Brand/Rebrand: Pop
Pop - Brand Identity Sizzle from loyalkaspar on Vimeo.
TV Guide, a multiplatform brand that has lasted through decades of television turbulence and upheaval, exists in the form of a TV network, an app, a magazine, a website and a presence on countless social media sites.
Many networks overhaul their brands because of a lack of awareness, but lucky for TV Guide Network, the brand name has plenty of awareness. The problem? Over years as a leader in the TV space, it’s no longer the right awareness.
TV Guide Network was known for many years as the channel on everyone’s dial where a casual viewer could watch the scrolling guide to decide what to watch. But with a whole new multiplatform presence, fan base and original programming, it had gone far beyond that scrolling guide. TV Guide had become a television brand that needed to break free from the name that some people still think of as that magazine on the coffee table.
On Jan. 14, TV Guide Network, co-owned by CBS Corporation and Lionsgate, switches over to Pop. The newly rebranded network will launch upwards of nine original programs, 400 hours of programming, along with a modern new look and feel with just a pinch of nostalgia.
The new network, Pop, while not launching with any specific tagline, is all about “the fun of being a fan.” It has been slowly rolling out its new content on poptv.com, where the site teased the new look before launch, introducing itself as a “New name. New website. Your new TV BFF.”
This is just one way, says Pop’s SVP of marketing, Nicole Sabatini, that Pop can be seen as “an entertainment destination versus a utility destination.” According to Sabatini, “TV Guide Network as a TV brand had plenty of awareness but for the wrong reasons – it had an awareness for a utility that we no longer had.”
The Pop rebrand began when the TV Guide Network offices physically moved from Tulsa to Los Angeles more than a year ago. TVGN President Brad Schwartz had worked with creative agency Loyalkaspar before on the rebrand for Fuse, so they continued the working relationship for the soon-to-be Pop.
Pop worked with Audience Theory on analytics and strategy before the extensive naming process even began. The network and Loyalkaspar came up with hundreds of one-word names before settling on Pop, a new name that was able to effectively reflect the mindset of the channel’s programming as well as its fun, optimistic tone.
Richard Eng, creative director at Loyalkaspar, says that Pop was the obvious winner. “It seemed like something that suited the brand so well on so many different levels, but also was something that could stick. We could own a very short, succinct name that speaks to the zeitgeist of what’s going on. It’s more than trending – it’s popping.”
He says that Pop beat out the hundreds of other contenders because it felt fun but modern at the same time, and opened up the creative to countless possibilities. The tone of the rebrand took on a fun, passionate, pop culture-oriented vibe, figuratively and sometimes even literally pointing to making things “pop.”
The logo itself was chosen because of how closely it represented these ideals. The italicized, sans serif font sits in a 16x9 shape – the size of a standard screen – where Rich Browd, creative director at Pop, points out that the logo literally “pops” out of the box (note the descending stem of the second “P”).
The rest of the creative combined a modern feel to attract a new, younger audience, with a touch of a nostalgic factor to reach the existing audience, using that standard 16x9 box to create flag shapes, which highlight important, interesting or notable things on air (including scenes, characters, memorable phrases).
Sabatini says this strategy “speaks to viewers in a way that puts us on the side of the viewer – we’re fans too. We wanted it to be fun, have emotional connection, exude community and shared passion. When something is so good that it earns a culture of fandom, that’s Pop.”
It’s also a way to make the viewer feel included, which was vital in the rebrand creative process. Pop says it takes an optimistic tone to celebrity, meaning it’s not about just celebrity-watching, it’s about becoming involved in a meaningful fandom.
Sabatini adds: “We know there are other people in the pop-culture space, we think we’ve found a lane that’s unique and differentiated so our look and our brand needs to be that as well.”
Loyalkaspar’s Eng takes it a step further – he wants to tell all the fans out there, no matter where their devotion lies, Pop can empathize.
“You watch these shows because you love them. You have many passions in your life and all of those things you’ve enjoyed in the past are meaningful and relevant today. That’s the lens that we look at everything through. As a network and a brand, we’re right there with you.”
CREDITS:
POP-
Brad Schwartz, President, Entertainment & Media
Nicole Sabatini, SVP Marketing
Rich Browd, VP, Creative Director
Melissa Stone Mangham, VP Marketing & Brand Strategy
Anthony Annandono, Design Director
Gary Samson, Motion Design Director
Scott Danskin, Senior Graphic Designer
Eric Ladd, Producer
Audience Theory-
Deborah Tropp, President, Brand Strategist
LOYALKASPAR-
Entertainment Branding Agency: loyalkaspar/Los Angeles CA
President/Partner: David Herbruck
CCO/Partner: Beat Baudenbacher
Chief Development Officer/Partner: Robert Blatchford
Executive Creative Director: Richard Eng
Executive Producer: Cara McKenney
Director of Strategy and Content: Bo Bishop
Writer/Strategist: Mika Saulitis
Art Director: Mark Lee
Senior Brand Designer: Greg Tate
Senior Producer: Susan Harris
Producer: Jessica Scharer
Production Coordinator: Sophia Richard
Designers: Will Frohn, Evan Sexton
Animators/Compositors: Evan Sexton
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