C5 switches loyalty

Ortmans Young International has been dropped from Channel 5’s on-screen identity project in favour of Californian consultancy Silver Hammer.

The London group was appointed in September after a five-way proposals pitch.

However, “Ortmans Young has completed a three-month consultative period”, says a Channel 5 Broadcasting spokeswoman, who could not comment further on the switch. Ortmans Young senior partner Marc Ortmans was also unable to comment.

“Silver Hammer has been involved since September in conjunction with Ortmans Young on the identity and logo,” says Silver Hammer president Bob Anderson, although the two groups did not jointly pitch for the project.

“We were planned to be involved in a portion of the package… as things progressed our participation grew,” adds Anderson. The entire assignment was handed over last week.

According to Holly Diefenderfer, Silver Hammer chief executive officer, no designs had been worked up by Ortmans Young and the group “started from scratch”.

Silver Hammer is to create logos, identities, animations, in-show graphics, network and corporate promotion. In the US, the group has handled the titles for shows including Ricki Lake, ER and Oprah.

The consultancy change comes as the broadcaster is restructuring Team 5, an alignment of branding agencies gathered together by communications director David Brook to work on the channel’s launch. Wolff Olins, which created the promotional slogan Give Me 5, is now involved in the on- and off-screen identity.