MSNBC is ready to roll out its big-budget ad campaign, titled “We The People,” meant to drive awareness of its looming rebrand to MS NOW on Nov. 15.
The channel on Tuesday will debut the first two commercials in the campaign, starring the channel’s biggest star, Rachel Maddow, and the late Dr. Maya Angelou. The spots are timed to election coverage.
Maddow’s 60-second spot begins with her reading the preamble to the U.S. Constitution, as videos of everyday Americans (and a few other MSNBC/MS NOW hosts, including Lawrence O’Donnell, Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, Jen Psaki, Chris Hayes, Stephanie Ruhle, Ari Melber, Nicolle Wallace, Symone Sanders Townsend, Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez, and more) flash on the screen. It ends with Maddow declaring “We the People” as the new MS NOW logo and slogan (“Same Mission. New Name” appear.
Watch:
The Angelou spot features her historic 1996 United Nations reading of her famous poem “The Human Family.”
The spot sees video of Angelou’s reading interspersed with footage of everyday Americans, and once again a few recognizable hosts, with her words serving as the soundtrack.
“I’ve seen the wonders of the world, not yet one common man,” Angelou says. “I note the obvious differences between each sort and type, but we are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike. We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”
Watch:
The spots, produced by the creative agency Sibling Rivalry, come at a critical moment for the channel, which was forced to rebrand as part of Versant’s split from parent company Comcast and NBCUniversal. The other Versant news channel, CNBC, will be allowed to retain its name for now, though it will lose the right to the Peacock logo.
For MSNBC/MS NOW, the campaign is probably the most important in its nearly 30-year history, helping it define a new brand identity, even if, as the campaign notes, the mission is still the same.
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