AMC Rolls Out 'Something More'

As AMC prepares to transition from the zombie hordes of post-apocalyptic Georgia to the emotionally stunted suits of late-‘60s Madison Avenue, the network on Sunday night made a somewhat less abrupt shift in its on-air branding. In a five-second bumper that aired immediately before the 9 p.m. EDT Season 3 finale of The Walking Dead, AMC took the wraps off a new logo and tagline. “AMC: Something More” replaces the four-year-old “Story Matters Here,” which was adopted as the network looked to herald itself as a home for original scripted fare. Now that zeitgeist series such as Mad Men, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead have cemented AMC’s status as one of television’s premiere programming outlets, the network appears to have outgrown the old tagline. Whereas “Story Matters Here” was designed to bridge AMC’s drama series and its movie library, “Something More” is meant to speak to the network’s promise to deliver shows that defy expectations. In some ways, the new tagline is an echo of a certain premium network’s hoary old humblebrag, “It’s Not TV. It’s HBO.” “‘Something More’ speaks to the idea that we’re going to go a little deeper, and we’re going to take a twist where you don’t necessarily expect it,” Linda Schupack, AMC’s evp of marketing, told Adweek, adding that future executions will treat the “More” as something of a placeholder. “The idea is that we are ‘Something Innovative,’ ‘Something Engaging,’ ‘Something Immersive.’ All of which then rolls up to ‘Something More,’” Schupack said. “Because the thing about this brand is, we are eclectic, we are not just one thing.” Along with the new tag, the network has also made some subtle adjustments to its logo. Gone are the three letters set in Rockwell and surrounded by a simple rectangle; in their place stands a bar of burnished gold out of which the “AMC” has been punched, as if it rendered in a metal shop. The font has been changed to Replica and the shape of the “A” was tweaked slightly in order to better harmonize with the other letters. Schupack said the amber and gold color palette is meant to evoke a premium product, a nod to the critical and popular acclaim that have greeted the network’s original series. “We wanted it to feel accessible, warm, welcoming—we didn’t want it to be a cold luxury good,” she said. While the gold logo represents AMC’s Middle C, as it were, each show sounds a different note. As such, the key art for the individual series will be presented in an array of other tones—greens, blues, reds, etc. If the switch isn’t as profound as that of four years ago, it’s because the AMC of 2013 is now an established brand. In a sense, the network no longer feels as if it needs to grab viewers by the lapels. “It’s not a repositioning of our brand,” Schupack said. “It’s all meant to reflect a new, refined expression of what we are.”

Convergent TV

AMC Rolls Out 'Something More'

Cable net takes the wraps off new tagline, logo

Anthony Crupi

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Anthony Crupi