usual because I just read a story on Factiva about Castro resigning when CNN repeated the same story, almost verbatim.

I get much deeper coverage by reading my news on-line and in print. TV news only scratches the surface. Although I'm a Dow Jones employee, I think Dow Jones has a much better news team than CNN (our team has more than 2,000 reporters and includes The Wall Street Journal, Factiva.com, and Dow Jones Newswires.)

By the way, a free trial for Factiva iWorks can be found on www.Factiva.com. It's a great place to get news that you can't find on free news sites such as Google or Yahoo. To get the free trial, look for the words "See what you've been missing" and enter your keyword. In my opinion, if you are not using Factiva, it's worth a try.

[Anne Florenzano]

I'm so glad you've written about this. It drives me nuts, and most of the time it comes out so awkwardly - like they're choking on the words. Somebody dreamed up the line, and the higher ups are insisting they use it ALL THE TIME. ugh.

[Bob Zagami]

What? People still watch CNN? I stopped watching those morons ten years ago. They have to repeat the phrase to make themselves think they are still good at reporting the news. Give me Fox News any day/night of the week. I also think Fox has the best new technology being deployed to gather and report on the election results. As a political junkie that still remembers when they posted the results on blackboards - this is great stuff!

[Lucas W]

How true! That phrase is beyond annoying when in comes out of Blitzer's mouth. A few nights ago Lou Dobbs actually started laughing when he was forced to utter it. It's stuff like this that gives marketing and marketers a bad rap. "I'm already here... Just give me great content, not a silly pitch that only serves to annoy me".

[Scott Hepburn]

Couldn't agree more, David. Wolf Blitzer isn't doing his credibility any favors with all that hyperbolic self-promotion. Did you see his post after the Jan. 31 debates? I'm a news junkie like you, but even I get turned off by all the posturing and positioning of the news outlets during primary season.

[Erin T]

MSNBC is just as bad they're "the best political team on cable." Annoying.

[Lisa Anderson]

They should really know that their intended audience is smart enough to notice brainwashing attempts...who were the ad wizards that came up with THAT ONE?

[Steve Yastrow]

One other new (or not-so-new) rule of marketing and PR: Just because you say it, doesn't mean people believe it.

Isn't it obvious when a marketer doesn't respect your intelligence?

[Justin Lockridge]

Isn't CNN just using every opportunity available to brand themselves?

I think "Head=On - apply directly to the forehead" is the most annoying phrase on earth, but it works.

[Randy Vaughn]

I totally agree...I heard this so many times on Super Tuesday - I'm dreading it again Super Tuesday II (although I usually am a Fox News fan, I do like CNN's graphics better...alot more fun toys on their political coverage).
-Randy

[John Anderson]

Its amazing the extent that companies will go at time to make a phrase catchy. Its as if they intend on us to hear it so many times that we will start saying out of habit. I can definately say "the best political team on television" does not stick in my brain and actually make me avoid the news channel.

[Todd Krieger]

David - I couldn't agree more. When it comes to Wolf Blitzer's credibility, he isn't doing himself any favors by consistently mentioning this phrase. I'm actually curious to see how this trend plays out as we get closer to the general election. With CNN, MSNBC and FOX all competing for viewers, I suspect we'll hear it more rather than less.