It doesn’t happen too often –actually, it’s never happened before– that I hear the name of a Fred/Alan alumnus on the radio…

“Smerconish called an old friend from Holicong Junior High School, Chris Strand…” philly.com, July 9, 2020

…but it’s a great feeling to know that former colleagues continue to do well.



Chris Strand was a television producer working for the Fred/Alan and Chauncey Street production head Albie Hecht (who went on to great things himself). I always had the feeling –probably wrong headed– that Chris wondered what he was doing with such a group of lunatics. But, I’m probably giving us too much credit.

Chris at Fred/Alan, 1987.

Chris could always be counted on to do a fantastic job, getting the productions on track, no matter what any of us did to derail them. It’s no wonder he went on to a prolific and successful television career. Something that I found out today on Michael Smerconish’s SirusXM radio show, it was something Chris and Smerconish had dreamed about since junior high school. Yay!

–Fred



A record label makes some promises.

Part 3: The Mosaic Records Brand

Dateline: Stamford, Connecticut Autumn 1984

A little background: Already a legendary producer in his 30s, Michael Cuscuna had spent untold hours in the Blue Note Records library unearthing thought-to-be-lost-forever sessions and chronicling what would become the definitive discography of the greatest jazz label in history.

Michael wasn’t going to be satisfied with an academic exercise. Starting in 1975, aided by Blue Note executive Charlie Lourie, he began to reissue the fruits of his labor, but new management stopped the series in it’s tracks. By 1981 Cuscuna and Lourie launched Mosaic Records, which would become the standard by which all jazz reissues would be judged from then on. Fred/Alan was thrilled to be a crucial part of their history (you can read some of the background here).

Aside from our personal interest in their music, we were impressed by Michael and Charlie’s thoroughly thought out ideas that would guide their label for decades to come. They were personal embodiment of what Fred/Alan would soon be calling media “brands” and we felt that the work we’d done in television could be translated into consumer products like the records Mosaic was releasing. So we were convinced that the same “promise” approach we used at MTV and Nickelodeon could be translated into the catalog approach we wanted to use for jazz reissues.

Why promise anything? Wouldn’t it be enough that Mosaic would be home to historic records from Sidney Bechet to Thelonious Monk, or Duke Ellington to Miles Davis, or Count Basie to Anthony Braxton? After all, what record label had ever kept a consistent perspective in the face of capitalism? Or any kind of company, for that matter?



Mosaic, that’s what. Fred had known Michael and Charlie for a decade, and if there was ever a business philosophy would stick, these two would have it. Fred/Alan signed on and did our deep dive into their beliefs and business so we could help them succeed.

When we first started the promise thing we were pretty much making it as we went along. By the time Mosaic came along (and Nickelodeon too; our first work for both of them was happening simultaneously) we’d pretty much firmed up our perspective.

Use simple, human language. Any person ought to be able to decipher what we were saying.

No slogans. When you’re making a promise, there’s no need to be overly clever.

Don’t worry about each promise being “unique.” There’s a tendency to search for the “unique selling propostion.” A company needs that special something, for sure. But, a brand is a collection of things the company believes in, and those attributes won’t be –can’t be– all unique.

Make promises you can actually keep. Sounds simple, doesn’t it? But you’d be surprised (maybe not) how often a company wants to over hype things. There’s an assumption that no one would ever hold you to your word.

Make promises you can prove. What would be the point otherwise?

All the promises –taken together– should fully express the company. If you miss anything in the first go round, add a promise later. No one will hold a new guarantee against you.

As we look back on the first catalog created for Mosaic Records in 1984, it’s a true pleasure to realize how right we were to have faith in Michael and Charlie’s vision. Only the progress made from paper catalogs to internet ordering do their assurances deviate over the past three plus decades. Even their phone number is the same. How that for a “brand?”

…..

The Mosaic Records Promises (from Brochure #4, 1984)

What’s important to you is important to Mosaic.

Important Artists Releasing records by Monk, Mulligan, or Mingus is easy. We like to try and go further, releasing some artists with less visibility. This way, we know Mosaic isn’t recycling artists, we recognizing them.

Complete Definitive Collections Every Mosaic set is complete within its scope and, in almost every case, organized chronologically. All issued material, all unissued titles and all valid alternate takes are included.

These collections finally eliminate the need to accumulate various haphazard reissue compilations with overlapping material.

And, they eliminate the need to wait and see if some new side or two will turn up unexpectedly.

