DEJ work kicks off Discovery channel revamp

Discovery Communication’s Animal Planet channel this week relaunches with a radical new style devised by screen branding specialist Dunning Eley Jones.

US-based Discovery awarded the consultancy the contract following a paid, creative fourway pitch last summer.

The wildlife network, which recently celebrated its tenth anniversary, set a brief for Dunning Eley Jones to design both on- and off-air branding in a way that would help increase the network’s ratings, while repositioning it as an edgier, more adult-focused entertainment destination. Dunning Eley Jones project director Tracy Richmond says, ‘The old eleph ant and globe identity is quite limited in what you can do with it. The new logo is much stronger and can convey a lot of different personalities.’

Dunning Eley Jones creative director Brian Eley says, ‘Like an animal, [the logo] had to be adaptable to its environment, occasionally camouflaged or losing a limb. The letter ‘m’ of ‘Animal’ is a playful, active character with a life of its own. We created a range of typographic animations and combined real animals with unexpected music choices, resulting in surreal, witty animal portraits, such as a hyperactive monkey and a pampered cat wearing a tiara’

The channel relaunch sup ports a raft of new programmes aimed at individuals aged 25-49, rather than families.

The branding includes screen packages, menus and print collateral. Roll-out of the new look will start this week and conti nue throughout the summer.