NBC “Brotherhood of Man” vs BBC One “Consider Yourself”

[tweetmeme]

Two countries, two big events, distinct audiences and two very different approaches to promoting the flagship brands through talent-led image spots. America’s peacock network recently revealed a 4-minute long promo during the NBC Super Bowl pre-game show, teased by a sweet little vignette featuring the cast of 30 Rock, leading into a montage of over 100 faces from across the network. Across the pond, BBC One asks you to consider yourself one of us, with Graham Norton at the piano and everyone from Doctor Who to Brucey chiming in during Christmas.

Both channels know the strength of the much loved and familiar faces that grace their screens, but how they approach packaging the spots is an interesting distinction.

Would like to know what you think- share your comments below. Which spot is more effective and why? Which do you like more?

Year in Review: The Top 30 Channel Branding Campaigns from 2011

[tweetmeme]

Happy New Year my friends.

And with it comes my yearly roundup (in no particular order) of the top 30 channel branding campaigns from 2011. From some well considered refreshes from HBO, Discovery, and MTV, to name changers (Velocity & Science), and a few behind the scenes glimpses from Eurosport, RTÉ, and Channel 5, 2011 was another glorious year of showing why design for the small screen was anything but.

If you like this list, or simply missed previous years, you can find 2010 here, and 2009 here. And as always, whether you are channel or agency-side- do get in touch if you want to talk shop.

Wishing you and yours a prosperous, healthy, and happy 2012.

Denny

–

Read full article: “Eurosport’s Emotional New Brand Identity“

Read full article: “HBO 2011 Redesign”

Read full article: “Discovery Channel (US) Brings New Energy to On-Air Identity“

Read full article: “UK Channel 4’s T4 Refreshes with Dancing Robots“

Read full article: “MTV Europe Unveils Fantastical  Rebrand for VIVA“

Click continue reading for the full 2011 list

TV Chiefs: Keys to Branding “Consistency, Attracting New Audiences”

If you’re like me, you spend an inordinate amount of time keeping up to date on key branding trends. 2011 has already shaped up to be a banner year for television, both in the US and UK. All signs show marketers have a renewed focus on honing in on the true strategic grit of their brands, and more importantly, (and of personal interest) selecting the right creative team to partner with for the long haul.

*Btw, if you missed it, be sure to check out ABM’s most recent year in review “30 Top Memorable Channel Branding Campaigns”

So when one is lucky enough to get the opinion of a group of well respected TV executives (more specifically the effects of programming on brand), you certainly need to listen. While there is no definitive approach to rebranding a network, there are certainly a few things that most can agree on.

When asked if it was harder for Discovery-backed OWN to have to undergo a rebrand and launch in the spotlight, Oprah Winfrey Network CEO Christina Norman said it was going to be difficult no matter what or when it did it. “We were playing our own game. No one was defining what our strategy was or what our goals were,” she said. “It was important to tell our own story and chart our own course.”

An In-House Agency Look at TRTÉ’s Teen Strand Rebrand

[tweetmeme]

In-house agencies have thrived in recent years. Though initially moreso as a result of a challenging economic climate, these in-house design-departments have succeeded in not only working alongside independent design and branding agencies for special projects but continue to produce award winning work on a day-to-day basis that numbers in the thousands of projects by year end.

TRTÉ Creative Development

I’ve had some interesting conversations with a few notable in-house agencies recently, talking about everything from the how’s and why’s of commissioned work to the practicalities (and apprehensions) of bringing in an outside (read: untested) agency to pitch for a rebrand.

There is certainly enough work out there for both in-house agencies and stand-apart branding firms to succeed. The challenge lies in that delicate balance of maximizing internal channel resources with the value of bringing in a new perspective, all the while ensuring the brand stays in well tested hands.

RTÉ’s Alan Dunne shares a glimpse from the broadcaster’s in-house design department, sharing his first person account of TRTÉ’s recent rebrand from longstanding television children’s brand, The Den. Special thanks to Alan and RTÉ for providing this to us. An inside look at everything from initial apprehensions, to the development of the brief, and the polished lineup of new idents waits for you, just behind “keep reading”.