Guaranteed Pressings, and Printing Great record, lousy pressing – there’s nothing more frustrating. We’ve done everything we can to avoid the problems – a wonderful pressing plant, rice-paper liners, sturdy boxes – and to insure against any problems, we’ll guarantee the workmanship on all Mosaic’s sets. if you have any technical defects with the records or the booklets, just return them to us for replacement.

Beautiful Packaging, Rich in Information Photos from the era, comprehensive information on pertinent dates and artist, a special interview or essay – all of them add to the experience of the music for the life of the set. Mosaic makes it a point to include as much as can to interest, inform and enlighten. And to design it all in a way that’s pleasing to read and to own.

Limited Edition Pressings At the end of each album description in this catalog, you’ll find the words “Limited to ____ copies worldwide.” Once they are sold, we will never make them available again. Each set has our pledge of its authenticity, and will most certainly grown substantially in historical significance and financial value.

Value With he quality and completeness of presentation, the collector might expect to pay a great deal for the Mosaic collections. In fact, we’re pleased to be able to present them at the very price of $9.00 per disc.

Easy Ordering You can order by mail or by phone, with VISA or MasterCard or by check or money order in U.S. currency. If you want, we’ll insure your records, even send them airmail if you prefer it to our usual quick and safe U.P.S. (All ordering details are on the “Order Now” page.) We don’t think ordering should be the hard part, so call if you have any questions 203-327-7111.



Face the Music Mosaic Editions Brochure by on Scribd We (Alan and Fred) have always been big photography fans and like a lot of other music nerds we were enamored with the jazz photographers like Roy DeCarava, Herman Leonard, William Gottlieb. And particularly Blue Note Records co-founder Francis “Frank” Wolff. Imagine how excited we were when Mosaic’s founders, Michael Cuscuna and Charlie Lourie –by far, our favorite friends and clients– told us that they had taken ownership of the entire Frank Wolff photography archive. After all, he’d shot virtually every Blue Note recording session from 1944 until 1967, even after they sold the company to Liberty Records in 1965!

Fred: “I had started doing a little collecting of jazz photography –probably due to our deep dive into Mosaic, and the shrinking size of CD covers– with non-vintage prints by Roy DeCrava, Bill Claxton, and Chuck Stewart. It occurred to me that a Frank Wolff archive would be a fantastic addition to body of jazz work starting to exhibit around the world.”

So we started bugging Mosaic Records to think about expanding their line from just their amazing, historically necessary box sets to amazing, historically necessary photographic history. They started Mosaic Images, we created one of our nicest catalogs, and photography is a critical part of their business today.

Now came the rigorous and joyous work of actually living up to the promise of a world class archive. Michael and Charlie selected three iconic photos featured on three classic Blue Notes, and did the deep dive research that helped make Mosaic famous. John Coltrane on “Blue Train,” Sonny Rollins on “Volume 2,” and Art Blakey on “The Big Beat.” One of the last analog “master printers”, Chuck Kelton’s Kelton Labs, was contracted for the limited edition prints. And since high priced photography was new to the mainstream jazz public, we also decided to release high quality, limited edition posters of the photographs at a lower price. Alan’s background as a journalist –with a unique sensitivity to artists and a pitch perfect writing talent– wrote the catalog copy and Jessica Wolf produced one of our most beautiful brochures, with printing and paper quality that gave readers the assurance that Mosaic Editions was all about quality. Needless to say, things worked out beautifully, in all ways. Jazz fans from across the world responded overwhelmingly, and now, Mosaic Images’ photography is a critical part of the company’s business today.

…. Mosaic Images

Catalog written by Alan Goodman

Production by Jessica Wolf ….. You can read the scan of the original Mosaic Editions catalog above, or the entire text here. Aside from the gorgeous images, Alan does some of the first writing on the subject of Francis Wolff’s photography. It was just the beginning of his discovery by the photography and art communities –even the jazz fans– as a virtually unknown genius that was in our midsts.

…..

