ITV Rebrand 2013

Nooooo! Just no.

It's far better not to tip toe around, and just concentrate on being clear and consistent because frankly, regional ITV had its heart ripped out a long time ago...

Regional News studios should be branded as, for example: itvNEWS Central rather than itv CENTRAL. Studios that produce output for the network should be branded itvSTUDIOS (with separate regional branding for their local news facilities)

Regional News:
Meridian - itvNEWS South
Yorkshire - itvNEWS Yorkshire
Granada - itvNEWS North West
Border - itvNEWS Border
Central - itvNEWS Central
Anglia - itvNEWS Anglia
Wales - itvNEWS Wales
West & Westcountry - itvNEWS West (Westcountry subregion: itvNEWS South West)
Tyne Tees - itvNEWS North East
London - itvNEWS London

Studios
itvSTUDIOS Manchester
itvSTUDIOS London
itvSTUDIOS Yorkshire
itvSTWDIO Cymru (S4C productions)

Please stop these discussions as to what the regions should be called. It's really mind-numbingly off topic.

They all already have a name which is recognized and makes sense to all who watch it and has made sense for over 50 years in some cases. That's going to be the way for at least the next 4 years at the very minimum.

West Country East and West has been referenced like that since the regions merged in 2009 along with the West & Westcountry names, so essentially it's no change.

The point is, Central DO produce programming for network, along with the graphic design and corporate comms for network and the regions, and viewer services, so it's not just ITV News.

Bristol also do some network stuff.

Tyne Tees also do the signing don't they?

Anything Bristol does was long spun off from the regional operation a long time ago. I'm talking network producers with any meaningful facilities.

My point is (and it IS relevant, despite being dictated otherwise) I would rather a consistent and clear approach to branding. Hanging onto these iconic brands in such a weak, pathetic form does them a complete disservice and they should bite the bullet and put them out of their misery.

This rebrand wouldve been the perfect opportunity to clearly identify the regions, but it was probably so far down the list of priorities, it didn't happen.

The point is though in most cases the regions are very clearly defined - only the super region of Tyne Tees and Border is really messy, while some people question whether the South West/Westcountry is in the West.


Back to the idents though on ITV and I think it kind of says it all that they're not the sort of idents I'm looking around Youtube and the TV pres sites to try and see as many as possible - they're not interesting enough to do that. I do feel these are very much background TV - their to gentle ease you into the next show rather than a big bold statement that you're watching ITV.

I love how the promos are seamless from one to the next. Even when they lead into a breakbumper or the news titles it flows so well.

This sounds something like I was trying to put across. Sadly Regional ITV did have it's heart ripped out ages ago, so clearly rebranding the Regions into News Regions could be a good idea to escape the past (a bit). Maybe I did go too far changing all the names though... As for someone else's post about Southern Scotland, Ofcom should make the decision regarding that area's Scotland's Channel 3 Licence, not ITV. They won't though...

I never thought I would see the day where a thread was dominated by posts criticising ITV for NOT dropping the regional names. Dropping Central for Midlands/Meridian for South is really a pointless exercise with no positives/lots of negatives and the sort of thing done just for the sake of stamping out any regional name.

There's only West/Westcountry which is a problem really? (Border/Tyne Tees would work if it wasn't for the joint 2nd half of the programme, but that would be the case with any name they came up with)

How do people in Bristol etc refer to their area outside of the media? Do they live in the South West? Is 'West' rather than 'Westcountry' mainly a BBC/ITV term? If someone said they were off to Western England, would anyone know where they were going?

My issue with the new regional news names is that they've seemed to do it for the sake of consistency, yet three or four of them are still inconsistent. If Granada Reports was to remain Granada Reports, then what was the point changing London Tonight to ITV News London and Meridian Tonight to ITV News Meridian? Unless, as I mused ealier, it was because using 'Tonight' meant it could only be used in the evening programmes in a way that Granada Reports or Calendar aren't restricted to. Why that should be such an issue after all these years, though, I have no idea.

I really like the logo on black as well. They should use this style for some promo endboards, maybe for dramas and use the white for entertainment and documentaries possibly?

Yes they should have just called it ITV News 'Region' instead of keeping some of the old Programme names (except maybe ITV Calendar). As for the Channel Islands, surely 'ITV News Channel Islands' makes more sense? I think we're all looking for some consistent ITV Regions branding...no matter how it happens.

P.S - The logo on Black does look superb and I agree needs to be used more often.