“Same Mission. New Name”: MSNBC Switching to MS NOW Next Month

“Same Mission. New Name”: MSNBC Switching to MS NOW Next Month

MSNBC‘s days are numbered, but the era of MS NOW is about to begin. In a memo to staff Monday, MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler said that the cable news channel will officially rebrand from MSNBC to MS NOW on Nov. 15, ahead of the planned spinoff into Versant. Along with the name change comes a…

MSNBC‘s days are numbered, but the era of MS NOW is about to begin.

In a memo to staff Monday, MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler said that the cable news channel will officially rebrand from MSNBC to MS NOW on Nov. 15, ahead of the planned spinoff into Versant. Along with the name change comes a new tagline: “Same Mission. New Name.”

The channel and news brand will begin rolling out 15 second spots today featuring talent like Rachel Maddow, officially introducing the rebrand to viewers. A larger marketing effort will begin in earnest in early November.

“This moment comes after months of meticulous planning and thoughtful collaboration across every corner of our organization,” Kutler wrote. “We are facing it head-on, and our success in the months and years ahead will depend on our innovation and entrepreneurial approach. Next week, we will unveil the powerful and moving messaging for our external campaign, and I can’t wait to share it with all of you first. We will then embark on an extensive and broad-reaching national marketing effort to introduce people across the country to MS NOW.”

MS NOW (it’s an acronym that stands for My Source for News, Opinion and the World) will become the new brand name for the channel and media brand, effectively cutting it loose from the NBC branding that has been a part of its identity for the last 29 years.

“This new name underscores the brand’s mission to serve as the destination for domestic and international breaking news and the best-in-class opinion journalism,” Versant CEO Mark Lazarus told staff earlier this year in announcing the change. “MSNBC has been building toward this moment and welcoming a wave of exceptional journalists to their newsgathering operation. Most importantly, while the name will be different, the brand’s commitment to its audience will not change.”

MSNBC and CNBC have been undergoing a slow motion separation from the rest of NBC News, a split that needs to happen before Versant is officially spun out early next year. Staff have vacated Rockefeller Plaza in favor of temporary offices and studios on west 43rd street in the former New York Timed Building.

And NBC News and MSNBC officially split their editorial resources earlier this month, with MSNBC relying on their in-house reporters and correspondents and standards team. MSNBC had been staffing up an entire news division in the months after the Versant spin was announced, becoming a rare company to be aggressive in hiring even as many others (including NBC News) cut back.

Still, the rebranding to MS NOW will be a major moment for the company, as it is a stark change, and will require buy-in from talent and viewers, as well as a multimillion dollar campaign to drive awareness.

You can watch the first 15 second spot, featuring Maddow, and read Kutler’s memo, below.