Studio Hansa delivers rebrand of five CBS Chello Zone channels

The consultancy had worked with Chello Zone previously and was invited to undertake a brand audit for its portfolio of CBS channels in July 2012.

Studio Hansa has created a new master ident for the channel as well as idents for CBS Drama, Action, Reality, Europa and Horror. These comprise all CBS Chello Zone channels.

Studio Hansa managing partner Omar Honigh led an audit which involved interviewing CBS Chello Zone staff on film to establish what they thought of the CBS brand.

It was decided to keep the channel’s five core colours, which would be defined in a network ident and explored in separate channel idents.

The eye-shaped CBS logo is used as a ‘portal’ device that opens to reveal ‘a dramatic sequence’ relevant to each channel genre within a neutral room.

All the while ‘the CBS logo remains simple, elegant and understated. The logo does not entertain. It is a gateway or endorsement to spectacular entertainment.’ says Honigh

‘We took the idea of strong colour and used it to make bold statements,’ says Studio Hansa creative partner Nick Scott, who was inspired by the physical art of Anish Kapoor, Claus Oldenburg and Fishcli & Weiss – who popularised cause and effect mechanics like those used in some of the channel sequences.

The idents are a mixture of filmed sequences and CGI, and the Reality channel was ‘90 per cent real,’ says Scott, who adds that it depicts ‘extraordinary characters’ and ‘places them under a microscope in a lab’ referencing the voyeuristic nature of reality TV.

Movie channel Europa references ‘hyperreal’ icons from cinema history says Scott in what he calls a ‘an almost Smithsonian space’.

Horror is filmed in a mausoleum, while Action is ‘part shoot-out, part rollercoaster, with ‘cute weapons dispatching assailants’ and there’s ‘a subtle Starship Enterprise reference,’ says Scott.

‘Drama is more about a frozen moment, single snapshots like a woman throwing a cocktail glass and a stand off around a card table,’ Scott says.

Across all of the channels around 60 idents and bumpers have been made. Each of the channels has a full-length 60 second ident composed of modular parts which can be broken down. The idents will air across international markets this week.