Drawing on brand heritage to revitalize a brand for a digital future.
NBCUniversal asked us to collaborate with them and strategist Lee Hunt to help to give the brand renewed focus. We focused on refreshing our brand proposition to make it more open, inclusive and celebratory and developing a much-needed brand personality that functions on a ‘brand as a peer’ level.
A new name to signal a new focus
We worked with multiple global stakeholders to oversee a name change: from the singular Universal Channel to Universal TV – signaling innovation for a new era and a desire to feel more platform-agnostic.
A new logo and a new identity
Every element of the new branding was born from the iconic Universal Films marque that captures that magical moment when the light breaks around the curve of the earth. The revised logo, the colour palette and the movement of light around social assets all refer back to this point in the brand's heritage.
A REFINED PROPOSITION AND CLEAR BRAND PERSONALITY
We refreshed the brand proposition to move away from a focus on an individual hero to celebrating the varied collective of characters in our shows and their relationships with one another. And we gave the brand a clear, conversational brand personality: straight-talking, knowing and welcoming.
A FOCUS ON BRAND ATTRIBUTION
A key principle was increasing channel attribution of programme titles, which we achieved through the development of two customised fonts and a lock-up that that puts Universal TV front and centre in all communication.
Objectiv was hand-cut by foundry Dalton Maag to sympathise with the new Universal TV logo and to deliver programme information.
Bressay captures the new conversational character of the brand and is intended for use on quotes, dialogue and audience participation elements.
The idents, animated by Future Deluxe, with music composed by Zelig, feature the logo front and centre - as if part of a constantly evolving light installation.
Working alongside the NBCUniversal in-house team, we developed a grid that brings movement, colour and increased brand attribution to the on-screen presentation system and digital and social assets.