[James2001]

One of those times you wish you could be a fly on the wall watching the marketing meetings.

[warbler]

Not convinced. I quite like the idea of using different weights of the same typeface for the logos of each channel, that's nice and modern. But they clearly got to doing the logo for Dave, lost confidence, and decided to stick with Clarendon. And it looks so disjointed as a result.
   
The whole 'U&' thing might work well as a campaign to reinforce the brand for the family of channels. But as the brand itself? Incredibly weak.

[rick]

U gotta be joking me. This doesn't work on any level. How did this get past a joke opening line at a pitch meeting?

W itself as a channel name is awful, but then to rename it to U&W. It beggars belief that this is real.

Personally, I think they should have just kept the 'UK' prefix and had their themed channels like UK Gold, UK History etc. and then they could have used UK Play as the name of their streaming service instead of a short lived music/comedy channel. It all started to go downhill when they added 'TV' to the master brand and renamed all the channels to enforce it.

"The entertainment market is so awash with confusing and bizarrely named offers"

They said this with a straight face?!

[JamieMurph25]

I'm not sure, the name makes me think... TV stations for those in further education, like those in the US.

[Edogawa Ranpo]

UKTV has announced that next year they'll become 'U'.

UKTV Play will rename to just U, and the channels will become prefixed by 'U&', i.e. U&Dave, U&W, U&YESTERDAY. The press release says the free-to-air channels will adopt the rebrand first before later being adopted to the pay channels.

corporate.uktv.co.uk 

Looks like that Dave rebrand didn't last long, nor did the W rebrand. I do like that they've kept the serif font for Dave.
Also not surprised Wolff Olins have done this, 2 years after they rebranded the BBC.

[Larry the Loafer]

There's a reason why nobody remembers U Direct Films.

But seriously, I echo most reactions on this thread and think this seems utterly grim. UKTV Play is a little bit of a mouthful, sure, but... would bringing back the UK prefix be that hard? It's better than hearing people call a channel Ewan Yesterday.

I had a sinking feeling after the Dave rebrand that things were going to go south. I know it was fairly inoffensive but it was so boring and bland compared to what came before it that I just couldn't see things getting any better.

What's telling is the amount of negativity coming from "normies" on Twitter, not just pres fans. As previously mentioned, Dave was named as f**k to provoke a reaction towards a similarly quirky channel. As for UKTV G2, there was an acknowledgement of how silly the name was, at least by the CAs. This, however, reeks of that out-of-touch back-slapping nonsense from overpaid marketing people. I dread to think how the on-screen pres will look.

[Brekkie]

One of those times you wish you could be a fly on the wall watching the marketing meetings.

Even the usual marketing guff isn't that convincing:

U is the glue that enables us to do this: it means we go to market with a bold, simple and distinctive identity for our streaming service. U makes it easy for people to connect the dots between the streaming service and our family of TV channels - all while keeping hold of each channel's unique personality and fame. This is now a family that's fit for a digital future. It's simple, but still full of personality because it's all about U.

I see Wolff Olins is behind the rebrand - not sure if that means they're behind the whole renaming or just trying to make what UKTV execs have come up with work.

The entertainment market is so awash with confusing and bizarrely named offers, so we wanted to strip back, reduce the noise and present this family of brands in a clear, crisp, singular way. The new 'U' name is a nod to UKTV's heritage, while emphasising that this new viewing experience is all about you. We're excited about creating a bold brand that will stand out but won't get in the way.

Not sure how something can stand out without getting in the way.   Heck though, if it's all about U how long until we can have channels branded personally for each viewer - I'm sure with streamers getting more about personalisation etc. the offering of your own personal TV channel isn't too far away.  



Also see at the end of the marketing piece this rebrand will ultimately extend to the pay TV channels so they'll be U&alibi, U&GOLD, U&eden - so it's not even a case of trying to position the free TV offering differently.    TBH I'm quite surprised they're still in the pay TV market - can't imagine Sky and cable pay that much nowadays for their channels.

[mixchris]

I do like that they've kept the serif font for Dave.

They haven't kept the Clarendon font they use currently although it may be a custom typeface to live off of the back of it.

corporate.uktv.co.uk 

Dave Channel Brief | Commissioning Briefs | Commissioning | UKTV Corporate Site
Find out about our commissioning ambitions for the Dave channel.
  Source: corporate.uktv.co.uk

[Worzel]

Two questions:

1. What were they on when they thought this was a good idea?

2. Where can I get some?

Perfect Curve?

Personally I'd do what Global Radio does and ensure at key points across an hour there are references to the umbrella brand. For example, 'You're watching Dave from UKTV' via CA links into shows or simple graphical break bumpers, much like 'This is Smooth/Heart/Capital from Global'.

[VMPhil]

Not convinced. I quite like the idea of using different weights of the same typeface for the logos of each channel, that's nice and modern. But they clearly got to doing the logo for Dave, lost confidence, and decided to stick with Clarendon. And it looks so disjointed as a result.

The whole 'U&' thing might work well as a campaign to reinforce the brand for the family of channels. But as the brand itself? Incredibly weak.

pres.cafe 
All Dulux paints now half price, but hurry, they won't last long! You can it do it, when you U&W it.