PBS Kids Sprout holds the distinction of being one of the few networks that launched on video-on-demand before earning a linear berth. The network debuted in April 2005 on VOD and added linear distribution that fall.

As a growing network, PBS Kids Sprout needed to get the word out to consumers and cable operators about its content, which is geared to preschoolers and their parents.

That’s why the network launched its first branding campaign in April. “We wanted to articulate what the brand stood for,” said Eileen Diskin, VP marketing at PBS Kids Sprout. “The vision of the network is to foster parent-preschooler interaction.”

To communicate that message, the network developed the “We Share” campaign highlighting parent-child activities. The campaign included print and TV ads with images of a mother and daughter at a T-ball game or a father and daughter at the ocean. The spots lead into moments of Sprout’s programming where parents and children can interact while watching shows such as “Angelina Ballerina” or “Bob the Builder.”

“We are trying to convey the key messages that we are there for them 24 hours a day. We are a network designed to bring the parent and the preschooler together online, on-air and on-demand,” Ms. Diskin said.

The campaign debuted April 23 with 10 print ads and four TV spots and will run throughout the year. Ms. Diskin views the campaign as a multiyear effort and expects the network will develop new creative at the start of 2008, but still with the same broad campaign message.

In May, Sprout also targeted the ad community in Manhattan with local buys on bus kiosks and coffee cups near the major buying agencies and on the train lines from New York to Connecticut.

Steve Red
Title: President and chief creative office of advertising agency Red Tettemer in Philadelphia
How long in position: 12 years
Year of birth: 1959
Place of birth: San Antonio
Who knew? His parents unknowingly sent him to a nudist overnight camp in Vermont when he was 15.
Eileen Diskin
Title: VP marketing, PBS Kids Sprout
How long in position: 2006
Year of birth: 1967
Place of birth: Glen Mills, Pa.
Who knew? “I once won a skeet-shooting contest at a wedding in Vail, Colo., and I frequently enjoy the sport on my father’s farm.”