FRANCIS WOLFF PHOTOGRAPHED EVERY BLUE NOTE RECORDING SESSION FROM 1944 TO 1967. Now for the first time you can see, own and display jazz history in the form of limited-edition, museum quality Francis Wolff photographs. …… ABOUT THE FRANCIS WOLFF COLLECTION “Frank, you’re clicking on my record!” –Alfred Lion, during a Blue Note recording session, circa 1956 Nobody has ever documented an era more lovingly, or more thoroughly, than Blue Note founders Alfred Lion and Francis (Frank) Wolff. The era that they chronicled: the inception and rise of bebop in America. Lion’s charge was the music. He recorded a staggering array of seminal jazz artists from 1939 through 1967. Wolff’s contribution to history was more subtle but no less significant. Using a hand-held Leica or Rolleiflex camera, he too recorded every Blue Note artist for posterity. Yet Francis Wolff never considered himself an archivist. He took pictures simply because he loved doing it. Even during the days of 78s in plain paper sleeves, before there appeared to be any use for his photographs, Wolff and his camera were a ubiquitous presence at every Blue Note session. Whether attempting to fade into the wallpaper, or blatantly seeing out the perfect combination of light, angle and expressions to capture an artist’s spirit, Francis Wolff never missed an opportunity to indulge his two passions in life … music and photography. With the dawning of the LP, a new opportunity for graphic innovation arose, and 300 of Francis Wolff’s jazz photographs were artfully cropped, integrated with typography and given immortality as Blue Note album covers. More than 5000 others went into a file drawer … never to see the light of day in any shape or form until Mosaic began publishing a few of them in its booklets. …… UNCOVERING A LOST TREASURE Wolff began his career as a photographer, but once Blue Note was under way he found himself inundated with recording contracts, finances and the day-to-day operation of a thriving record label. Soon he considered himself a record executive first, a photographer only as a means of supplying Blue Note releases with cover art. The idea of exhibiting, or compiling a book of his unpublished photographs, was never given serious consideration. With his death in 1971 Francis Wolff’s entire collection of priceless photographs went to his Blue Note partner and childhood friend, Alfred Lion. For years Lion couldn’t bear to go near them. It was only when Lion formed a warm friendship with the principals of Mosaic Records that anyone outside the original Blue Note family became aware of this treasure trove of Francis Wolff photographs still existed. After Alfred Lion passed away, his wife, Ruth, turned the photographs over to Mosaic to organize and administrate. We at Mosaic spent days going through the wealth of visual images. Here were literally thousands of never-before-seen photographs of everyone from Ike Quebec and Sidney Bechet to John Coltrane and Andrew Hill. The photographs most appropriate upcoming Mosaic reissues of Blue Note sessions have been set aside for that purpose. Many of the rest will eventually be published in a long-overdue hardcover collection. And three of the most striking and historically significant photographs are now being made available to jazz lovers and art collectors the world over in two limited edition configurations as the first offering by our new offshoot, Mosaic Editions. …… ABOUT THESE PHOTOGRAPHS Each of the three classic Blue Note album cover photographs we’ve chose to launch Mosaic Editions with will be instantly recognizable, and have special significance, to every long-time collector of jazz recordings. …… THE COLTRANE LEGACY THAT GOT AWAY Jazz lovers have wondered for over 30 years … what if John Coltrane had signed with Blue Note instead of Prestige? Well, it almost happened. Up at the Blue Note office to pick up some Sidney Bechet records, Coltrane was offered a recording deal by Alfred Lion … and he accepted! To clinch the oral agreement Lion paid Coltrane a small on-the-spot advance. But a short time later Coltrane was offered a firm written contract with Prestige, and he signed it. All might have been lost for Lion if Coltrane hadn’t volunteered to honor his commitment to Blue Note and record one album for the label. The brilliantly conceived and executed music on Blue Train, along with the classic Francis Wolff photograph used for the cover, is the only evidence we have of what a Blue Note/Coltrane legacy might have sounded and looked like. The original photograph, taken on September 15, 1957, was severely cropped for the album cover. The photograph as released bu Mosaic Editions has never been shown to the public. Edition limited to 50 numbered and authenticated custom-processed photographic prints and 3000 numbered photographic reproduction posters worldwide. Poster dimension: 23 5/8” x 31 1/2”

Print dimension: 11” x 14” …… CAPTURING A COLOSSUS In 1957 Sonny Rollins was a busy man at the top of his game. In addition to winding down his stint with Max Roach, he was playing in the Miles Davis group, forming his first band as a leader and recording the four Blue Note albums that would further establish his reputation as on of the all-time masters of the tenor saxophone. It’s safe to assume that Francis Wolff was somewhat busy himself at the April 14, 1957, session for Sonny Rollins Vol. 2. Like all Blue Note sessions of that era, it took place in the living room-recording studio of optometrist-turned-engineer Rudy Van Gelder. And here, among the lamps and microphones, venetian blinds and patch cords, was Rollins leading Thelonious Monk, J.J. Johnson, Horace Silver, Paul Chambers and Art Blakey into jazz history. The pensive, moody shot of Sonny Rollins used for the album cover showed him in a relaxed moment, betweens takes, in Van Gelder’s house. It is unquestionable one of Francis Wolff’s masterpieces. Edition limited to 50 numbered and authenticated custom-processed photographic prints and 3000 numbered photographic reproduction posters worldwide. Poster dimension: 23 5/8” x 31 1/2”

Print dimension: 11” x 14” …… JUST A DRUMMER?

