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Questions about TVC signs

(February 2020)

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TM
ToasterMan
What was the reason the TVC sign wasn't updated to include the BBC corporate logo and typeface until 1994, especially after the corporate branding had been well and truly introduced by then?

Also, I noticed the titles for the fifth series of Live and Kicking on the launch day of the '97 corporate re-branding contained presumably a prototype design with the current logo and "TELEVISION CENTRE" in all-uppercase Gill Sans, unlike the actual design with the BBC logo and "Television Centre" in lower and uppercase widely separated from each other.

One more thing, does anyone know the date the new sign was added? As I'm aware the '97 corporate branding guidelines and materials had been finalized in September off-screen.
Last edited by ToasterMan on 22 February 2020 3:59pm
SP
Steve in Pudsey
Corporate branding wasn't so big a thing in those days, new logos were drip fed as things got replaced naturally.

1997 was different to the extent of Look North redoing their short bulletin titles with the new logo for use over the weekend before a full relaunch on Monday.

That said, BBC Leeds at Woodhouse Lane had a huge illuminated BBC North sign with the old logo until it closed, many years after that logo had been exercised.
TM
ToasterMan
Corporate branding wasn't so big a thing in those days, new logos were drip fed as things got replaced naturally.

1997 was different to the extent of Look North redoing their short bulletin titles with the new logo for use over the weekend before a full relaunch on Monday.

That said, BBC Leeds at Woodhouse Lane had a huge illuminated BBC North sign with the old logo until it closed, many years after that logo had been exercised.

New Broadcasting House had three different signs, first there was the "BBC" text without any surrounding boxes, then the 1988 logo with the "NW" logo, until that was replaced with "NORTH" in the corporate font, before finally just the current BBC logo until its closure, images can be seen on the TVARK page:

https://www.tvark.org/?page=1548

Interestingly, long after the new corporate logo was introduced, you could see the outlines of not only the old BBC logo, but the "NW logo" engraved into the building:
*

(I also noticed how strange the illuminated '88 BBC logo looked, as the counters in that evening shot appear as though they've shrunk compared to how they look in daylight).
Last edited by ToasterMan on 22 February 2020 5:12pm
NW
nwtv2003
The fondly named ‘Bonking Worms’ had burnt on the outside of NBH on Oxford Road, which pretty much remained prominent up to its demolition. They didn’t really make an effort covering it up either. It always the first sight that greeted you when getting off the train at Oxford Road.
RW
Robert Williams Founding member
One more thing, does anyone know the date the new sign was added? As I'm aware the '97 corporate branding guidelines and materials had been finalized in September off-screen.

I seem to remember the sign was being changed over around the time of Children in Need in 1997.

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