NBC Proud As A Peacock Image Campaign

[67nairb]

The NBC Peacock was dropped by NBC in in the early or mid Seventies. But in 1979 the Peacock came back to NBC and this so far for good. The Peacock has been the logo for for 32 consecutives years.

[efan2011]

The only shows that were worth a fuck were Little House, Different Strokes, Facts of Life ( Hate the show but the girl who played Blair was/is hot as hell), and SNL. But NBC being dumb as the were then, fucked up that show too

[landrykkb]

CBS were only contested by ABC in this era,because NBC didn't stand a chance.

[landrykkb]

From about the mid-to-late 80's,NBC were solid where sitcoms were concerned,such as Cheers,Cosby Show Family Ties,Night Court,Silver Spoons,Punky Brewster,etc.

[hilarioph]

Thinks because we do not have cable

back in the 80's in the Philippines :-(

[hilarioph]

This is before the be there station id right?

[Boulton26]

@hilarioph

Yes. The Be There campaign was in 1983-84.

[snopbox]

what a groovy song!!! I was born 3 years later....but the 70s were so cool!!!

[kstarpictures]

You could tell that in a lot of ways, NBC was trying to emulate the "Still The One" image of ABC from two years prior. ABC was tops at the time this was made, you know.

[hamursh]

Proud As A Peacock? I don't think so! Seriously, I don't care about TV ratings, I just wanna say they did the best they could.

[enigma413]

They should bring back the bird from the late 60's.

[alexelliottwelch]

I'm viewer number 20,300!

[EwingOil]

In the 80s they had the crazy "N" and the peacock combined

[godgundam10]

Maybe NBC should bring this back. They were on the verge of closing in 1980. But Brandon Tartikoff managed to get NBC on top. That won't happen this time. Not after the whole Leno/Conan fiasco. The humane thing to do is to close down NBC and sell the TV stations it owns. NBC has no future.

[NowhereMan1966]

@godgundam10

Brandon Tartikoff was a true genius. He left NBC prematurely and died way too young.

[godgundam10]

@NowhereMan1966

That he did. But he left the Peacock in the capable hands of Warren Littlefield and NBC was number one once again throughout the 90s with hits like Friends, Seinfeld, Frasier and ER. NBC has none of those now and has no one capable of NBC great again and no one will come this time.

[buyandby]

@godgundam10 Oh yeah like that's gonna happen. It matters not what mis-steps NBC makes in programming. They are Universal, they are GE, airplane engines, hospital million dollar machines, they are MSNBC, they are anything they want to be. Anyone who thinks that they can end up nowhere, without that being what they wanted, is pretty naive.

[godgundam10]

@buyandby

I was referring to NBC itself, not NBC Universal GE or MSNBC. I was saying that NBC itself will soon suffer the same fate as DuMont or UPN.

[LNSmithee]

Wow - at 1:12 they sing "Going out to set some trends" as they show pretty people getting down at the roller disco. Try describing that part to someone who hasn't seen it; chances are they'll think you're joking.

At this point in NBC's history, they had lured ABC exec Fred Silverman to duplicate the juggernaut he had built on the foundation of "Happy Days," "Laverne & Shirley," "Three's Company", "Charlie's Angels," etc. He gave NBC "Supertrain." They weren't proud, they were panicked.

[waveali]

Wow that was so horrible you would think it was some type of satire skit on SNL. Didn't Don Imus get canned for playing a parody of this campaign on his radio show.

[LNSmithee]

SNL actually began a program with the "Proud As a Peacock" bump-in slightly altered: "Smart as a Peacock."

[Ediva75]

NBC SUCKS and it's a good thing they weren't nostalgic for bringing back slogans!! They would be laughed at bringing this ish back!! LMAO

[frankd1965]

the peacock came back in 1980. still there after 30 years

[SuperAV21]

DYK: da 1979-80 TV season push'd da 1980s 4ward.

[SuperAV21]

DYK stands fo' "Did You Know?"

[tsntana]

I think the only 'current' show in that montage was The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

[efan64]

It's also weird that hey didn't include SNL in the montage as well, which was NBC's number one show at the time, with Carson close behind.

[pcimin00]

all that and harper vallet pta as well

[EwingOil]

NBC 1979-80 season - Last place in the ratings, first place in our hearts!

[beckigreen]

Wasn't this Proud as a Peacock campaign Fred Silverman's idea?

[donjabroni]

Well they did had Diff'rent Strokes back then... But that was it!

[LNSmithee]

What's hilarious about the breakthrough success of "Diff'rent Strokes" was that KRON, San Francisco's NBC affiliate at the time, gave up on the network on Friday nights at 8:00 and broadcast - wait for it - rodeo. I'm NOT making that up.

In SF we HEARD about "Diff'rent Strokes" but didn't actually SEE it until the professional rodeo season was over.