THE TRUTH ABOUT ART BLAKEY Art Blakey never wrote a tune … yet there are scores of Blakey tunes. He didn’t play a melodic or chordal instrument … yet he brought life and shape to every tune and every sideman who passed through his Jazz Messengers. From his drums Art Blakey literally conducted the music, pacing the dynamics, controlling tension and release, and arranging each composition with just the right punctuation and drama. His sound reached beyond the drums to encompass every facet of the music that came from the the Jazz Messengers. On March 6, 1960, Blakey’s recording career, which began with Blue Note in the late 40s, was riding high. After some 20 albums as a leader, he recorded with one of the greatest editions of the Jazz Messengers ever, featuring Lee Morgan, Wayne Shorter and Bobby Timmons. As Frank Wolff’s lens peered though the drum set, Blakey’s infectious joy of playing was never more evident. Art Blakey was the happiest man alive when he was playing, and that photograph captured the magic. Cropped and tinted, it became the cover for The Big Beat, the album that introduced a legendary band as well as such jazz standards as “Dat Dere” and “Lester Left Town.” Mosaic’s photograph, untainted, embodies the essence of Art Blakey and the spirit of his music like nothing else. Edition limited to 50 numbered and authenticated custom-processed photographic prints and 3000 numbered photographic reproduction posters worldwide. Poster dimension: 23 5/8” x 31 1/2”

Print dimension: 11” x 14” …… THIS OFFERING THE POSTER To capture every nuance of Francis Wolff’s photographic originals, Mosaic Editions has gone to one of the premiere find arts presses in America, Eastern Press, the printer of choice to such prestigious and demanding organizations as the Smithsonian Institution, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, the Metropolitan Museum of Arts and the Japan Society. The paper used for our photographic reproduction posters is heavyweight, Grade #1 coated, archival acid-free stock. Mosaic posters will not yellow or deteriorate during your lifetime … or even your grandchildren’s lifetime. The poster image is reproduced using a special scanned duotone process with the colors black and gray. Though more expensive than straight single-color reproduction, this process allows richer lights and shadings, giving the photographic image more “snap.” Each poster in our limited edition of 3000 is individually numbered and comes with a stamp of authenticity. The dimension: 23 5/8” x 31 1/2”. The price: $40. …… THE PRINT For connoisseurs of fine photographic art we are also offering an extremely limited edition of 50 photographic print, each one individually processed to archival standards by Master Printer Chuck Kelton. This time-consuming processing regimen, previously employed by Mr. Kelton whole working with such photographers as Ansel Adams, involved a costly chemical washing process to neutralize all kids, and selenium toning to enhance the photographs natural tones. Each museum-worthy, customer-processed photographic print is numbers, and comes with stamp of authenticity signed by Mr. Kelton. The dimension: 11” x 14”. The price: $500. These limited edition editions are numbered, authenticated and authorized by the estate of Alfred Lion. Order now. It is expected that this first-ever Mosaic Editions offering will sell out quickly. Be assured of owning a lasting monument to the jazz photography of Francis Wolff by placing your order today. …… ART FOR JAZZ’S SAKE From the beginning, jazz lovers have come to expect, and take for granted, innovative and avant-garde photography, illustration and design on their record albums. Maybe then it stands to reason that it too the art world, not the jazz world, to elevate the works fo William Claxton, Herman Leonard, William Gottlieb, Charles Peterson, Charles Stewart and Francis Wolff to new heights of status and monetary worth. Well, what goes around comes around. In the past couple of years Mosaic has been receiving a growing number of requests from customers for more photographs like the ones we publish in our booklets. But unlike requests for music, we’ve been at a loss to where to send jazz lovers interested in high-quality jazz-related art. When the entire body of Francis Wolff photographs became available to us, we had our answer. With the creation of Mosaic Editions, photographic reproduction posters and custom-processed photographic prints that abide by Mosaic uncompromising standards will allow those of us committed to jazz to satisfy and display our passion as never before. [Signed]

Michael Cuscuna & Charlie Lourie …… MOSAIC EDITIONS PROMISES 1. Important Photographers

Mosaic Editions posters and prints will concentrate on the handful of inspired photographers who defined the “look” of jazz for all time. 2. Historic Photographs of Major Jazz Artists

Each Mosaic Editions reproduction represents a meaningful artist whose music helped shaped jazz history. 3. Powerful Visuals

