BBC Corporate Identity 1997: 20 Years On

Let’s be honest here, we could fill an entire book with examples of wrong BBC logos at the start and end of programmes.

Shows made by indies (which Playday was) quite often had dodgy renditions of the BBC logo during the 90s!

I bet it come from the original run and no one bother to update it.

And also, when the practice of putting the logo at the start of a programme began, programme makers seemed to put it all over the screen, though now it generally appears in the bottom centre of the screen.

Alibi is showing Maisie Raine at the moment which is one of those early widescreen shows (first series shown in the summer of 1998 before digital broadcasts began). It’s one of the weirder ones because the BBC logo is actually translucent, not something I’ve seen any other show do!

I remember one of the reasons given at the time for the introduction of the 1997 logo was the number of dodgy home-made versions of the previous logo doing the rounds.

The BBC branded blank audio and video cassettes were notable offenders... (and let's not even start on why the Sport logo was used on these!)



The current logo doesn't seem to have suffered to the same extent, although there is that slightly off version which has made it to screen a few times which came originally from the TV Logos font IIRC.

Those cassettes were distributed by Strand Europe, who these days distribute Kodak-branded batteries:

http://www.kodakbatteries.strandeurope.com/

Heaven knows, too, why they used a font more associated with ITV than the Beeb.

They also distributed these "BBC Gold" cassettes:

http://i63.tinypic.com/2ldtw9g.jpg

At some point - presumably when the current logo was introduced - they replaced the BBC branding with Bush branding. Later still, they switched to their own name.

http://i64.tinypic.com/281rcci.jpg

Did they do the Sky branded tapes too?

Someone did, yeah.

An old Digital Spy post suggests the Sky branded video tapes were made by a company called Gemini Products and the quality of the tapes were apparently questionable at best as they were dirt cheap, as opposed to the likes of Scotch which, like everything else in this life, you get what you pay for. Those TDK tapes weren't too bad though, I've still a few of them I need to plough through to see what, if anything I can bang on YouTube.

Think I asked this before though, Scotch had a"lifetime guarantee" on their tapes so far as the infamous "re record not fade away" adverts said. Presumably this is still valid?

There were Sky branded C90 taped too.

The BBC branding of programmes puzzled me then and puzzles me now. Not so much the actual branding of it, after all frontcaps have existed for years, but the inconsistencies and the implementations. Never liked the BBC being faded in under the EastEnders logo for example, and though it clashed with the *official* guidelines, the version used in All New TOTP was perfectly in keeping with the rest of the title sequence and didn't feel tacked on at all.

As for BBC Top Gear, give me a break.

I imagine the Top Gear thing is due to the international popularity of the show and stamping it into their minds.

Anyone remember ITV trying to put their logo on programme intros after the 2013 relaunch? Didn't last long!