IT
I agree that very frequent rebrands are a bad sign, but 14 years+ of the same or similar brand is surely unprecedented in television terms? I can't think of many news programmes that have maintained a brand for as long as BBC News has of late. Even the BBC "virtual era" was retired after 6 years and the News 24/World flags which had a lot of mileage didn't even last longer than 2 years.
Even the longest brands over at ITN haven't lasted 14 years - the News at 5:45 had the same presentation from 1976-1988 and by the time it was retired it was totally clapped out. Non Stop and the Awakening were used for a long time, granted, but even then the accompanying visuals were changed every now and then.
It just feels like BBC News has been visually the same for such a long time that it's time something new was developed. They can't eek this out forever and my point is that the move to a totally new broadcast facility was the perfect time to start from scratch. How are they ever going to move forward if they cling on to this brand?
Yes but the brand has changed quite a bit in that time. Only since 2007 has there been little change.
Well, sort of. If you take a broad view of BBC News's branding, the same elements have been more-or-less present since 1999: the colour red; the globe; place names; beeps/drums music, circular desks. The specific colour choices may have differed a little (red and cream, red and black etc.) but it's all been essentially the same. It's not as different as the change in 1999 was. Eventually that's what will be needed again, and some of us think the time was now.
Incidentally, I looked at the breaking news graphics this morning and save for the logo not being stacked and the ticker colour I thought "Christ, am I back in 2003?". Then I looked more closely at the text on the breaking news aston itself and I thought it was very similar to the 2007 graphics. That's my point - a lot of this "relaunch" has already been done at various stages over the past decade. There's not much that is totally new - probably only the building itself, robotic cameras, the sweeping shots and the graphic animations. The rest - the titles, the music, the colours, the font, the newsroom backdrop, the standing by screens.... it's all been done before.
itsrobert
Founding member
I agree that very frequent rebrands are a bad sign, but 14 years+ of the same or similar brand is surely unprecedented in television terms? I can't think of many news programmes that have maintained a brand for as long as BBC News has of late. Even the BBC "virtual era" was retired after 6 years and the News 24/World flags which had a lot of mileage didn't even last longer than 2 years.
Even the longest brands over at ITN haven't lasted 14 years - the News at 5:45 had the same presentation from 1976-1988 and by the time it was retired it was totally clapped out. Non Stop and the Awakening were used for a long time, granted, but even then the accompanying visuals were changed every now and then.
It just feels like BBC News has been visually the same for such a long time that it's time something new was developed. They can't eek this out forever and my point is that the move to a totally new broadcast facility was the perfect time to start from scratch. How are they ever going to move forward if they cling on to this brand?
Yes but the brand has changed quite a bit in that time. Only since 2007 has there been little change.
Well, sort of. If you take a broad view of BBC News's branding, the same elements have been more-or-less present since 1999: the colour red; the globe; place names; beeps/drums music, circular desks. The specific colour choices may have differed a little (red and cream, red and black etc.) but it's all been essentially the same. It's not as different as the change in 1999 was. Eventually that's what will be needed again, and some of us think the time was now.
Incidentally, I looked at the breaking news graphics this morning and save for the logo not being stacked and the ticker colour I thought "Christ, am I back in 2003?". Then I looked more closely at the text on the breaking news aston itself and I thought it was very similar to the 2007 graphics. That's my point - a lot of this "relaunch" has already been done at various stages over the past decade. There's not much that is totally new - probably only the building itself, robotic cameras, the sweeping shots and the graphic animations. The rest - the titles, the music, the colours, the font, the newsroom backdrop, the standing by screens.... it's all been done before.
LW
I think the added music in the rework is still kept under the same version. I prefer the current World News' titles. There should be a bit of a major rework.
They need to do more than just rework the theme - just adding a beep here and a swoosh there isn't really making much difference.
I think the added music in the rework is still kept under the same version. I prefer the current World News' titles. There should be a bit of a major rework.
