USA Looking For More Friends In Its Network
When it comes to NBC Universal's cable stepchildren, the Bravo and Sci Fi channels both have a firm grasp on their own identities: the flamboyant gay one, and the self-empowered geek, respectively. Then there's USA Network, which has no idea what it is or where it's supposed to fit in; it's sort of the TV equivalent of that one chick in your high school who came back from summer vacation every year with a new look goth, new wave, ska, raver, whatever yet was never capable of upgrading her perpetually invisible, unpopular status.
The network appears to have all but given up with their latest publicity campaign, "Characters Welcome," which seems like something coughed up like a hairball after an all-night marketing meeting from hell. To make matters worse, they have just introduced an internet component called ShowUsYourCharacter.com, a "social-networking headquarters" where users are welcome to contribute video of themselves being their wacky, charactery selves:
Accompanying the contest will be more than 30 on-air spots showcasing unusual characters from across the country and a grass-roots program in five major U.S. cities featuring entertainment and mobile kiosks where participants can upload their own pictures and video to the site.
Viewers will be able to cast their votes for their favorite character, with the grand-prize winner securing a national on-air campaign on USA, a featured appearance in AMC, Cinemark and Regal Entertainment Group's FirstLook movie preshow and an exclusive Web series.
If you're not sure if you quite measure up to their high "character" benchmark, perhaps a viewing of their new 30-second spot will help: Quadripelegics on a halfpipe, a guy wearing a horse head in an office, basketball playing nuns, and Anthony Michael Hall all qualify. And yet, as cutting edge and off-beat as all of this forced fun is, somehow we're left wondering if a desperate, ripped-off hybrid of MySpace and YouTube can really turn out to be the magic bullet that convinces millions of eyeballs to tune in to USA for anything other than Monk and wrestling.
