Branding campaign and election coverage: Challenges and muddying of the waters

CNN continues to use the ‘Election Night in America’ branding prominently — with the similar ‘Election Day in America’ used during dayside hours. With NBC no longer using ‘Decision Night in America,’ the name is probably more effective this time around. However, it’s worth noting that NBC actually used the name ‘Football Night in America’ for its NFL pregame coverage before CNN invented the ‘Decision Night’ name.

For non–election night coverage, CNN stuck with ‘America’s Choice’ branding. However, it would be interesting to see if CNN could tie the two together, using ‘Election Season in America’ or something similar.

PBS used the branding ‘Vote 2018’ — similar to ‘The Vote’ minus the subtitle and word ‘the,’ of course. PBS also opted for a unique take on the red, white and blue color palette, with a deep — almost black violet-blue and a pinkish-orange shade of red that was often blended as a gradient.