PH
I agree to an extent. Surely this must be the last reincarnation of the beeps and drums. Despite it being a fantastic theme, and it will be sorely missed when it is replaced, it has been going a bit stale for a while now and DL's reworks don't sound so new and fresh any more.
To play devil's advocate, could it be that bosses felt a complete rebrand would be too much to bite off given the staggered cross-over to BH? That is, with World having to move over 2 months before would it have been too messy with a totally different brand on World and NC at the same time for those 2 months? Perhaps it wasn't logistically possible to have World and NC move to BH at the same time with a totally new brand thus they had to keep the branding similar to make the transition period run smoothly? Or perhaps there's a more simple reason for keeping things more low-key. We are in an age of austerity at the moment. Perhaps the BBC didn't want to rock the boat by going for an all-out new studio and look at the same time in this current economic climate and be ridiculed by all quarters for it? Who knows - they may be planning to rebrand the whole thing visually (not the studios) in a short period of time. The refresh in 2007 only lasted just over a year...
my point is that the move to a totally new broadcast facility was the perfect time to start from scratch. How are they ever going to move forward if they cling on to this brand?
I agree to an extent. Surely this must be the last reincarnation of the beeps and drums. Despite it being a fantastic theme, and it will be sorely missed when it is replaced, it has been going a bit stale for a while now and DL's reworks don't sound so new and fresh any more.
To play devil's advocate, could it be that bosses felt a complete rebrand would be too much to bite off given the staggered cross-over to BH? That is, with World having to move over 2 months before would it have been too messy with a totally different brand on World and NC at the same time for those 2 months? Perhaps it wasn't logistically possible to have World and NC move to BH at the same time with a totally new brand thus they had to keep the branding similar to make the transition period run smoothly? Or perhaps there's a more simple reason for keeping things more low-key. We are in an age of austerity at the moment. Perhaps the BBC didn't want to rock the boat by going for an all-out new studio and look at the same time in this current economic climate and be ridiculed by all quarters for it? Who knows - they may be planning to rebrand the whole thing visually (not the studios) in a short period of time. The refresh in 2007 only lasted just over a year...
IT
itsrobert
Founding member
Those are some good points, Phen. I hadn't thought of those, especially the point about logistics. It would have been difficult to move everything in stages with some programmes having totally different branding to others that were still at TVC. Maybe you're right - they'll bed in the new facility then do a complete overhaul in a year or two. Let's hope so anyway.
MI
What does Clive Myrie say to his guests during the opening titles to The Papers? It's the third consecutive night that the titles have ended with him laughing!!!
I'm not liking the flow between the end of the 10 o'clock News and The Papers, although I do like the channel refresh overall.
You have the end of the news,
then trailers,
then Clive Myrie previewing tomorrow's papers,
then the weather,
then Clive Myrie teasing The Papers, with a shot of the guests joining him tonight,
then headlines,
then finally The Papers!
How about going straight from the end of the news to the weather and then let Clive tease the Papers once before doing the :30 headlines?
I'm not liking the flow between the end of the 10 o'clock News and The Papers, although I do like the channel refresh overall.
You have the end of the news,
then trailers,
then Clive Myrie previewing tomorrow's papers,
then the weather,
then Clive Myrie teasing The Papers, with a shot of the guests joining him tonight,
then headlines,
then finally The Papers!
How about going straight from the end of the news to the weather and then let Clive tease the Papers once before doing the :30 headlines?
Last edited by Mike516 on 20 March 2013 10:51pm
LL
London Lite
Founding member
I've PVR'ed The Papers a couple of times and it's finished late by 3 minutes, so missed the end of the review. A great idea to refresh the once stale section of the NC's output, but will need to think again.
I'd like it to come from the area in the newsroom where we saw Matthew earlier in the week, which has also been used on World.
I'd like it to come from the area in the newsroom where we saw Matthew earlier in the week, which has also been used on World.