ITV1 2002 – 2004 Branding

On Monday 28th October 2002 a brand new look was introduced for ITV1. All networked programming for the English regions was preceded by the ITV network idents. Regional idents were now only used prior to local programming. The London region no longer has its own unique on-screen identity. The ITV1 network idents are used with local announcements. There are some examples of this on the ITV London pages.

The radical overhaul was part of ITV’s plan to cash in on the current celebrity craze, which feature stars seemingly “off duty” – having their make-up done or relaxing between takes. ITV executives had felt under pressure to devise a sharper identity to counter the growth of cable and satellite channels and an image relaunch by BBC1, however the marketing plan was rejected by the Scottish Media Group, ie Scottish and Grampian Television, both subsequently requited in Januaray 2003.

At the time ITV bosses said that while regional news and weather remain important to viewers, only those 55 and over are attached to the regional name. The rebrand was the brainchild of Jim Hytner, then ITV’s commercial and marketing director who had been drafted in from Channel 5 with a brief to transform ITV’s old fashioned image. “This is the most extensive rebrand ever undertaken by ITV and creates a new feel for the channel, as we face greater competition, it’s vital that we express the channel’s personality more intently than ever, and what better way to do that than through our talent. The new idents show some of the biggest names in television being themselves, off-screen, in a way that viewers will find instantly warm and engaging.”

The new look was designed by Bruce Dunlop, in which the words ITV are in yellow lower-case letters against a light blue background, with a mirror image below, which cost £750,000 along with £11milion to used on the new campaign promotion to win back viewers and advertisers.

A selection of the idents used from October 2002 to August 2003.

ITV1 Christmas 2002

ITV marketing executives did not want to lose the brand identity over the festive period, according to ex-announcer Chris Langmore, hence the “stars” approach for the Christmas idents, so they avoided creating special Christmas idents for ITV1, unlike their Christmas programme trailers and menus which used animated robin and reindeer characters. They could have filmed idents with celebrities standing around cluttered yellow and blue sets, beside Christmas trees, or fooling around under mistletoe. What we saw instead was a collection of standard celebrity idents, customised with gold shooting stars which glide around the ITV1 logo.

ITV1 2003 Refresh

On 1st September 2003 another look was introduced to coincide with the new Autumn season. The new idents feature celebrities on abstract shaped sets featuring ITV’s blue and yellow colours.

ITV1 Programme Promotions

ITV1 Miscellaneous Items