• by January 13, 2004

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE LETTERS P & R - As far as media neighborhoods go, Madison Avenue rarely shows up in the same proximity as Sesame Street, but the two may be situated closer than you think. And it's not just because the long-running pre-school series was one of the first public TV shows to be officially sponsored. You know, it all started with the letter A and ultimately worked its way through the letter Z, with an occasional numeral vying for brand association. But on the eve of its 35th anniversary, you could well argue that "Sesame Street" has always been brought to you by two letters: PR. With nary an impression of paid media support, the show's savvy marketing team has crafted one of the most powerful and longest-running media brands ever conceived mainly on the basis of word-of-mouth alone. In fact, the last time the Riff got a gander at some really good media brand research - we seem to recall it was Y&R's coveted Brand Asset Valuator data - "Sesame Street" hovered somewhere near the top of all media brands, and vied with many of the top overall consumer brands, in terms of overall brand power.

You'd be hard-pressed to find any brand with a better esteem than "Sesame Street" and though it doesn't always rank as the most relevant to some consumers, tell that to any pre-schooler or his or her parent. But it is in the brand attribute of differentiation where "Sesame Street" truly excels. There's simply nothing else like it. Never has been. Never will be. The Riff realized this back in 1969 and suffered the wrath of fifth grade hall monitors after strolling in tardy from lunch when, on more than a few occasions, we found ourselves unable to tear ourselves away from this new thing on the tube. The initial version of "Sesame Street," in fact, was so visually energized that the producers had to "tone it down" out of concerns that it was actually impacting the attention spans of the toddlers it was trying to educate. It would be difficult for those who did not grow up in that era to understand the impact "Sesame Street" truly had on that generation. It influenced everything from commercial TV to Madison Avenue itself. But the brand still managed to remain fresh, vital, unique and powerful enough that it ultimately subsumed that of its progenitor, Children's Television Workshop, and ultimately was recast at Sesame Workshop.

In fact, "Sesame Street" has managed to uphold the entire PBS Kids franchise, despite the onslaught of powerful, commercially-backed programming from Discovery, Disney, Turner, Time Warner and, especially, Viacom's Nickelodeon. And you could argue that it remains one of the truly distinctive public television brands overall. And while some on Madison Avenue might look at "Sesame Street" as an "under-leveraged" brand, they obviously never had to throw an elbow at a matronly shopper to make a grab for the last Tickle Me Elmo on a store shelf. We don't know the exact math, but we're pretty sure that the merchandising revenues accumulated over 35 years of "Sesame Street" would be enough to turn its purple cousin "Barney" green with envy. So it is only fitting that during a special 35th anniversary episode, scheduled to be broadcast April 4, "Sesame Street" itself will poke fun at many of the conventions of the commercial TV world. And you won't have to be late for school to watch it. The special prime-time telecast features an array of celebrity guest appearances, including a few spoofing their own commercial TV ventures. The parodies include Dr. Feel ("Dr. Phil"), Joe Hundred Guy ("Joe Millionaire"), TriangleBob Trianglepants ("Spongebob Squarepants"), and a parody of "The Tonight Show."