ITV News: 2012 Rebranding Speculation

I've deliberately set this up seperately from the current two ongoing threads so that those interested in the *alleged* rebranding don't have to wade through piles of other stuff.

I am not even sure if the rebranding is definitely on, but there appears to be sufficient speculation around to suggest that one is on the way.

So, I guess the first logical questions is: can anyone on the inside confirm that a rebranding is on the way in October?

Secondly, if it is happening, will it be a major revamp, or just a slight refresh/tweak?

Thirdly, as news junkies, what would we all *sensibly* like to see as part of the refresh?

On a personal level, I would be quite keen to see the re-introduction of a physical set, as opposed to the virtual mammoth they have at present, and also I would be quite keen to see some distinction for the News at Ten brand again. As far as content is concerned, a bit more in-depth coverage and special reports?

And, what about an enhancement of their Business News coverage?

Finally: time for a departure from the yellow theme? A crisper, cleaner, more distinct house colour perhaps? I am not sure why, but the current yellow/grey/silver pallete doesn't scream "news" to me. Needs a bit of a harder definition, although I am totally unsure as to how this could be achieved.

Well I don't know yet whether there will be a rebrand, but I have heard rumours that ITV News is set to go HD later in the year. I guess it's possible that graphics and studios would be upgraded at the same time, so it could be on the cards.

I think the most needed improvement has already been made. The relaunch of the website was desperately needed and it at least attempts to level up some of the differences between ITV and BBC News. Twitter and automatically updating websites get the news out quicker (as per editorial guidelines) and the consumption of news online is growing a lot faster. It's their news channel - and it's arguably more effective than a TV station. More integration of video and bulletin update is the next step there.

The content of the TV bulletins is fantastic. A decent marketing campaign and a tidier, sleeker look is all that's required in my opinion. Ditch the green screen. It looks false because it is false. The quality of the graphics isn't high enough for it to be pulled off because it's not trying to be anything realistic. The opening headlines look terrible in terms of quality. A combination of more real set and green screen would be an improvement. Ditch the yellow (not in favour of the old teal colour) and go with a colour combination that carries depth and authority. The ITV News at Ten look recently was more along these lines.

Updating ITV weather would be required to, and make the bulletins longer than 30 seconds. Some would say that it's not important - but I think people should feel they aren't missing out by not watching the BBC forecast.

Although the audience brief for the regional news is to aim for a primarily female audience, with emphasis on soft news stories, IMO it's gone too far. In my region, Calendar, the agenda needs hardening up - they keep getting beat by Look North. Some editions have sport as high up as 6:10pm in the running order.

I agree about the moving away from the virtual sets maybe a little bit of virtual. But I can't remember why but the other day I saw a clip of the set used Untill this current one, the London Skyline, an even though I thought I didn't mind the current set seeing that one made me release that this set isnt half as good! I wouldn't mind seeing this make a return really even if it is a backwards move, I dont understand the london centric crap they came out with it! As a Tyne Tees viewer I loved that set! I suppose I could see why Scotland and Northern Ireland might disagree with me but London is the main city of the UK. I would like to see some stand up presentation again, not all the time but now and again.

I would like to see the music retained with more from the old NaT track. Maybe a new remix? The titles sequence I don't thinks to bad, however everyone seems to be going for these ''Panels' look. I would like to see a title sequence focusing on images around the UK, rather than the news stories, I suppose it might end up looking like more of a Magazine Show rather than a serious news show. To be honest I think a compelete over-haul of ITV News is needed.

Is this regional amd national 'Newshour' idea ever going to come off? If yes a relaunch would be the best time to put it in place.

Ohh and ITV Weather is screaming out for a relaunch!

I'd argue that if they wanted to appear more serious, go back to using the ITN brand. The current ITV logo isn't particularly serious or authoritative compared to, say, the 1989 logo.

Couldn't agree more!! Soooo outdated!

I personally would like to see News at Ten revert back having its own identity. I loved everything about NaT when it came back in 2008 and I'll never understand why they scrapped it.

I have never been a fan of the current branding of ITV News and I hope we'll see the back of it in the Autumn

So much so that the weather graphics debuted BEFORE the current ITV logo (in 2005) - when they rebranded in 2006, the weather simply had the logo at the top changed (removing the region names in the process) and the typeface changed to the new corporate one. Frankly, it was obsolete before it was introduced, because of the far superior BBC weather graphics redesign, which was also in 2005.

You talk as if the BBC weather graphics had 100% postive approval when they were introduced. I don't think everyone likes them even now.

The ITV weather graphics were very much sold as a back to basics approach in the wake of the initial reaction to the BBC graphics, but are long overdue a revamp - even if they did keep the more traditional symbol approach.

Until we know what is happening with the ITV logo itself it remains to be seen what happens with ITV News. If ITV1 keep the logo and the yellow colour scheme and just change the idents/promo style there would actually be no need to change the ITV News look at all.

I can't stand the BBC's weather maps and graphics. I can't understand how people say they're easier to read. Instead of squinting at a quick flypast of my own region and trying to figure out which shade the map is (i.e. night/day, sunny/cloudy etc.), I can just tune in to ITV, see my region instantly throughout the whole forecast and easily see what the big symbol is that's covering it. I appreciate that such symbols don't allow for a great level of detail, but isn't that what local forecasts are for? I use the national forecasts merely to get a feel for what the weather's going to be like. And I've always put more stock in just looking outside to see what the weather's going to be like on a given day.

In the last decade or so, when they've refreshed ITV1 pres, they've refreshed ITV News too. With a virtual set, the backdrop can make all of the difference (see the 2006 and 2009 tweaks) so if anything changes I'd imagine it will be that.

I'd like to see them return to Big Ben branding (even if just the clockface) too, and they need to remix the theme tune. The current one sonds a bit too clunky and disjointed. I'm probably in the minority but I preferred the 2004-2009 theme over what came before, it just sounded more modern, which when rivalling BBC and Sky is important.