[AaronApolloCamp]

I find it quite funny to promote a TV network by showing clips of programs from days long gone by. That would be like NBC running a promo claiming that "We aired Cosby and Seinfeld back in the day, Just Watch Us Now!"

[TheKid965]

In defense of NBC on that point, they weren't the only ones doing this. CBS also used to make a point of playing up its heritage in its own image campaigns around that time. The thought process at the time being, I can only presume, that emphasizing that a network's been around for a long time somehow paints a picture of dependability.

The only thing "dependable" about NBC in 1979 was its placement in the Neilsens - dead last.

[HowieP]

I just heard Luther Vandross!

[railgeek404]

I'd like to have that neon peacock.

[retromike]

NBC 1979-80 fall season would be even worse if CBS gave them "Struck By Lighting" and "The Last Resort"...rofl

[collegeman1988]

NBC Sucks! I think that they should bring this promo back again with the disco music. What's stopping them after they tried to bring back the Bionic Woman and Knight Rider and making Conan O'Brien the host of The Tonight Show. NBC -- Smart As A Peacock!

[narutomustgonow]

Am I hallucinating or some of the singers in this jingle sound familiar (Patti Austin, Luther Vandross?)

[HowieP]

You're not hallucinating! That's them.

[MeInTX]

I'm amused that the campaign started with 30 seconds of clips from long-gone NBC shows. That's like NBC today saying "Hey, we used to have Friends and Seinfeld! Watch us now!"

[dsneybuf]

What makes it worse is that Walt Disney did the clip at 0:03 just to demonstrate the contrast between B&W and color, but the fact it's entirely B&W here ruins the contrast.

[EwingOil]

Don't forget about Frasier, Cheers, Cosby Show, Family Ties, Fresh Prince and all the other great shows that are no longer on NBC anymore! They might as well bring back that campaign for today because they are headed in that direction again

[Down10]

Didn't SNL do a parody of this with "Smart as a Peacock"?

[kascnef82]

Nope. There was a radio parody that was on the Don Imus show which was recorded in late 1979 in response to the dismal 1979-1980 season. SNL did a parody of the 1981-82 season called "Our Pride is Aging".

[tvnutboy]

Actually, Down10 is right, it was a bumper that aired at the beginning of the 1979 Season Premiere with Steve Martin. And in 1981, the parody was "Our Age is Showing" with a dilapidated "Proud N" as the logo.

And yes, before you ask, I am a TV Geek and proud of it!

[Kitsuneranger]

It would be cool if anyone put up the "Our Age Is Showing" thing here

[tomgalicia]

Apparently if your last name is Silverman your destiny is to fuck up NBC...they'll come back though, networks never seem to stay at the top or bottom forever, although it is sad that their sister cable network USA sometimes has better programming than NBC itself

[kascnef82]

Don't forget Sci-Fi (Syfy) as well as Hulu. That's where the money is.

[tomgalicia]

How could I forget those 2?

[Retroscope200X]

Shagadelic.

[TiMeCapsule123]

Great vid! ( :

[Lakeview312]

I remember the late 70s and early 80s were bad times for NBC...most of their shows sucked then and they really didn't start becoming popular again until the mid 80s or so when Cosby Show and Golden Girls, among other shows, started airing.

[rurbert]

...one more thing...love the peacock...HATE the network. I'll stick with YOU TUBE.

[rurbert]

Ever notice how networks now a days market their shows as a TELEVISION EVENT!!! TV sucks BIG time! And all the sex and violence in the world is not going to save it.

[deadpool2099]

HAHA I jerked off repeatedly to the bikini chicks at :44. Not sure why now but I guess I had limited access to stroke shots in them days. Thank God for VHS.

[Ecossaise]

I remember this ! I think one of the singers (when the male voice sings) is Luther Vandross.

[kdizzle79]

It is!

[uhf001]

However, ratings should not be the metric to determine if a Network should feel pride for its programming. St Elsewhere never finished better than 49th in the prime time ratings.

If the networks concentrated once again on quality, maybe we would see more network promos like this again. It seems that with todays over the top melodramas and mildly farcical sitcoms, the networks do not have much to be "proud" of.

[uhf001]

If you notice most of the images are from NBC of the past, to mostly to convey nostalgia.

There was very little new or worthwhile to come for the 78-79 season, and the fact that they do not display any upcoming shows demonstrates that they do not feel very proud of the new season.

[kargaroc386]

that was on purpose.  NBC sucked back then (but not as much as now, now they are just bullshit, which means less current local news opens from the affiliates on YT)

[devswartz]

This would rank among the best image campaigns of all time if it weren't for its pointlessness and terrible, terrible irony. Just who is proud of being in last place in anything? And secondly, how many people stop watching a network because they got rid of a friggin' logo?