Those are exciting images that capture exactly what the photographer saw through the lens. 4. Impeccable Reproduction

Mosaic is using the finest processor and printing press that our research has been able to turn up. Every Mosaic photographic reproduction poster and custom-processed photographic print is fully guaranteed to be of archival quality, to bring you pleasure throughout your lifetime. 5. Number Limited Editions

Each Mosaic photographic reproduction poster is numbered and limited to an edition of 3000 worldwide. Custom-processed photographic prints are numbered, authenticated by the processor and limited to an edition of 50 worldwide. 6. Value

The prices we charges are almost unheard of for appreciating works of art. 7. Unconditional Guarantee

If for any reason you are not pleased with you Mosaic Editions poster or print, you may return it for a complete refund. 8. Easy Ordering

Order by mail or phone or fax. Pay with VISA or MasterCard, check or money order in U.S. currency. ….. “Few things in life are so uniquely original as to be instantly recognizable. There’s the singular look of a painting by Picasso, the one and only sound of a Stravinsky symphony or the unmistakeable mise-en-scene of a film by Renoir. And then there is Blue Note records.” “A large part of the recognition factor was due to the outstanding photographs –intimate, elegant, mostly monochrome images of the jazz lions of the day– by a Berlin-born refugee from Nazi German named Francis Wolff.” “Stylistically, Wolff’s photos are gracefully composed and full of shadow, his subjects’ faces often floating up out of an inky background.” “Without harboring any preconceived visual concepts, he approached each session determined just to capture the best possible shot.” “Wolff was a gifted photographer whose candid style belied a trained and disciplined eye. Neither a ‘decisive moment’ advocate like Cartier-Bresson nor a seeker of monumental photographic themes like Eugene Smith, Wolff’s talent lay in capturing his subjects’ personalities through subtleties: a telling expression or gesture that helped reveal the man behind the musician.” “Over the years Wolff short … a body of work that can stand comparison of any collection of jazz photographs, yet his oeuvre was largely taken for granted during his lifetime, and Wolff received little recognition.” “Finally, after too many years of languishing in obscurity, his photographic legacy will once more be brought into the public eye.” Reprinted with permission from Darkroom Photography Magazine ……

How Nickelodeon became Nickelodeon became Nick-Nick-Nick-Nick-Nick-Nick-Nick-Nick-Nickelodeon. Part 2.1 – The Nickelodeon Brand Dateline: New York, 1984 All right! We conquered. Now what? We had developed a theory at MTV, and the execution of the supposition seemed to work like gangbusters, which set the stage and drove for the marketing, promotion and programming vocabulary that the channel has used for the past 37 years (whew! Who knew? We figured that a “rock” based channel would be lucky to last five. Maybe we were right?). But, it never occurred to us that Fred/Alan ever be called upon again by anyone in television to work on a network again.

In mid-1983, we’d left MTV Networks and set up Fred/Alan. Our former boss, Bob Pittman, signed us up right away as consultants for the company, not wanting our approach available on the open market (flattering, to say the least), and early the next year called and asked for our help with Nickelodeon. Quick facts: Nickelodeon had launched in 1979 out of Warner Cable’s interactive QUBE in Columbus, Ohio, and moved to New York with the formation of the new programming subsidiary Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Company (WASEC), the early name of MTV Networks. Initially, the channel worked on a PBS, no commercials model, as a lure to parents who’d hopefully also sign up with the company’s paid subscription service, The Movie Channel. The low-to-nonexistent ratings that came as a result of even lower programming investment didn’t really matter as Nick was seen as loss leader for the billions that would be made by a premium movie service (sorry, HBO won that war). By 1984, The Movie Channel had basically failed and was sold to Showtime, and Nickelodeon had lost today’s equivalent of a hundred million US dollars and something had to be done. The management was retired, and Bob Pittman’s success at MTV put him in line to take over. In turn, he called Fred/Alan. “We’re putting ads on Nickelodeon. But only two shows (You Can’t Do That on Television and Mr. Wizard’s World) have any ratings whatsoever and everything else gets hash marks.” –the Nielsen words for zero– “We have to fix things fast or the company will shut it down.”

