ITV Lights Up With New Festive Christmas Ident

Just In: ITV deserves the positive accolades as it continues to bolster it’s latest marketing push. Lots (and I mean LOTS) of you have been asking about ITV, and in the spirit of the holidays- you ask and you shalt receive.

I was at party last night when I caught a glimpse of ITV’s newest holiday ident, which made it’s silvery debut during X-Factor. And since I’m on the topic, Matt Cardle really?

First Look: Coronation Street’s New 2010 HD Main Title, Retrospective

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First Look: British prime-time soap opera institution, Coronation Street, is getting a much talked about new look. The ITV show is getting a brand new title sequence (first time in eight years) as the show moves to high definition on Monday. Rival EastEnders revamped its title sequence for the first time in ten years last September.

Coronation Street 2010

Corrie Executive Producer Kieran Roberts tells us, “In our new titles Coronation Street remains the star but we see it as part of a busy, modern Manchester through our opening shots. The overall feel is livelier, more intimate and more colourful and they look stunning.”

Manchester’s own HerseyGoldie Films produced the titles (post by Space Digital) on a four week concept to final delivery timetable.

When US soap As the World Turns ends in September 2010, Coronation Street will become the world’s longest running scripted television show.

Coronation Street’s first set of black and white titles was viewers’ first glimpse of the show in 1960. The simple sequence, preceded by the Granada television ident, was very short. For serious Corrie fans and other main title enthusiasts, click keep reading for a short retrospective on the national institution…

ITV / ITV1 HD Launches New Campaign, New Idents

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ITV has launched a new campaign promoting it’s new ITV1 HD offering. The TV and cinema campaign launched on 9 April and features the tagline: “The Brighter Side Just Got Brighter”. Heavy on-air promotion across ITV channels features Ant and Dec explaining the benefits of HD and transforming into HD versions of themselves.

In addition, ITV has launched a set of 4 new idents, as well as an evolved on-screen presentation system that includes an updated ITV1 logo. The ITV1 HD campaign and new idents were developed by in-house agency ITV Creative.

ITV’s HD campaign is also being supported with a nationwide press and poster push, developed by ad agency BBH, that features an array of talent including Harry Hill, Philip Schofield and Piers Morgan in glamorous poses.

“Beyond the functional benefits, high definition heightens the emotional benefit of the ITV1 channel brand itself.” said David Pemsel, group marketing director at ITV. “This is an opportunity to drive brand reputation as well as viewing.”

ITV to Launch Granada TV in Asia

ITV Global Entertainment is launching Granada TV, a brand new general entertainment channel in Asia and the Middle East.

“Drawing on the vast resources of the ITV programming library, Granada TV offers viewers a hit combination of contemporary dramas, cool comedy, cutting edge reality and the best in talk and entertainment shows. Granada TV brings together high quality and commercially successful entertainment programming in a fresh, contemporary format.

Granada TV is part of ITV Global Entertainment Ltd, the international licensing arm of ITV, the UK’s most successful commercial broadcaster and one of the worlds largest television producers. ITV Global Entertainment licenses thousands of hours of programming from ITV Productions and many other independent producers to more than 200 countries worldwide and with more than 250 licensees throughout 70 countries. ITV Global Entertainment is part of ITV’s Global Content Division which unites all of ITV’s UK and international production and content businesses.”

And in news just in yesterday, it looks like ITV Global has tapped Nine Planners to distribute Granada TV in South Korea, landing a slot on SK Broadband’s IPTV platform. I believe this is the first North Asia distribution deal for ITV Global Entertainment channel for Asia, after securing carriage in Singapore.

Granada America Rebranded ITV Studios

Granada America is renaming itself ITV Studios. The name was unveiled yesterday by ITV Global Content MD Lee Barlett. The 79 year old moniker is behind shows such as I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Hell’s Kitchen and Kitchen Nightmares for Fox, Nanny 911 for CMT, WCG Ultimate Gamer for Sci Fi, Celebrity Fit Club for VH1, Room Raiders for MTV, First Love Second Chance for TV Land and Bought & Sold for HGTV. As a sidenote, I must say Brian Zagorski (a longtime colleague and uber-nice guy) has done a fantastic job with the lineup as VP, Current Programming.

In Europe, ITV Studios produces more than 3,000 hours of original fare each year. ITV also runs regional production companies in Germany and Australia. The company formerly known as Granada America first entered the U.S. market in the mid-1990s, and re-entered the U.S. marketplace in its current form in February 2004.

The Granada name has a long and proud history in British media, launching as a cinema company in 1930 and awarded the north of England ITV franchise in 1954, beginning broadcasting in May 1956. From July 1968 Granada TV just held the north-west of England ITV franchise, when Yorkshire television launched.

Bartlett adds, “Changing our name in the US to ITV Studios is part of our branding strategy for ITV Global Content. The name better demonstrates the size, scale and ambition of ITV Studios and the success of the US operation is hugely important to us.” The new US branding will be seen on screen for the first time on the credits of the forthcoming American version of I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!, which will be presented by Myleene Klass and launches on NBC on 1 June.

ITV Launches Ambitious Brand Campaign

ITV has launched an ambitious new brand campaign tagged “The Brighter Side”. The commercial spots, which launched last week through television, cinema, and online channels got an audience of an opportunity through it’s premiere on “Britain’s Got Talent” (go Susan Boyle, go!). According to ITV, the channel is “the most entertaining, upbeat, optimistic programming in the UK”.

The brand spot from Agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty aims to promote ITV as a destination for optimism, shared experience and entertainment. Director Rupert Sanders, who won this year’s Cannes Lions Grand Prix for his Xbox Halo 3 commercial, created a scene in which we find children exploring a dull, boring Britain until they pierce the clouds above by throwing stones, letting out ray after ray of sunshine. Post production was done by The Mill.

The big budget commercial aims to differentiate ITV1 from its competitors and remind viewers that ITV is one of the UK’s most loved brands. By attempting to produce a bold, filmic, long-length television advert (the 90 second film also exists as a cut-down 60-second and a longer two minute twenty-second version) ITV is trying to showcase how powerful the medium of television remains and why brands should use television to communicate their messages.

A Collection: ITV1 Idents 2004-2009

It was just a few years that a survey of twenty six different groups representing over 6000 viewers found, that although ITV had used consistent on-air branding, that few could remember and identify them. A breakdown of viewer population attitudinal behavior from the study (at the time) is provided after the jump later in this post.

ITV

ITV

Times have certainly changed. As channel brands continue to mature, it’s nice to be able to be able to look at a collection of idents and track a bit of it’s evolutionary course. Here for your easy consumption, are the ITV1 Idents from 2004-2009.

*Update: the Youtube video was removed. Will provide an alternate shortly!