BBC Oneness - idents and presentation

Someone else said this earlier also, and I maintain that the decision to allow the circles to come back for these junctions is daft as A) they've abandoned the theme and they don't fit in with the new idents and B) it's effectively an admission that they've commissioned an ident package with a concept that is not suitable for all occasions, whereas the circles was a concept that could be adapted for when a more serious tone is needed. Had they done a bit more than film some people milling around and then slap a logo on it the new idents could have been okay for going into serious programmes, but alas no.

Let's hope they are soon, as in "taken out and".

OK, to me this increasingly appears to be an (admittedly) long, but ultimately temporary, marketing campaign. They clearly have no faith themselves in the long-term foundations of the new package if they are still allowing elements of the previous package to be used. I don't expect this to last the year, and am hoping it's a stop-gap to the autumn when a bigger BBC-wide rebrand launches. The fact that they have launched a package without yet filming the vast majority of the elements is a pretty big hint that they're hedging their bets and going to see how they go. From the fairly generic articles in the press so far (i.e. it all seems a bit non-committal and lacking in any firm plans from what Martin Parr has said) it would be easy for them to back out later in the year and just say that it was always meant to be a temporary campaign.

It could also signify that the age of 5+ year ident packages is gone and BBC One will in future change their presentation far more fluidly & frequently in line with the latest campaign. 'Oneness' is not a brand it is a marketing strap line, nothing more.

I somehow missed the "Martin Parr" element, having no idea who he was I see he's a "renowned stills photographer" Why exactly should stills photography translate to moving image? Surely finding a renowned cinematographer would be more like the correct response. Still nothing like a slightly wobbly handheld at f8 with no music and a teeny tiny logo to say we're proud of our brand! Or you know... that we even have one.

I thought Channel 4 had gone a bit weird, but they're still better than these...

I don't think consistent branding is part of anything here, I think its more a case of we need something as it's been 10 years, we can't spend too much or the Daily Mail will kill us, and we can't do nothing, let’s just send some news camera crews (no offence guys) to shoot some local stuff and voila, instant idents with very little cost.

Even the swimmers themselves are embarrassed by the idents they are starring in, as they turn their backs to the camera - as we are introduced to the news and EastEnders tonight...

Surely if they have only filmed 2 idents, then they will tell Mr Parr not to bother filming any more if this is the best he can come up with!! And the person who agreed to these should be sacked.

Usually, BBC1 introduce weird idents for the whole of January and then go back to the circles in February. We can only hope this will happen. But with centred BBC One logos and swirls still in place and possibility of the region's using helicopters and kites, then it means that the Circles are likely to return?

Given what happened with the last set of dancers, I wonder if this is what things will look like when something similar to 2002 happens now…

The BBC should just be damed with it and bring all the idents back and become like BBC2. This we might see hippos, balloons and tango, all within hour.

These, and in particular the beach 'swimmers', have an ITV1 2006 feel to them. Remember that horrendous ident (called Pride or something*) that was used far too often where you had the obese man pushing out his hairy stomach and the child running his tongue over a tooth? Well here we now have something far worse with a load of saggy bodies standing around and jiggling fat arses leading us in to the nation's leading TV news bulletins...

*It was actually two separate ones, Pride and Love

Cheer up, guys...

And that itself is a dire ident set that only lasted a few months, and ITV tried to claim were only "phase one" of the rebranding (funny that "phase two" stayed in use for over 6 years...).

I just don't get the logic in rushing these on to screen. If they were amazing perhaps it would make sense but as they're not and the rest are to be shot these should have been sent straight to the recycling bin and then they should have gone back to the drawing board. The circles have been around a decade - a few more months wouldn't have harmed.

Budget is no excuse too - these are lacking creativity and any semblance of quality. The BBC use post production techniques on a daily basis with news, promos and programming in general to make quite basic footage look far better. OK, even the most talented graphic designer would struggle with these, but they could at least try.