Let’s see. Programming head Gerry Laybourne, who suddenly been thrust into the role of channel boss, insisted to us that the programming was stuff that kids liked –she’d inaugurated an innovative testing methodology– so she couldn’t understand why they were rejecting most of it. We believed her, after all, what did we know about kids programming? When it came to our strength –talking to audiences– we were flummoxed by how the channel had communicated to kids. Initially –and almost shockingly– their original channel branding was a mime. A mime!? Jeez Louise! The last management team scrapped him for something they thought of as contemporary television. But here’s what we saw. Nickelodeon was a word that meant nothing in the late 20th century, hadn’t meant anything to anyone since about 1915. Why was it a children’s TV channel? Nickelodeon was hard to spell, even for an adult. Hard to say for a kid. Why was it a children’s TV channel? The word nickelodeon was long and didn’t comfortably fit on a television screen. Why was it a TV channel name?

Nickelodeon kept promoting itself as “fun.” (See the promo at the bottom of this post.) The challenge was if you asked any kid, they didn’t agree that the channel was fun. Why didn’t kids like Nickelodeon? The way the channel promoted itself on the air didn’t resonate with us either, and we were confused as to why they thought kids would like it. You can be your own judge –there are a few contrarian nostalgics who wonder wherever did the ‘silver ball’ go– but to us this approach to network identification was hopelessly mired in traditional –old fashioned?– TV. A logo designed by a wonderful, old school, moonlighting broadcast designer, cold and impersonal. A jingle that had absolutely nothing to do with kids… and who liked advertising jingles anyway, with their chirpy singing, bouncy melodies, and instrumentation that would’ve seemed out of date in 1965. The problem with Fred/Alan taking the Nickelodeon resurrection assignment was that we didn’t like kids’ TV in 1984 or the people who worked in kids’ TV, and, given our tender ages, we weren’t all that sure that we even like kids all that much. And totally aside from the channel itself, what did Fred/Alan know about how to get ratings for a television channel? Honestly, not much. Alan had been in the record business, and Fred had been a junior promotion employee at an already successful radio station. Our work for MTV had probably been a fluke, in that the channel was a magic carpet ride ready to soar. With or without us, the world was ready and we probably could have everything wrong and it would have been a success. What’s a young, almost broke company to do? “It’s non-stop fun! Here on Nickelodeon!”

(More to come.)

Fuck art, let’s dance! Shouldn’t a logo always be exactly the same? When we first presented the MTV logo to the brass in 1981 I was told it couldn’t be trademarked. A logo was one thing, one way, always the same. We obviously won that battle –eventually– and didn’t need to fight for the 1984 redesign of Nickelodeon’s mark but why were we so sure that it was time that the visualization of a brand could be malleable? It had never been so, why now? A colleague: “Fred, a logo needs to be consistent. Like the CBS eye, or the Warner Bros. shield. Me: “Our inconsistency is our consistency!” Why were Alan and I so damn certain we were right that the time had come to evolve a logo for MTV or Nickelodeon? We had a number of rationales.

“We’re in television. Television moves. Logos designed by print designers don’t move.”

“We’re in rock’n’roll, we’re in kids. They’re exciting. Shouldn’t the logo be exciting too?”

“There are 30 channels of TV now (!). We need to stand out.” I can’t speak for Alan, or for Manhattan Design, or for Corey & Co. But the more I’ve pondered, we all had something in common. We all grew up in the first explosive media era, when flashing images from the first age of television got us all used to finding our cultural heroes in a new, kinetic way. For me, album covers were my gateway drug into graphic design. By the time Andy Warhol made his way into my consciousness I didn’t find anything outrageous about his “multiples” in art. Andy understood that mass media communicated to everyone in a new way. But, as the kids of mass media, we knew no other way. Ultimately, it was clear we’d missed the moment of design graphic history ushered into the culture through 12″x12″ album covers, so these animated logos were going to be our … I guess you could call them motion album covers. If only we could have anywhere near the impact of album graphics, I could live with that. Logos that were on the move might have made no sense to others, but now that I can reflect, what other way was there? We weren’t making magazines in the 1930s, we were making television channels in the 1980s. Fuck art. Let’s dance!

–Fred PS: A lot of folks are still using the “moveable, changeable” logo paradigm in the 21st century. Is it still relevant? Not so sure. Of course, a logo mark that’s “good” (in the eye/brain of the beholders) is always in demand, whether it changes or not. But the factors that made MTV and Nickelodeon stand out in their day have hopelessly morphed and using those old dog tricks is a fool’s errand. Contemporary brands like Supreme streetwear understand that like few in television or video, and they’re winning because of it. Never underestimate the power of a good thinker and creative visionary.