Expect to see more first person articles from the in-house agencies from Discovery Creative (US & UK) & FOX Interntional Channels in the pretty near future. This is a rather new perspective we’re providing on ABM, namely client-side originated perspective pieces. If this is something you’d like to see more of, let me know directly, or support the content publically via Twitter and http://www.facebook.com/tvbranding

Year in Review: 30 Top Memorable Channel Branding Campaigns from 2010

[tweetmeme]

Happy New Year! Though 2010 has come and gone, we have a year of beautifully crafted and strategically minded bits of television identity work to look back on. From NBC Universal’s recent Chiller rebrand to idents from HBO, Channel 4, and MTV- we brought you stories from the front lines, from international markets as varied as Brazil, China, France, UK, Australia, and of course, the US.

A sincere thank you to our client partners at the networks for your time and trust, and a big shout out to our friends on the agency side of the business for your love of the art. So without further ado, a few spots to wet your appetite, leading to the List: 30 Memorable Channel Identity Campaigns from 2010.

–

Sky Arts HD 2010 Rebrand

MTV Push 2010 Launch

Chiller 2010 Rebrand

HBO Asia “Unexpected” Idents

CCTV 2010 Image Spot

–

The 2010 List, in alphabetical order. Enjoy.

13th Street 2010 Rebrand

13th Street 2010 Rebrand

ABC3 2010 Rebrand

ABC3 2010 Rebrand

Al-Jazeera 2010 Rebrand

Al-Jazeera 2010 Rebrand

Cartoon Network 2010 Rebrand

Cartoon Network 2010 Rebrand

Channel 4 (UK) 2010 Refresh

Channel 4 2010 Refresh

What Marketers Want From Their Creative Agency (Part 2)

[tweetmeme]

Last week I caught up with Tom Lucas, the much respected Marketing Director for UKTV, for a long overdue catchup, much appreciated mind meld, and afternoon caffeinating. I consider it pure luxury to be able to listen to seasoned clients discuss real world/right now challenges in a frank manner and their approach to filtering through the creative agency clutter.

I again thank Tom for his perspective, some of which I share with you here.  PS: Please don’t bombard him with blind inquiries. He was kind enough to let me present this on ABM, and since I’ll be sharing more of my chats with top UK & US marketers and I don’t want to be scaring them all off. 🙂 Thankya.

–

A Brief Guide to What Marketers Want From Their Agency (Part 2 of 3)
Missed Part 1? You can find that here.

Get a Grip on the Numbers

• Get on every email circulation list which disseminates performance data on your client companies.
• Read the analyst report.
• Get a copy of your client’s P&L, see where the marketing line fits in.
• Look at your fees from the FD’s perspective. Make it easy for him, demonstrate that the actual return on your endeavours outweighs the cost of hiring you.
• If you need to hire someone to do this, do it.

Don’t get the brief right. Get the right brief.

• Sometimes I think we get the wrong answers because we ask ourselves the wrong questions.
• “What is the single-minded message?” might be appropriate for a poster, but different consumer behavious and a new marketing paradigm demand new questions.
• In the digital age, a better question is “Why would I want to get involved?”
• Templates might make us feel comfortable, but sometimes we need to mix it up a bit.
• Let’s make the brief fit for purpose.

Adspend is the last resort

• Spend your client’s money as if it were your own.
• Exploit every last bit of owned or earned media. Audit the social networks. Find and arm the brand ambassadors.
• Only once your client’s brand permeates every possible realm of free media should you consider paying for it.
• And when you do, make sure you demonstrate that every penny is driving incremental reach and reaching the parts that free media can’t.

A Brief Guide To What Marketers Want From Their Agency (Part 1)

[tweetmeme]

Guest Commentary By Tom Lucas
Director of Marketing & Communications, UKTV

Don’t Sell Yourselves

• A confession: Most of us clients get quite bored sitting through credentials presentations.
• We’d rather talk about ourselves. Or make sure you understand what we’re looking for.
• The best way to win our business is to take a greater interest in and ask more questions about our problems than anyone else.
• Listen as if for a pin to drop.

