Euro 2004 to sport Markell branding

UEFA is expected to sign off Markell Associates’ first-stage work for Euro 2004’s on-air identity this week, Design Week can exclusively reveal.

The broadcast specialist, formed in August by executive producer Richard Markell as an XTV breakaway, won the work in May after a seven-way pitch. It has been briefed to create Euro 2004’s entire on-air collateral, says Markell.

He has already created a title sequence and is presenting it to clients tomorrow. The sponsor package is set for completion in the New Year, and the entire project is due for sign off after that, prior to the start of the football tournament in Portugal on 12 June. ‘We have to work with the official UEFA Euro 2004 logo and its family of graphic elements, created by Euro RSCG in France,’ says Markell.

Meanwhile, Markell Associates has completed its first project, the on-air identity for Middle East news channel Al Jazeera’s sports channel, which goes live in October.

The work for Al Jazeera Sport comprises a logo, filmed idents for six different sports (athletics example pictured), stings, on-screen styling and title sequences for individual programmes such as the channel’s coverage of Spanish football, La Liga, says Markell.

The brief was for an ‘upmarket, contemporary’ look to the channel to compete with rival channels worldwide. ‘The client [at Al Jazeera owner Qatar TV] encouraged us to be experimental and pushed us creatively,’ he says.

Markell Associates was appointed earlier this year after a head-to-head pitch with German consultancy Velvet, says Markell.