{"id":152150,"date":"2023-01-08T12:50:37","date_gmt":"2023-01-08T18:50:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/?p=152150"},"modified":"2023-01-08T12:50:37","modified_gmt":"2023-01-08T18:50:37","slug":"eric-bischoff-details-his-frustration-with-a-rebranding-campaign-effort-involving-shifting-tna-to-impact-wrestling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2023\/01\/08\/eric-bischoff-details-his-frustration-with-a-rebranding-campaign-effort-involving-shifting-tna-to-impact-wrestling\/","title":{"rendered":"Eric Bischoff details his frustration with a rebranding campaign effort involving shifting TNA to Impact Wrestling"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"pwtor-3542024824\" class=\"pwtor-before-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><hr \/><b>SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)... <\/b>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/player?show_id=3076978&theme=light&playlist=false&playlist-continuous=false&autoplay=false&live-autoplay=false&chapters-image=true&episode_image_position=right&hide-logo=false&hide-likes=false&hide-comments=false&hide-sharing=false&hide-download=true\" width=\"100%\" height=\"140px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe>\r\n<hr \/><\/div><p>The following is another excerpt from Eric Bischoff&#8217;s new book, &#8220;Grateful.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>In May 2011, it was announced that TNA\u2019s flagship program would be rebranded as Impact Wrestling, as detailed in a company press release:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhile the name change is subtle, it is also very powerful. TNA is proud to be in the wrestling business, and not afraid to say it. And, to emphasize our commitment we have added the word \u2018wrestling\u2019 to our already well-known \u2018iMPACT!\u2019 brand,\u201d said TNA chief marketing officer Al Ovadia.<\/p>\n<p>TNA is also launching the tagline, \u201cWrestling Matters,\u201d a statement that reflects every aspect of TNA Wrestling, from program content to marketing to live events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe wanted a branding initiative that was scalable and could extend across all platforms,\u201d added Ovadia. \u201cWe asked our fans what it was about professional wrestling that they found most compelling. We learned it was no single aspect, their passion for wrestling was all-consuming. Whether it\u2019s the in-ring action, backstage brawls, the feuds or classic dramatic conflict of good vs. evil, it\u2019s the entire experience that makes \u2018wrestling matter.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The now-famous (or perhaps infamous) rebranding effort started when Spike approached Dixie with the idea. As I recall, the goal of the campaign was \u2013 similar to the prior move to Monday nights &#8211; to create more awareness outside of the existing audience (and to reinforce the strength of the brand with the existing audience). A meeting was called by Kevin Kay, Scott Fishman, and an executive named Brian Diamond in order to discuss the concept.<\/p>\n<p>In retrospect, this part of the story is really quite amazing to me. During the meeting, Kevin, Scott, and Brian outlined their belief that not only was a strong rebranding campaign needed, but that Spike were willing to fund the campaign (to the tune of a million dollars of the network\u2019s money). A million dollars towards rebranding TNA!<\/p>\n<p>At the risk of being redundant, everyone knew that TNA sounded like&#8230; well, tits and ass! It sounded like the acronym. For that reason, there remained a number of people who were uncomfortable with the name, and consequently, Spike wanted to invest both time and money into something more fitting.<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-916572722\" class=\"pwtor-content pwtor-entity-placement\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x250\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>First of all, it\u2019s not often that a network is willing to spend a million dollars of their own money in service of branding (or rebranding, in this case) a company that they don\u2019t own. Spike didn\u2019t have any equity in TNA \u2013 not even a percentage of it \u2013 but they were willing to do it regardless.<\/p>\n<p>In our work as independent television producers, Jason and I had experience in begging, borrowing, and pleading networks to simply promote the shows that we had produced for them. Here \u2013 in this case \u2013 we had a network coming to the producers and saying, \u2018We\u2019ll take care of it.\u2019 It was a really unique situation.<\/p>\n<p>Their presentation was extremely thorough. Spike wanted to look at everything down to the opening music \u2013 in fact, they wanted a musical theme for the brand. I remember Brian sending across selections of music that Spike were willing to license \u2013 pieces that would fit the new tagline (again, a Spike creation) of Wrestling Matters.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to the meeting, Spike had conducted research that suggested that TNA\u2019s viewers wanted to see more action \u2013 and less \u2018gaga\u2019, or backstage silliness, for example. The network believed it was important to reinforce the quality of the wrestling, and henceforth, Wrestling Matters was created as an all-encompassing branding statement.<\/p>\n<p>There was a commitment to promoting \u2013 both inside and outside of the network \u2013 the message that Impact Wrestling was truly an alternative to WWE.<\/p>\n<p>In the end, however &#8211; like almost everything else involving the company \u2013 it became political.<\/p>\n<p>I was told, courtesy of someone who was very close to the situation, that Janice Carter hated the campaign. Allegedly, she was upset at Spike for coming up with the very idea, thinking that it didn\u2019t make any sense to begin with.<\/p>\n<p>Number one, I thought to myself, you don\u2019t know anything about wrestling!<\/p><div id=\"pwtor-3019852829\" class=\"pwtor-content-1 pwtor-entity-placement\"><!-- Tag ID: pwtorchcom_test_300x600 -->\r\n<div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280 __300x600\" id=\"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_test_300x600\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p>You don\u2019t know anything about the wrestling business \u2013 or the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n<p>You weren\u2019t a part of the process, and you don\u2019t even understand why Spike came up with \u2013 and paid for \u2013 this entire campaign!<\/p>\n<p>Spike came up with it solely for your brand\u2019s benefit \u2013 to increase the value of your company \u2013 and rather than saying, \u2018Thank you\u2019, you bitch about it!<\/p>\n<p>The implementation ended up being clumsy, disjointed, and confusing. Fans were unsure as to if TNA had retired the company name \u2013 in favor of Impact Wrestling \u2013 or if the television show had simply changed its title (the latter being accurate).<\/p>\n<p>Among other things, it reinforced \u2013 once again \u2013 the fact that no-one in TNA understood the concept of working with a network; of developing and harnessing a collaborative relationship with Spike. That fact \u2013 more than anything else that was happening on-screen \u2013 would always, ultimately, be the limiting factor.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>The preceding excerpt was taken from &#8220;Grateful,&#8221; the new book by Eric Bischoff and Guy Evans.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"pwtor-end-article-groups pwtor-entity-placement\" id=\"pwtor-680511358\"><div id=\"pwtor-29274470\"><div align=\"center\" data-freestar-ad=\"__336x280\" id=\"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\">\r\n  <script data-cfasync=\"false\" type=\"text\/javascript\">\r\n    freestar.config.enabled_slots.push({ placementName: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\", slotId: \"pwtorchcom_medrec_3\" });\r\n  <\/script>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\nTHANK YOU FOR VISITING<\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>The following is another excerpt from Eric Bischoff&#8217;s new book, &#8220;Grateful.&#8221; In May 2011, it was announced that TNA\u2019s flagship program would be rebranded as Impact Wrestling, as detailed in a company press release: \u201cWhile <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/2023\/01\/08\/eric-bischoff-details-his-frustration-with-a-rebranding-campaign-effort-involving-shifting-tna-to-impact-wrestling\/\" title=\"Eric Bischoff details his frustration with a rebranding campaign effort involving shifting TNA to Impact Wrestling\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-prowrestlingnews","category-news_tna"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/BischoffEricTB_3x2_600.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152150"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152151,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152150\/revisions\/152151"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pwtorch.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}