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While I was managing Creative Director at Leroy & Clarkson, FX engaged us in a lively brand workshop to hone in on what their most own-able asset was, and turn that into the new brand position and tagline. This was a collaborative effort with ECD Daniel Fries and several staffers as well as network branding guru Lee Hunt. I was lucky enough to be the first person in the room to blurt out “Fearless” when we were brainstorming taglines, and it just kinda stuck.
Fearless works for FX on many levels – becoming an anthemic descriptor of not only the brave, “outsider” lead characters of their tent-pole shows, but more importantly as a filter for how they develop content and the kind of storytelling that the brand has always championed. FX has always been about taking risks and creating irreverent, original programming that celebrates the everyman among outsiders.
“Fearless” became a stamp and badge of honor. When you see the word “Fearless”, alone, paired with a dramatic image of Donald Glover in Atlanta, or Jeff Bridges in The Old Man, or Kerri Russell in The Americans, it all falls in to place.
This was a competitive pitch between several branding studios. It came down to two lines, “Fearless” from us and “Born Original” from Troika. Luckily we had a veteran like Lee Hunt in our corner, and he was able to prod John Landgraf enough to push it over the finish line.
I’m proud to report FX is still using it to this day, and I come across it in tagline creative briefs constantly – alongside iconic lines like Nike’s “Just Do It” and Apple’s “Think Different”. Not too shabby.