ITV has today announced a major forthcoming rebrand across its entire business, including a new logo and refreshed identities for all its channels, including ITV1 changing to just 'ITV'.

The new "unifying brand identity" will be introduced at some point in January 2013 across ITV Plc, the ITV Network and ITV Studios, the broadcaster's production arm.

The ITV logo has been totally refreshed with a curvy, colour-shifting design that will roll out simultaneously across the ITV channels and their +1 networks, including the flagship ITV channel, along with ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV.

The rebrand has been overseen by Rufus Radcliffe, ITV's group director of marketing and research, who previously rebranded E4 while at Channel 4; and Reemah Sakaan, ITV's director of network marketing, who joined in February 2012 after seven years at the BBC, where she helped rebrand BBC Three.

ITV decided that the move was necessary as it has not revamped its identity since 2006 and the television landscape has changed drastically since then. Radcliffe said that in the digital television era there are hundreds of media brands all competing for people's attention, and ITV was in danger of getting lost in the crowd.

"People love our shows, but we don't get the credit for bringing them. With all these media brands out there if you don't have a clear brand then you are exposed," he said at a press briefing yesterday. "What this rebrand is about is cementing the relationship between the shows that people love and the ITV brand that makes them."

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Whilst the BBC has the ethos "inform, educate, entertain" and Channel 4 adopts the message "mission with mischief", ITV is positioning itself right in the middle. The new branding is anchored in the "DNA" of the broadcaster, according to Radcliffe, and that is being at the "heart of popular culture" with programmes such as Downton Abbey, The X Factor, and Coronation Street.

The new logo drops the rather formal previous style for a curvier typeface and layout that is meant to look like "a form of human handwriting". This will be used across all branding, stationary and other needs connected to ITV Plc, as well as ITV Studios.

In this form, the logo has four colours that are the "perfect points" on the colour spectrum. But this new logo is intended to be a chameleon and will sometimes change according to the show or channel using something that ITV is calling "colour picking".

For example, when alongside Dancing on Ice, the ITV channel logo will sometimes become purple, blue and green to reflect the show's spangly outfits. When seen alongside Downton Abbey, it will be classy grey, beige and black; and on I'm a Celebrity, jungle greens and browns will feature on the letters.

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There will also be a big new campaign of short 'idents', or promotional clips shown as the announcer introduces a new programme. These have been produced using real people in real-life situations, and utilising Colour Picking. ITV showed us a range of these - including kids on a see saw, a dog in a sink, a person on a train, someone filling a washing machine, a hot air balloon filling and a person welding - and each time the logo adapted to the colours of the scene. These idents will change according to the seasons.

Radcliffe said that the previous ITV branding was "really recessive", but the new branding is more distinctive and coherent. He also said that the yellow ITV1 logo was something viewers "never really embraced".

"What we have at the moment is ITV1 in yellow whether we are showing Appropriate Adult or The X Factor," he said. "But we want it to flex and focus. We are going to drop the ITV1 from January because we have always been swimming against the tide with that branding and viewers have never really embraced it."

Alongside the flagship network, the new "mother brand" will be added to all ITV digital channels. Each will keep their existing names, but will get a "really big channel idea" to refresh their identities.

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- ITV2 is to become the "home of infectious entertainment", with the sixth biggest channel in the UK getting a "hot red" version of the logo and red on-screen identify, including new idents and 'end boards'.

- ITV3 is to be positioned as the "keeper of ITV's treasured and timeless drama", with a new "midnight blue" logo and idents that feature stories told in shadow-puppet style animation inside glass bell jars.

- ITV4, which has previously struggled with its identity, will adopt a "slate grey" logo and become the "home of sport and cult classics", as well as a "man club". Channel promotion will include pub factoids - such as "One in ten children in Europe are conceived on an Ikea bed" - and idents featuring viewer nominated "dreams come true", such as driving a Rolls Royce into a swimming pool.

- CITV will get a yellowy-orange logo and playful idents that "burp and fart, and do other things kids love".

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In addition, ITV News will get a royal blue logo and branding, while ITV Sport will be given a fresh green look. The ITV Player will adopt the ITV Plc "mother brand" to make it coherent across all platforms, such as online and on tablets or smartphones.

Sakaan said that the previous ITV branding was not "serving our programmes properly", but the new version is fit for purpose and has scale for the future. It has been produced in house using a pop-up studio, with just some assistance from design freelancers.

Whilst she would not give an indication of cost, Sakaan said that this has brought a "significant" cost saving on hiring an agency.



But Radcliffe stressed that the decision to do the rebrand in house was "not a financial decision, it's a philosophical decision". He added that all ITV channels will go live with new branding at the same point in January 2013. Jokingly, he added that this is something "no network has done before, probably with good reason, but we will give it a go".

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