What does a promise have to do with building a brand? Part 1 – The MTV: Music Television Brand Dateline: New York, 1981 MTV: Music Television wasn’t the first thematically focused cable channel (ESPN and CNN beat us), but since the core management team came out of radio, we might have been the very first to understand that it wasn’t just about viewers. It was all about love. Little did we know that we were on our way to defining the world of media for the rest of time. Fred and Alan (in our guise as MTV employees before we started Fred/Alan) were the first team to “brand” media.* We created a formal, repeatable structure and an executional plan that was durable. And valuable. There’s probably a book’s worth of information to share on the subject, but we’re going to try and sketch it out in a few blog essays. We started with MTV, but we were able to apply the discipline to all our clients over a decade, and into our individual pursuits beyond. MTV: Music Television had a gigantic challenge. It’s very innovation made our day-to-day work in promotion very difficult. In a nutshell, MTV was TV with no TV shows. We played about a dozen 3-minute music videos every hour, each day, all year long. Pragmatically, it meant that our department didn’t have a model of what we were supposed to do. Fred ran the on-air promotion department** at MTV. In traditional television that would be the group that would tell viewers what was happening on a given series, week by week, as an inducement to watch the show. Every TV channel did it, and everyone made money doing it. *** Here was the problem with MTV… We had no shows. Just a constant stream of 3-minute songs, randomly selected everyday, with hosts (the VJs) and commercials every once in a while. When we tried to describe the channel to anyone, even our target audience of young adults, the very concept of a “music video” confused them. “Will you be running rock concerts all day long?” one guy asked me when I told him what MTV would be when we launched. So, now what? With the decades that have past it might obvious, but at the time we agonized for months. If we can’t promote a specific show, and we can’t pinpoint a video (that would have been at least 10 or 12 promos for every hour!) what in hell’s name are we going to do? We knew that starting a pop music channel would give us amazing creative freedom. Just one look at a music video and you knew that music video TV couldn’t look or sound anything like “The Love Boat” or “60 Minutes” or M*A*S*H, to name three Top 10 shows in 1980. But, we were also well aware that wacky, creative 30 promos with a message was just going to be a chaotic mess that ultimately wouldn’t help us build a loyal audience for long. Then we remembered something we learned from the memoir of famous advertising man David Ogilvy. Ogilvy had a commandment that stuck with us when we trying to earn our paychecks. Successful copywriting makes a promise. In fact, when you think about it – a brand is a promise, too… A promise that there is some experience waiting for you that no other similar product can fulfill. Tide detergent isn’t powder in a box. It isn’t that Tide logo on the shelf. Tide is a PROMISE that it will clean your clothes just the way it did when your mom was doing your laundry and caring for you, like no other mother ever could. Sneakers are just sneakers. Air Jordans are a brand. Brands are different from products because a brand inspires LOYALTY. A product becomes a brand when it feeds a deep-felt need… when it captures your heart… when it is part of your identity. The more we studied brands and learned about their power, the more we realized how important branding could be for selling a TV network to a target audience that had nothing else they could call their own. We discovered the book “Positioning,” by Jack Trout and Al Ries, published just months before MTV launched. From them we learned that PROMISES were different from SLOGANS. “Fly the friendly skies of United” is a slogan. What does it mean? How does it differentiate them from other airlines? What makes them so friendly? “The Mayan Riviera” – it instantly paints a picture in your mind of something beautiful and somewhat mystical. It’s a promise of a beautiful beach vacation.

Alan’s subsequent commandment stands the test of time as much as Ogilvy’s.

Slogans wear out. Promises stick around. There was also the example of our own work. Before MTV, Fred was in charge of on-air promotion for The Movie Channel. Each month he’d fly a couple of lucky subscribers to NYC, talk to them on camera, and make promotion out of it. One of those subscribers said something real we remember to this day – “There are three things in my town that are 24 hours a day. There’s the diner, the hospital, and The Movie Channel.” Back then, HBO signed off for the night. The Movie Channel stayed on. Now that’s a promise. And there was one more example we could point to as we started to look at how MTV would work. Most of us had worked in radio, and we knew that radio station DJs spoke “liners” throughout their on-air shifts. It’s still a common way to say true things about the radio station that they can prove each day. “Your favorite songs from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s.” “More commercial-free music every hour.” MTV was going to work like radio. Maybe there was a version of “liners” that made sense for us. We realized that our channel –and eventually, every brand that Fred/Alan would help to build– could be explained to anyone as simply a group of marketing propositions, the “promises.” We didn’t know what to do with these ideas, but it seemed like a great start. Now, at least we knew what what we were. So what were the original MTV “promises” anyway? The world’s first video music channel.

24 hours a day.

In stereo.

Your favorite videos.

New music too.

The channel you’ve been waiting for.

We’ll get to why these “obvious” ideas were the right ideas soon.



