The network’s clever ‘TV Is Good’ campaign invites parody, but is generating the desired buzz. However, with 11 new shows to promote, will it succeed in generating more viewers?

ABC will premiere 11 new programs next month, and odds are that right now you haven’t heard much about any of them.

More attention, in fact, has been paid to the network’s promotional campaign, built around the theme “TV Is Good.” Featuring pithy sayings like, “It’s a beautiful day, what are you doing outside?” and “Don’t worry, you’ve got billions of brain cells,” the ads have generated inordinate buzz and criticism for everything from their happy-face color scheme to their tongue-in-cheek musings about being a couch potato--a pastime given credit for America’s prosperity.

Yet some question whether that pitch will be good for ABC, suggesting the approach would pose a risk even for a top-rated network. With ABC third in the ratings, its indulgence in such vague observations seems both open to debate and ripe for ridicule.

From a more practical standpoint, there has been murmuring within the industry about the wisdom of putting resources into image-oriented ads when ABC has to inform potential viewers about 10 new series--more than any other network--plus a revival of “The Wonderful World of Disney.”

“When Campbell’s Soup says, ‘Soup is good food,’ it’s good business because they have 90% of the market. A generic sell works for a company that has a major market share,” said Michael A. Kamins, associate professor of marketing at USC’s Marshall School of Business.

“If you’re telling me to watch more TV, why should I watch ABC? Because they have funny billboards?”

Competitors say ABC should be most concerned by tracking studies that indicate its new programs currently have the lowest awareness among the four major networks.

Researchers monitor both awareness and “intend to view” levels--asking people first if they’ve heard of a show, then whether they’d watch it.

Those figures are low for everyone right now, with executives saying interest in the new TV season rises sharply after Labor Day. Even so, one preliminary survey obtained by The Times found ABC’s new-series awareness hovering below 13%, compared to roughly 22% for both CBS and NBC, and 14% for Fox.

And ABC’s “intend to view” numbers ranked last, fueling the notion that ABC has been pushing attitude and image when the network should have been touting its shows.

“Every bus I see with ‘Hobbies, schmobbies’ [one of the ABC slogans] on it could be a promotion for one of their shows,” said an executive at a rival network. NBC went so far as to run its own ad--in the middle of “Seinfeld,” no less--specifically designed to parody ABC.

John Miller, NBC’s executive vice president of advertising and promotion, acknowledged that that may have amounted to an inside joke that was lost on many viewers and helped give ABC’s campaign “more notoriety than it probably deserved.”

The trade publication Advertising Age has praised the ABC ads as “refreshing,” but Debra Goldman, a columnist for AdWeek, feels the campaign has tickled the press but misses with consumers, who don’t view television watching as a guilty pleasure.

“Because of cable, marketing and branding have become the hottest things,” she said. “I think it’s very questionable whether any of this is relevant to people’s viewing decisions.”

ABC executives insist they’re flattered by the swipes and satisfied the campaign has fulfilled its goal--namely, to garner attention in a lighthearted way. They also stress that the $40 million allocated for the campaign represents an extra expenditure that has in no way shortchanged promotion for new series.

“We’re not robbing from Peter to pay Paul,” said Jim Vescera, ABC’s senior vice president of advertising and promotion. He added, without addressing specific numbers, that the network is “on par with where we were this time last year” in terms of viewer awareness of its programs.

ABC will gradually phase in more specific ads, with the billboards switching from the generic tack that’s been employed to plugging individual series around Labor Day. The first of ABC’s new series premieres Sept. 18.

The advertising was developed by TBWA Chiat/Day, whose high-profile campaigns include the Nissan commercial in which G.I. Joe uses his sporty wheels to woo Barbie--commercials that have won awards but that also have been criticized for failing to improve sales. Hired this year by ABC, the agency disputes reports that focus groups responded negatively to the ads and attributes the backlash to resentment prompted by attempting something different.

“It just shows you that if you do stuff that’s just like wallpaper and wastes a lot of money, everyone is fine with it,” said Chiat/Day chief executive Bob Kuperman.

“The networks for years have done absolute drivel in terms of campaigns. No one’s paid attention to it. . . . [Viewers] use it as a signal to change the channel because someone is going to be yelling or singing at them.”

Kuperman said the goal is to “establish an attitude,” as Fox did early in its development. He also contends that running more specific ads sooner--as the networks generally have--falls mostly on deaf ears.

“We think it’s a waste of money to start pushing a specific program two months before it’s supposed to premiere,” he said. “You don’t make appointments in June to start watching something in September.”

NBC’s Miller disagreed, maintaining that the decline in overall network ratings requires a longer lead time even for the front-running network--which has a major advantage thanks to the platform provided by “Seinfeld” and “ER”--to ensure that its message and shows get noticed.

“You have to start earlier, particularly with diminished [ratings],” he said. “That’s the way you create an event in this business: You start [running ads] early, then you drive them relentlessly.”

Network officials say their own air time remains the most valuable promotional tool, even for a low-rated network, but buying advertising elsewhere has become more significant because networks can’t rely as heavily on on-air promotion to reach viewers.

Though some producers are said to have grumbled about the ABC campaign, “Spin City” executive producer Bill Lawrence said he understands what the network is trying to accomplish.

“I honestly believe at least at some level it’s a network’s job to promote itself,” he said. “[With] NBC, when you hear ‘Must-See TV,’ you don’t think of one show.”

“Spin City” independently hired director Ted Demme to craft its promos featuring star Michael J. Fox, but the producers say that doesn’t reflect dissatisfaction with the network’s efforts.

“Mike always likes to do something that separates us from the pack, regardless of what ABC is doing,” Lawrence said. One Nike-inspired spot depicts Fox impersonating Michael Jordan, albeit on a much lower basket.

Diane Cook-Tench, director of the Ad Center at Virginia Commonwealth University, said ABC’s advertising has been noticed by her students--by itself an achievement in today’s media environment.

“When you’ve got a talked-about ad campaign, it’s generally a good thing,” she said. “It means people have been touched by it somehow . . . [that] it’s in sync with the group they’re after.”

Of course, it’s possible the press is doing more talking than the public, and dwelling on advertising may be misguided: History suggests the wholesale lineup changes ABC is making (nearly half the network’s prime-time programming will be new) are a long shot to succeed, no matter how brilliantly they’re promoted.

Cook-Tench cited a well-worn adage that “Nothing kills a bad product faster than good advertising”--meaning viewers won’t stick around if the shows don’t deliver. At issue now is whether ABC’s ads can inspire people to tune in long enough to embrace or reject its shows.

“In my mind, we’ve accomplished what we set out to do,” Chiat/Day’s Kuperman said. The proof will be in October.