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Rebrand 5 August 2013 (August 2013)

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ST
Stuart
Universal Channel (UK) underwent its second rebrand on Monday 5 August 2013 after transforming from Hallmark Channel in 2010.

The rebrand brings it into line with the logo adopted by other international versions of the channel on 3 May 2013.

They've moved away from purely CGI idents (which were specific to the UK), and incorporated a mixture of CGI and live action. I can't find any examples of those shown in other countries, so I'm not sure whether once again these are UK specific.

Here's the marketing blurb from 'Campaign':
Quote:
Lee Raftery, the executive vice-president of marketing at NBCUniversal International Television, said: "We arrived at our unique positioning because we believe that great characters are the magnets that draw viewers back to their favourite shows – week after week.

"Universal Channel’s new logo, look and ‘100% Characters’ tagline are simple and intuitive enabling us to connect with the hearts and minds of our audiences, everywhere, and maximize the potential of this global entertainment brand."


Here is the break bumper:
Last edited by Stuart on 7 August 2013 2:25am
ST
Stuart
I can't seem to link caps of the two idents I've uploaded to YT just yet.

But interestingly (or not - depending on your taste), I did find this nice little montage of the previous international idents which seem to have also been created for the UK version (as they show old Sky/Virgin/Tiscali channel numbers) but never used on air here as far as I know.

Radium Audio Ltd, who posted this on YouTube is:
Quote:
"a London music and sound design company crafting finely detailed sound design narratives and composing original music scores"




These were better than the ones we've had for the last two years, although the UK channel followed the 'blue, orange, red, green, yellow' theme of the time.

What a shame they weren't used here. Sad
Last edited by Stuart on 7 August 2013 4:14am - 6 times in total
ST
Stuart
Here is one of the idents I've seen:



and a somewhat intrusive DOG . . .

http://i43.tinypic.com/2r2n0uh.jpg
GM
Gary McEwan
Stuart posted:
Here is one of the idents I've seen:



and a somewhat intrusive DOG . . .

http://i43.tinypic.com/2r2n0uh.jpg


Instead of revamping it time and time again, why not just give it a complete overhaul and call it NBC UK?
DK
DanielK
Would they be allowed to do that considering they show non NBC programmes? I'm all for it though.
JA
JAS84
The CBS channels, PBS and Fox show programmes that aren't from their US versions, don't they?
:-(
A former member
Looking here - http://www.youtube.com/user/UniversalChannelCZSK?feature=watch - we've got the same idents as the Czech Republic.

Created by Red Bee Media, it's a shame the presentation and idents are upscaled SD on the HD channel.
DK
DanielK
JAS84 posted:
The CBS channels, PBS and Fox show programmes that aren't from their US versions, don't they?


I wouldn't know, don't tend to watch them.
CI
cityprod
PBS America is pretty much only PBS stuff, some of it archive, but there is no non-PBS stuff on there.

CBS does contain stuff that has never been shown on CBS in the US, mostly british stuff.,

Not sure about Fox.
JO
Jon
Fox shows The Walking Dead in the UK which isn't a Fox or FX programme so there is one and of course BBC America has always shown non-BBC stuff.

Anyway the real reason they don't rebrand it as NBC UK, is because Universal is a far more well known brand name here. Sounds a little bit less corporate than NBC which would just be three random letters to most UK viewers.
Last edited by Jon on 7 August 2013 7:32pm
WP
WillPS
ABC1 also showed non-ABC (and even non-Buena Vista) stuff.

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