• by Wayne Friedman , December 12, 2007

FX will look to bust out of the box with its first network-wide marketing campaign centered on the tagline "There is No Box."

Some two dozen spots will begin airing next Tuesday during "Nip/Tuck" and continue through the Super Bowl, where in the post-game festivities an FX 60-second promo spot will air. Sister network Fox is airing the Super Bowl in February.

The idea is that the box--the TV set--can't contain the strength of FX shows, which have been known to be controversial and have scared away some national advertisers. Some of the spots will riff off the "There is No Box" theme--offering other on-scene marketing lines, such as: "There is no hero," "There is no villain," "There is no miracle cure," and "There is no laugh track."

FX will spend more on paid media than ever before on a marketing campaign--$20 million to $30 million. FX didn't reveal whether the creative for the campaign was produced by an outside agency or FX marketing executives.

FX has focused on individual shows in the past, such as its key "Nip/Tuck," "Rescue Me," "The Shield," "Damages" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia."

Concerning the strike, FX executives says it has a full season's worth of episodes for "The Shield" and "30 Days" and half seasons for "Dirt" and "The Riches." There are no scripts for "Sunny," "Damages" and "Rescue Me."