Paramount wants consumers to know that it’s popular. Really popular.
The company, led by CEO Bob Bakish, on Wednesday is rolling out a new corporate branding campaign with the tagline “Popular is Paramount.” The campaign is meant to highlight some of the content produced by the media and entertainment giant.
“Anchored in research-backed insights, the campaign vibrantly captures the essence of ‘Popular’ with eye-catching declarations of content leadership in all genres and formats,” the company said in a description of the campaign. It also uses the Paramount stars (which normally circle the mountain at the center of the company’s logo) to create a sort of halo around key characters.
Related Stories
Among the content featured in the campaign is Paramount Network smash Yellowstone (“Popular is the most watched show on TV,” the tagline says, in front a cowboy hat-clad Kevin Costner); as well as Top Gun: Maverick (“Popular is the biggest movie in America in 2022,” the tagline blares, featuring Tom Cruise in full flight suit). Other programming noted in the campaign includes NFL football, Paw Patrol, and the Star Trek franchise.
“‘Popular is Paramount’ is a celebration of our company, content and creative excellence,” said Bakish in a statement. “It simply captures what we do best — giving audiences what they want, with smart strategies that maximize the reach and power of our unified portfolio to successfully market and distribute IP all around the world at scale. Our content engine is driving huge and undeniable momentum, underscoring our ability to produce big, mass market hits across genres, demographics, formats and platforms.”
The marketing and branding campaign will run on Paramount-owned platforms (think Paramount+, CBS, Comedy Central, etc) as well as other paid media. It will also include billboards in Los Angeles and New York. The campaign is slated to run through the summer.
Paramount may not have the scale in streaming that Netflix or Disney has, but it has been trying to carve out a different niche than those competitors. In September, Bakish, speaking at a Goldman Sachs conference, was asked about a deal to give Walmart+ subscribers complimentary Paramount+ subscriptions, a pool of millions of potential subs.
“I think everybody wanted that deal,” Bakish said of the Walmart partnership, adding that Walmart picked Paramount because CEO Doug McMillon said “we are like them.”
“You look at our content, we are not a coastal company, we didn’t win a lot of Emmys, we represent the masses,” Bakish said. “They thought our content lined up very well with them.”
With the new campaign, that perspective is now front and center.
“We are experts in telling stories that resonate with every audience, everywhere, and ‘Popular’ is a distinctive identity that connects our legacy to our future,” added Julia Phelps, Paramount’s CMO and head of communications.
