ABSTRACT
Part of HBO’s success in the television industry is due in large part to how it defines and, perhaps more importantly, brands itself. And while many of the chapters in this book-not merely this section-challenge HBO’s claim as to whether or not it’s actually “TV,” it is hard to deny that a key to good branding is, of course, a slogan. And while HBO’s “It’s Not TV. It’s HBO.” is a statement that gets thoroughly deconstructed throughout here, it wasn’t always how HBO saw itself. For example, HBO, since its inception has had no less than 11 different catchphrases to help people remember the place of Home Box Office in their lives. From 1972 to 1978 it was “Different and First.” Then came “The Home Box,” which was used until 1982. The 1982-1983 season briefly heard the slogan “Start with Us on HBO.” “There’s No Place Like HBO” stuck around for two years, getting replaced in 1986 with “Let’s All Get Together,” which-somehow-managed to last until 1988. “Watch Us Here on HBO” wasn’t very popular either, getting replaced in 1989-1990 with “Simply the Best,” one of their more elaborate image campaigns constructed around the Tina Turner hit of the same name. Both 1992 and 1993 were privy to “We’re HBO,” elegant in its brevity. Beyond the understanding of this author (who was not a media critic at the time nor an HBO consumer) is how “We’re Out of Town Today” managed to be the central branding slogan for four years. However, the HBO that has come to be central in today’s cultural zeitgeist, the post-Sopranos HBO that opens all its shows with that familiar click of static with
the logo coming quickly into focus, has been all about the two sentences from which the title of this book is hijacked. In addition to “It’s Not TV. It’s HBO,” in 2006, the website began confronting viewers with the phrase “Get More,” in addition to the former, more familiar slogan.
