It Must Be ABC
It Must Be ABC was a slogan used on the ABC television network during the 1992-93 season. This campaign ushered in a completely new graphics package for the network, which hadn't seen a style update in AbOUT three to four years. Most importantly, many hits from ABC's long-running late 1980s-1990s "family era" were featured in this campaign, most notably Full House, Family Matters and Home Improvement among them. For Family Matters, its presence in these promotions displayed the ultimate pinnacle of its popularity, because of one zany, nerdy character - Steve Urkel (Jaleel White). Among all the stars showing up in the It Must Be ABC promos, White, as Urkel (and not himself) was the most prominent.
Coming off from a previous season where many long-running hit series from the 1980s came to an end (Who's the Boss, Growing Pains, MacGyver, etc) ABC still had enough momentum from its remaining series to, eventually, reach number one among all broadcast networks again during the February 1993 sweeps and beyond. Despite this, dramas were in a bit of transition through the end of this season. Life Goes On, Homefront, The Commish and Civil Wars were ABC's main drama offerings of the season, but all except for The Commish would be cancelled by the following spring. (This was one season before NYPD Blue premiered, whose success would lead to a whole new family of dramas for the network).
Many have credited It Must Be ABC as being, technically, the last official image campaign the network has aired to date. Although ABC would continue to run slogans and campaigns of sorts (beginning with the overly self-congratulatory Watched By More Americans Than Any Other Network tagline and "blue" identity beginning in 1993-94, and more recently Start Here for 2007-2008) none since have run full-length promotions over 2:00 minutes long or have even had jingles.
Campaign Synopsis
It Must Be ABC was seen as a prime example of what advertising became in the '90s: very loose in structure, with jerky camera angles, while always continuing for follow current music trends. The setup had many network stars dancing on a black platform in front of a white backdrop, surrounded by phrases that emphasized the lyrics of the jingle. Some segments had the stars walking or dancing around giant TV screens, irreverent looking furniture, or other forms of "pop art" mostly in day-glo colors. Other portions just have them acting silly, as when Neil Patrick Harris is seen trying to juggle silver metal letters of the ABC logo. A really odd sight is seeing Tim Allen doing a silent version of his Home Improvement character's patented grunt, while next to him is a superimposed TV screen of Charles Gibson and Joan Lunden hosting Good Morning America. On top of the screen is a miniature Steve Urkel doing The Famous "Urkel Dance" from Family Matters. In any event, it was easy to tell ABC was living up their breakout characters to their fullest extent, as they were on their way to dominating the network ratings.
All forms of the campaign's promos ended with a swirling text line of "Everybody's Saying" around any given star; this view then fades into the display of the slogan in front of a color PRiSM square. The words "IT", "MUST" and "BE" are shown one at a time, before the ABC logo turns out in front of the prism. Once the logo is in place, the large border around the prizm switches colors with one side in white while the other is a marble brown. The font used for all campaign graphics was a Chicago-style text.
The main chorus of the jingle goes as follows:
It Must Be ABC Cause we're the one and only! Everybody's saying.. It Must Be A-B-C!
The campaign was also adapted for the Saturday morning lineup; instead of having network stars dancing around the promo sets, a random group of kids were doing the same, while images of the Saturday morning cartoons appeared in TV screens and windows. In some promotions, the kids would be superimposed in cartoon scenes, as if they were a part of them. The ending tagline was modified for these promos: All the kids are saying It Must Be A-B-C!
Special 40th Anniversary Commemorative Promo
In February 1993, at a special convention held for ABC affiliates, a special promo aired for the event that didn't air on television. The event was held in celebrating ABC's preferred 40th anniversary as a television network, although ABC first took to the air in April 1948, technically making the network five years older than every stated anniversary. (February 9, 1953 is the acknowledged birthday of the network, since it was on that date that ABC's original parent company merged with United Paramount Telepictures (UPT), thus re-organizing the administration and forming the ABC we know today.) The special promo did not make any mention to ABC existing before 1953, stating that it was February 9, 1953 that it took to the air. The promo shows a touching and nostalgic clip reel of its notable programming from the 1950s through the 1992-93 season. However, this piece also acts as a bridge that turns visual elements of the It Must Be ABC campaign into the "blue" identity that ABC would keep through the end of the 1995-96 season. The video has since surfaced online for the general public to finally see, here on this YouTube page:1
Localized versions:
- KATV-TV Little Rock, Arkansas: "If It's KATV 7, It Must Be ABC"
- KBAK-TV Bakersfield, California: "If It's 29, It Must Be ABC"
- WTAE-TV Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: "If It's Channel 4, It Must Be ABC"