BDA fine tuning ITV1 on-air look

Bruce Dunlop & Associates is refreshing its on-air identity for ITV1, as the channel awaits the regulator’s verdict on the merger of Carlton and Granada, its two biggest players.

According to BDA creative director Bruce Dunlop, the group is now ‘revisiting’ its ITV1 work, originally launched last year (DW 24 October 2002), and has a ‘free rein’ to bring ‘additional design’ to the identity.

The brief encompasses end credit squeeze formats, break bumpers and flashes, promotion packaging, and menu layouts. ITV’s network promotions unit is producing idents featuring ‘new season stars’ including Martin Bashir, Cat Deeley and Frank Skinner. The work will go live in September.

‘What we did [before] was to break down a lot of barriers about internal politics [within ITV]’, says Dunlop. ‘The brand has got its promotions strategy pretty right, [but] the design can hopefully be a bit smarter.’ There is now a ‘clearer remit’ to take the design forward, he adds.

ITV controller of marketing Jo Davey says, ‘It’s in the nature of celebrity idents to need to move on every autumn. BDA is refreshing the on-screen architecture to complement that.’

Although ITV1’s audience figures have improved this year, its performance is still under scrutiny. Year-on-year advertising revenue for August is anticipated to be down 12 per cent.

The Competition Commission reports to the Trade and Industry Secretary about the proposed Carlton-Granada tie-up on 26 August. The regulator must decide whether the deal is in the ‘public interest’. If the merger is approved, it would pave the way for a genuinely ‘single ITV’ brand.