But despite having an idea doomed to fail, NBC received a fantastic jingle from the same company who would later produce "Budweiser--This is Beer", among tons of others. Catchy, fun, just great execution all the way around.

[essentialeugene]

NBC did well in the early 1970s.

[jroyal84]

Diff'rent Strokes was the only sitcom that was a hit that upcoming fall season ranking @ # 27.

[Chowchillah]

This was back when NBC was thrown into last place. And you have someone to blame - Fred Silverman!

[godgundam10]

True. But NBC got their groove back thanks to Brandon Tartikoff and by 1985, NBC was number one again and would stay there until 2004 and then fell to last AGAIN after losing Friends and Fraiser. At least they don't have to worry about a boycott of the Olympics this year. But history repeats itself at NBC...

[tvnutboy]

You got that right, Only today, aside from the Olympics, NBC continues to slide, all under Jeff Zucker & Ben SILVERMAN's watch (No relation, but an interesting coincidence.)

[godgundam10]

Maybe NBC should make a rule saying that anyone with the last name of Silverman shouldn't be allowed to work there.

[natemarroquin]

I'd love to see the 1980 Network Version of "Proud as a Peacock!"

[disneyfan85]

Hey look, at 00:03, it's Walt Disney!

[Chowchillah]

R.I.P. Walt Disney

Without you, the world would suck.

[danf62465]

This is one of my favorite network identity campaign productions of all time.

[kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE]

I could never stand that ugly 'N' that the network replaced the original Peacock with. What the **** was NBC thinking.

Long live THE BIRD!

[davemock]

This campaign by the way inspired one of my favorite "Tonight Show" moments, on a live broadcast commemorating Johnny Carson's 17th anniversary as MC. The intro shows a papier-mache rendering of the peacock. Cue to the jingle "NBC-Proud as a Peacock." And then - a gunfire blast that blows the peacock's feathers off. The audience was howling.

[albinolucario]

@kimberlyKfnOphiEAGLE They got rid of it because it was needed mainly to introduce shows in color but since most everyone had a color tv set in the early 70's they didn't need it so they got rid of it in '75. Of course, hey brought it back in 1980 and made it the current logo in '86

[Yesimustbestupid2]

Does anyone have the vid. of "Saturday Night Live's" 1980 takeoff of this promo, "NBC Smart As A Peacock"? (I remember rolling on the floor when SNL aired that back when I was 16). It only aired once on NBC, & it really smarted for SNL to do that to it's own network (but everyone at that time, I think in May 1980, knew how bad NBC was doing in the ratings & President Carter's boycotting of the Summer Olympics weren't helping).

[jaybee1973jaybee]

The pole vaulter and the gymnast must have been a subtle promotion for the 1980 summer Olympic games in Moscow, which were to be broadcast on NBC-TV until the U.S. boycott was announced.

[JeffATL]

Hey, my man! THIS is the type of "NBC Proud As A Peacock" Promo that I was looking for! THANK you, man! Do you have any local versions of this promo (e.g., one for WSB-TV in Atlanta, WKYC-TV in Cleveland, KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, WMAQ-TV in Chicago, WNBC-TV in New York, etc.)? I am from Atlanta, and WSB-TV, back in 1979, was an NBC affiliate. It is NOW an ABC affiliate. I would GREATLY appreciate it if you have a local version of this promo from WSB-TV.

[AJ0880]

WKYC in Cleveland had a local version of NBC's Proud as a Peacock version one (1979) and version two (1980).

WFMJ in Youngstown had a local version of this promo as well.

[Hopmans23]

And in 1980 ATN7 Sydney would use this as the base for their "Channel 7's Proud in Sydney" campaign.

[sarolevon]

Luther Vandross and Patti Austin on vocals. Luther might have helped with the arrangements

[bdjazz67]

I've been looking for this ad. Thanks for sharing. I was a 6th or 7th grader when it originally aired. I only remember one little instant from the commercial; those two women in bikinis rolling over on the peacock towel. :)

[jaybee1973jaybee]

The pole vaulter -- a possible subliminal promotion for the '80 Moscow Olympics that were never broadcast?

As for the roller skate dancers, they call to mind that Olivia Newton-John film called "Xanadu."

[Ataru320]

Well Xanadu was riding on the fad of the time...though if you think about it, that was made by Universal who is now owned by GE, who owns NBC...so its basically full circle.

And yeah, tons of subliminal messages for "the Olympics we boycotted".

[MrEmbargo]

Dismal time for the Peacock but still an classic promo. Another great version of this was up a long time ago but sadly dissapeared so thanks for posting.

[fossefan]

I second that emotion!

[tvnutboy]

Consider yourself a Hero to promo fanatics everywhere!

A lot of us promo fanatics have been dying to see even a glimpse of a full fledged "Proud..." promo for a long time; and if you have anything from the season after, ("We're Proud") then consider yourself a Legend.

Sorry for gushing so much, but this is really cool!