But the $64 question remained. What’s an MTV promo? With the decades that have past it might seem obvious, but at the time we agonized for months. If we can’t promote a specific show, and we can’t pinpoint a video (that would have been at least 10 or 12 promos for every hour!) what in hell’s name are we going to do? Finally, after Fred took a long walk on the beach with his mentor weeks before MTV went on the air, it seemed like the solution could lie in the list of ‘marketing propositions,’ the promises. Not only would they educate viewers to exactly how different MTV was from everything else on television, they would serve another critical purpose that had been vexing us. When every “show” (a music video) would end after 3 minutes, what would keep a viewer tuned in longer (a crucial element to building ratings)? We started envisioning these promos as entertainment, in and of themselves. Let’s face it; most promos are commercials. And they are typically a signal to tune out… change the channel… get another beer from the fridge. But freed of the responsibility to get a viewer to care about what was scheduled next “Thursday night at 8:00 pm,” we could pound our marketing messages home in ways that encouraged a viewer to stay… enjoy… identify. We reinforced the viewing decision instead of trying to sell a viewer on watching something later down the schedule. We spoke unadorned language that wasn’t ads-sy or artificial. And in our very approach, we said “we’re different” to an audience that FELT they were different from conventional audiences that watched conventional TV. If we had the most creative promos in the universe, coupled with a “promise” that our fans could share with their friends, that combination spelled L.O.V.E. And it’s all about the love, right? With love, MTV would have great ratings and become famous in it’s own right. All this thinking led us to further refine what we thought a ‘promise’ should be. A promise is a pledge. A covenant. You make a promise, you better keep it. The promise isn’t a “slogan” or a “motto.” It’s not clever word craft. It’s not a “tag line.” Each promise has simple, human language that any person can understand. You can “prove” a promise. It’s not empty bluster. For instance, one cannot prove a phrase that would promise “MTV plays the best music videos.” Who decides what’s “best?” Any benefit we could come up with needed to be a subset of one of the promises. Everything we could say about MTV said within one promise or another. If not, we would need a new promise. If those promises were proven and then kept, they would form an incredibly durable platform. Our fans would know what they could expect from us every hour of every day of every year, and our business partners would be willing to pay a premium for the association with us. It sounds awfully business-like. And it was. But that’s where the “creative” comes in. Rock’n’Roll was a business, certainly. But it was more than that. It was a declaration, an emancipation. And most of all, it was damn fun. That was it, that was the love. Would it work? We certainly weren’t sure, but we tried. When the promo team (Marcy Brafman, Richard Schenkman, Jay Dorfman, Marc Chusid) came up with this one, everyone instantly knew this approach was going to work. It seems pretty tame in the hindsight of three decades, but back in the day it changed hearts and minds. Hey you! MTV Plays Your Favorite Music (More about branding and promises in Part II: Nickelodeon) ….. * Fred/Alan brought the concept of media “brands” into usage. We’re using the word here, though we didn’t bring it into media until 1987, when account supervisor Ed Levine joined Fred/Alan from J. Walter Thompson. He suggested that the description of our job for our clients was “to make the logo famous” was kind of clunky. “Fred/Alan creates brands” was better. Within weeks it was in common usage at MTV, then at Nickelodeon and across all of MTV Networks. And like all things MTV in those days, a year later its influence made it de rigueur in media circles and beyond. ** We actually called the group “Program Services” because what we actually did was so far off from what traditional on-air promo producers did. *** Here’s what was produced day in, day out for traditional television networks in era when MTV dropped: ABC network promo for “The Love Boat” 1979

“Saturday! ‘The Love Boat’ just might sink.

“It’s a titanic two hour spectacular when Barbi Benton, David Birney, ‘The Ropers’ Audra Lindley, Lola Falana, Dick Martin, and Donna Mills sail unawares on the funniest ocean disaster ever! “It’s the big kiss-off for ‘The Love Boat.’” End titles: SPECIAL 2-HOUR SHOW SATURDAY 9:00/8:00 Central/Mountain [ABC logo] LOVE BOAT

The Fred/Alan Chronology We were in business for less than 10 years, but we packed a lot of fun, money, and innovation into our time. Not to mention, best of all, a small city’s worth of fantastic colleagues and collaborators. • 1983

Alan Goodman & Fred Seibert open America’s first media branding agency, with production and consulting capabilities, in New York City. • 1988

Expanded our capabilites and opened America’s first advertising agency specializing in people under 35. Nominations and wins of every creative advertising award. • 1989

Fred/Alan opens Chauncey Street Productions with producer Albie Hecht. • 1992

Fred/Alan Closes.