The BBC Chameleon Thread - Printable Version

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RE: The BBC Chameleon Thread - DTV - 14-12-2022

(14-12-2022, 08:12 PM)Jake Wrote:  Was it not always the plan that the two logos would coexist for sometime? The BBC Sport microphone muffs were a good example of not replacing things until they needed replacing.

As I've said before - 

1) If your old and new logos can co-exist for any length of time, you are just admitting that you didn't need the new logo.

2) Even if some co-existence is planned (e.g. in physical objects), why the sloppiness on digital logos? why the clear yet avoidable presence of the old logo at high-profile public events? why the failure to replace the master physical logo? etc.

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RE: The BBC Chameleon Thread - Brekkie - 14-12-2022

It is just ridiculous that 14 months on the old logo is still appearing on new content, and flagship content at that - especially as things like the on screen weather logo and the endboards on shows like EastEnders are about the easiest things to update in the entire rebrand and could have been done from day one.

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RE: The BBC Chameleon Thread - DTV - 14-12-2022

(14-12-2022, 09:43 PM)Brekkie Wrote:  It is just ridiculous that 14 months on the old logo is still appearing on new content, and flagship content at that - especially as things like the on screen weather logo and the endboards on shows like EastEnders are about the easiest things to update in the entire rebrand and could have been done from day one.

For me the most ridiculous is probably the logo out front of NBH. That's the physical master logo - not just the most prominent BBC building, but pretty much every news story about the BBC is illustrated with a shot of that logo. By not changing that they aren't even giving other organisations the ability to use their up-to-date logo to illustrate news stories. Not to mention that having your headquarters adorned with a logo that is more than a year out of date is a misstep that would horrify any serious branding expert.

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RE: The BBC Chameleon Thread - MFTJA - 14-12-2022

Thankfully they don't use the shot of NBH in the Ten titles anymore!

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RE: The BBC Chameleon Thread - Rexogamer - 15-12-2022

At least the NBH blocks have the excuse of being physical - they'd have to get new ones made to replace them/have those fitted, but I can't imagine it'd be impossible for them to do. The end boards, however, are completely ridiculous - it's been long enough that these aren't just programmes produced before the switch, and as mentioned above it wouldn't take much effort to update.

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RE: The BBC Chameleon Thread - DTV - 15-12-2022

(15-12-2022, 12:08 AM)Rexogamer Wrote:  At least the NBH blocks have the excuse of being physical - they'd have to get new ones made to replace them/have those fitted, but I can't imagine it'd be impossible for them to do. The end boards, however, are completely ridiculous - it's been long enough that these aren't just programmes produced before the switch, and as mentioned above it wouldn't take much effort to update.

Though, of course, these were both things that they got right in 1997. The logo on TVC was replaced pretty much as soon as physically possible and endboards were edited so that pretty much all programmes broadcast from the 4th onwards had the new logo on. And that was in a largely pre-digital era when not everything could be done at the simple touch of a button! Several BBC regions even went to the trouble of editing the new logo into their existing titles for the weekend bulletins despite planning to introduce wholly new titles the following week!

The 1997 rebrand was really the benchmark for how these kinds of rebrands should play out
Non-physical logos (idents, online, endboards, news graphics, etc.): Day one
Key public-facing physical logos (HQ exterior signage, sets/props seen on air): As soon as physically possible
Non-key public-facing physical logos (regional exterior signage, OB trucks): Within a set but short timeframe
Non-public-facing physical logos (internal signage, ID cards): Upon natural replacement

Considering they executed a similar thing far better twenty five years, there is really no excuse for the sloppiness seen this time. It is genuinely hard to think of much that slipped through the net in 1997 - the only thing I can recall is a few pieces of internal BBC signage and the shot of David Frost stood next to a camera with the 1988 BBC logo on in the Breakfast with Frost titles that remained in use until summer 2003.

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RE: The BBC Chameleon Thread - Brekkie - 15-12-2022

(14-12-2022, 10:37 PM)DTV Wrote:  

(14-12-2022, 09:43 PM)Brekkie Wrote:  It is just ridiculous that 14 months on the old logo is still appearing on new content, and flagship content at that - especially as things like the on screen weather logo and the endboards on shows like EastEnders are about the easiest things to update in the entire rebrand and could have been done from day one.

For me the most ridiculous is probably the logo out front of NBH. That's the physical master logo - not just the most prominent BBC building, but pretty much every news story about the BBC is illustrated with a shot of that logo. By not changing that they aren't even giving other organisations the ability to use their up-to-date logo to illustrate news stories. Not to mention that having your headquarters adorned with a logo that is more than a year out of date is a misstep that would horrify any serious branding expert.

Agree it should have been changed by now but physical changes taking longer is understandable - though somewhat ironic the tiny Wrexham office (and I'm sure several others) are updated but the flagship building isn't.  

The BBC's priority should be on screen - the weather is inexcusable really considering how simple a change that is.   Even the most amatuer mocker could sort that out - and indeed an updated title card is already used on the holding slides on the iPlayer page, so for that not to be on screen is pretty poor.


Was the whole rebrand done in house or by an outside agency?   It does seem odd there is absolutely no ownership of it to see it through.   Even with a planned staggered rebrand you'd think a timeframe of at most one year would be the maximum you'd plan for.

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RE: The BBC Chameleon Thread - DTV - 15-12-2022

(15-12-2022, 01:45 PM)Brekkie Wrote:  Was the whole rebrand done in house or by an outside agency? It does seem odd there is absolutely no ownership of it to see it through. Even with a planned staggered rebrand you'd think a timeframe of at most one year would be the maximum you'd plan for.

As far as I'm aware, the different components of the rebrand have been created variously by combinations of BBC Creative and several outside agencies. This diffusion of responsibility might go some way as to explaining the inconsistencies, but it is fairly clear that nobody from any team has been charged with overseeing the overall logistics of the operation. I don't really think that other than the fact it would be 'staggered' there has been any real plan to the rebrand - it seems way too ad hoc and 'when it's ready it's ready' for anybody to be actually managing it (or at least not in any way that could be considered successfully).

To be honest, given that the decision to change the logo was taken so late in the Reith rollout process, it hasn't especially shocked me at how disorganised the rebrand has been. Making a decision that significant and fairly unnecessary seemingly on impulse was a red flag for me from the beginning - just a sign that the people in charge weren't really thinking everything through. If they'd stuck to the original plans, the Reithification would have been far easier and the inconsistencies less jarring.

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RE: BBC News Pres: 2022 - Present - mouseboy33 - 27-12-2022

Found this to be interesting. 7 Million for that. They got ripped off. Total W1A stuff. Art imitates life, it seems.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11576223/The-BBC-spent-7MILLION-new-logos-Cost-modern-rebranding-revealed.html 

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RE: The BBC Chameleon Thread - gottago - 27-12-2022

That seems very cheap for a project of this scale? Surely this doesn’t include all the idents as well? Bargain if so.

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