Be Externally Referenced

• Spot new stuff and tell us about it.
• Most of us are profoundly uncool. We spend evenings feeding babies, and watching telly with Simon Cowell in it.
• Put your army of hipsters to work. Cross pollinate the learnings from your clients.
• Expose us to the great stuff you’ve seen at Cannes. Buy us the D&AD Annual.
• Help us dare to be cooler.

Know Your Limits

• Not every business problem is a communications brief.
• Sometimes we clients get desperate, and outsource the problem to someone we can kick if it goes wrong.
• If you don’t think you can help- tell us. We’ll respect you in the morning.

Channel Nine Copycat Controversy

It’s reasonable to assume that fewer and fewer ideas these days are truly original. Every so often, however, we run across promos and sequences that look eerily familiar. Seems to be the case with new controversy brewing over a recent promo from Australia’s Channel Nine. Here’s a look at the spots, see lower for a side by side comparison, you decide.

Nine’s spot for Rescue Special Ops looks to draw some eye-opening similarities from a Bear Grylls promo from Discovery UK. The response from a Channel Nine spokesman: the Discovery ad was an “inspiration, but we featured our cast, of course. The style suited the show.”

Sources tell me that the spot was developed in-house, however we don’t have any further comment or clarification from Nine since the last official statement on the matter. So what are your thoughts? Where is the line drawn between inspired by and copied?

Oh and also as David Knox pointed out last year, is it me or does this Battlestar Gallactica Promo from 2005 look familiar? Yeah, that’s a promo for Underbelly that ran on Nine in 2009.

New Survey: European Clients More Likely to Pay for Pitches

[tweetmeme]

In what has been a hotly debated issue for years within the broadcast design community, we now have new information comparing pitch compensation in the US and Europe. Although the 2009 study (conducted by Worldwide Partners) takes a look at pitch fee structure for traditional advertising agencies, it nonetheless offers a rare comparative glimpse at the two leading markets in the world.

The results? The survey found that European ad agencies were more likely to get compensated for ideas presented during new business pitches than shops based in the US. From my experience, it does seem like US design firms are a bit more willing to engage in no-fee pitches. Reasons for this vary. One possibility could be the large number of shops competing at any one given time in the mega client LA & NYC hubs. As such, if more agencies are throwing free boards at a prospective assignment, clients may be less apt (and less able) to compensate pitch participants.

Some more crunchy data from the study; of the agencies that responded to the survey, nearly half, 49% reported rarely or never receiving compensation from clients.

Only 5% in North America reported getting pitch fees, while 56% of agencies based in Europe said marketers offer remuneration for new business pitches. The pitch compensation structures varied, from a flat fee of about $5000 to a fixed percentage of the contract amount. And again, although these figures are based on traditional ad agency reviews, it nonetheless supports similar observations in broadcast design/branding industry.

I must add (in defense of US marketers), however, that I have had a great number of clients in the US that have compensated for boards through the years. Further, the consensus seems to be that main titles and channel identity assignments have a higher paid pitch percentage over other types of projects.

On a positive note, as I see it, the market continues to offer chances for smaller shops to win hotly contested midline ($75k-$150k) assignments. It also provides unique opportunities for broadcast design & branding shops to pick up previously ungettable direct to client branding work that just doesn’t fit the old ad agency pricing model.

Do you have thoughts on this issue? Send your perspective to denny@dennytu.com

*I have received a number of responses to the original publishing of this story. For more perspective on this article, you can read a few reader responses here.

Getting to That Beautiful Idea

There’s certainly something to be said about how undervalued the words “creative process” can be sometimes. We send finished work around the world, links to :15 spots, channel branding montages, beautifully crafted, meticulously shaped, loved and birthed. Oft times we can forget that these assignments begin with just a simple brief, a conference call with a shared creative goal and a singular focused vision.

And although wiredriving links or Fedex’ng reels has been the expected route of first contact- when looking at a newly finished piece of work, I often times find myself asking: What did it take to get there, to that great big beautiful idea.

A few days ago, Director Jon Yeo sent me a nice email (thanks for the kind words on my blog Jon) which included this :90 VFX breakdown of the Sky Twister Ident.

And as always, that friendly reminder. We don’t sell people, places, or things. We sell an experience (both literally and figuratively), an undeniably unique approach to creative solution-making. Now that’s something to think about the next time a client calls.