*Lessons to Learn from NBC’s Late Night Fiasco*
Anyone that has picked up a newspaper (do people still do that??) or logged
onto their Google News or any source of news on the internet has seen two
news stories dominating the American media; a) the catastrophic earthquake
in Haiti that at current tally has killed at least 50,000 human beings and
left at least 3,000,000 people homeless and b) the ongoing drama that is the
NBC debacle in the late night. Now, it may seem unsightly to even put these
two stories side-by-side but that is just what the American mainstream media
has been doing over the past week. This unarguable fact begs many
questions. The first question to ask is how did this decision by NBC turn
into such a fiasco?
There are several mistakes (or gaffes) that Jeff Zucker and the other
executives at NBC made that could have easily been avoided if they would
have paid heed to three basic principles: know your product, be accountable,
and be transparent. I can’t claim that these are the only three lessons
that team NBC should learn to avoid the PR nightmare they are in now, but
with confidence, I CAN claim that their collateral damage would have been
minimized had they followed these basic tenets for business.
*Know Your Product*
Would the American public made a big stink over NBC’s programming schedule
if they had moved 30 Rock to a different time slot in their schedule? The
answer is no. Their are two major differences between the Late Night Show
with Conan O’Brien and 30 Rock. A) Late Night is on every week night and
therefore touches the lives of millions of viewers with greater frequency
and impact than a scripted sitcom that airs once a week. B) Conan and all
of his late night contemporaries speak directly to the American viewership.
O’Brien, in fact is famous for using the audience (or the camera) as a
foil. This personal connection that O’Brien has with his loyal audience was
greatly underestimated by Team Zucker at NBC.
For better or worse, Jay Leno is perceived by most as a corporate shill
hocking Doritos chips (“Crunch all you want, we’ll make more!”) despite the
fact that he has a multi-gizillion dollar contract with NBC. Legendary
comedian, Bill Hicks (may he rest in peace) once
said of Jay Leno that the
Tonight Show with Jay Leno was a “cultural train
wreck.” No one can argue that his bland (in this writer’s humble opinion)
format show worked. Leno’s numbers were always good and he worked the
affiliate glad-handing and schmoozing like a politician whenever he
headlined in an affiliate’s city or town. But his audience skews older and
more apathetic than O’Brien’s.
The other thing about O’Brien, he’s smart. Let me repeat and emphasize -
he’s real smart. You don’t graduate high school as valedictorian, become
the president of the Harvard Lampoon, one of the youngest writers on the
Simpsons (when it was still funny – O’Brien wrote the ‘Monorial” episode),
and get your own late night show at the age of 30 without having the skillz
to pay the billz. Underestimating O’Brien himself and his fanbase was a
miscalculation of gigantic proportions…and shows NBC didn’t know their
product.
Conan has a loyal following of younger, upwardly mobile citizens who
appreciate the risks he takes and the fact that O’Brien, unlike Leno, admits
when he’s wrong or when something on his show doesn’t work….a perfect
segue into the next tenet, accountability.
*The Buck Stops with the Zuck(er)*
Ever since the story about the NBC Late Night fiasco story broke
on January 7, 2010, Jeff Zucker and NBC have made all the wrong moves.
Firstly, Zucker seemd to deflect this enormous decision to Jeff Gaspin, NBC
Entertainment Chief. Now, I am sure that Gaspin had something to do with
the decision but the buck needs to stop with Zucker. I am not trying to
demonize the guy, but pinning this thing on anyone other than himself feels
sleazy and has further alienated NBC from its viewership. Instead of trying
to SHOA (save his own a–), Zucker should have admitted his company’s
miscalculation, apologized to O’Brien publicly and in private and asked for
cooperation to help the network out of its hole. The best way to handle a
communications crisis is to be honest about it, take responsibility and own
it. This leads to the third tenet – transparency.
*Openly Own It*
One of the biggest mistakes that NBC made was its underhanded handling of
the situation. Instead of having closed door meetings and shirking from
responsibility, NBC should have told their story openly. Sounds like
accountability? It is in a way. The more companies in today’s marketplace
break down the fourth wall and show their cards, the better off they tend to
be. CEO Jeff Bezos, made an open and humble
apology to the public. In it, Bezos stated:
Our “solution” to the problem was stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of
line with our principles. It is wholly self-inflicted, and we deserve the
criticism we’ve received. We will use the scar tissue from this painful
mistake to help make better decisions going forward, ones that match our
mission.
With deep apology to our customers,
Jeff Bezos
Founder & CEO
Amazon.com