New logo: RBC

RBC (РБК in Russian) is a Russian media group that owns a news agency, a business newspaper and a television channel. Yesterday, February 4, it launched a rebranding effort with a new logo. This is all aimed at "bolstering RBC’s reputation as the number one business information media".

The previous logo consisted of three bars, that were apparently seen as unstable. They are being replaced by two triangles, to symbolise stability.
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New logo: Comcast

Back in January 2011 when NBCUniversal became majority-owned by Comcast and introduced its new simple purple logo, there was plenty of uproar about the removal of the NBC peacock. In an unexpected move, Comcast itself has suddenly started using a new logo that prominently features the NBC peacock over a wordmark set in thin capital letters.

Becoming the symbol of a communications company marks a change in use for the peacock, that until now has mainly been associated with television and associated media. The new logo was unveiled on Monday, December 10. At the moment we only have the primary corporate brandmark, but there are several other Comcast-branded assets, such as the Comcast Sportsnets, that will presumably have to be updated as well.
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New logo: Amedia

A-pressen is a major Norwegian media group, mostly concerned with print newspapers. It has historically had ties to the labour movement, and is still part-owned by the Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions. This week, on September 10, it was announced that it would change its name to Amedia, following a merger with another newspaper concern, Edda Media.

The new name takes an A from A-pressen and the word "media" from Edda Media, continuing the legacy of both groups.

An Oslo communication agency called Itera Gazette is credited for coming up with the new visual identity. It is said to have been developed to "describe the diversity in the concern's involvements".
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New logo: LRT

Following Monday's post on Hungary's national broadcaster MTVA, we move on to its Lithuanian counterpart LRT, which also launched a new identity for the Olympics in late July.

The rebrand reinforces LRT's corporate presence by renaming its services and abolishing the separate brands for radio and TV. The TV channels, previously called LTV, LTV 2 and LTV World, are now known as LRT Televizja, LRT Kultūra and LRT Lituanica, respectively.

The new identity system is based a "dynamic cube" logo. The TV and radio channels use derivations of this logo with different signature colours.
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New logos: MTVA

The Media Support and Asset Management Fund (known in Hungarian as Médiaszolgáltatás-támogató és Vagyonkezelő Alap, abbreviated MTVA) is Hungary's public media organisation, formed last year through the merger of the two television broadcasters MTV and Duna TV, the radio company Magyar Rádió and the news agency MTI. In an effort to bring the organisation together, a new corporate identity was launched on July 27 for the start of the Olympics. It includes new logos for seven radio networks and four TV channels.



The new logo system really stands out among its peers for its minimalist simplicity. It relies on a circle as a unifying element with a few lines and circles to represent the different services. MTVA credits the new logos to an in-house team lead by a designer named Vida Zoltán, which took inspiration from the four classical elements.

The logos have also been turned into large physical models that appear in idents filmed around the Hungarian countryside. These models also appear in promos for the broadcaster.

The logos for the original TV broadcaster MTV use vertical lines, one red line for the primary channel (M1) and two green for the second channel (M2). The second TV broadcaster, Duna TV, named after the Danube, uses wavy blue lines. The radio networks use horizontal lines in different colours and probably some built in symbolism.
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New logo: RTCG

Radio i Televizija Crne Gore (RTCG - "Radio and Television of Montenegro") is the national broadcaster of Montenegro, that small country on the Balkans that became independent from Serbia as late as 2006. Last month, RTCG launched a new corporate identity with a new symbol that is now used across its services.

What the winged symbol is supposed to be isn't clear, but its red and golden colours are also present in Montenegro's flag. The typeface used in all logos is DIN Medium, sometimes a bit modified. The exception is the numerals for the the two domestic TV channels that seem (very) home-made.
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New logo: European Broadcasting Union

The European Broadcasting Union, EBU, is a federation of broadcasting organisations from Europe and its surroundings. Its members include virtually all government-controlled broadcasters and some private broadcasters with a public service legacy in the region. Best, or perhaps only, known by the public for organising the annual Eurovision Song Contest, it also arranges other events and provides technical services and an extensive news gathering cooperation.

Last week at its 68th General Assembly, the EBU launched a new corporate identity, which seems to replace the symbol it has used until now with a simple logo consisting of nothing but the initials in plain Gotham. It is supported a by a blue and pink colour scheme and some shaded circles.

Although nothing exciting, one should consider that European confederations of quasi-governmental institutions like the EBU can rarely agree on visual identities that aren't either terrible och bland. Also worth noting is that the French abbreviation, UER, has finally been removed from the logo.

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New logo: Core Media Group

CKx is an American entertainment rights company that has significant shares in television formats like American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance, but also owns the likeness on Elvis Presley and Muhammad Ali. In late May it was relaunched as CORE Media Group.
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New logo: Australian Associated Press

Australia's national news agency, the Australian Associated Press (AAP), announced a new corporate identity last week, on May 24. The new symbol is "a stylised ribbon that represents the 24/7 flow of breaking news for which AAP is renowned". Melbourne agency Charles Elena Design designed the new branding, while Tempo Partners get a consultant credit.

The rebranding is part of streamlining of AAP's many product brands, and involved giving many of them new names. The different divisions now all use the symbol, but with colour coding that allows them to be easily identified.

AAP says rebranding is the "largest overhaul of the existing corporate image in nearly 25 years". It should be fully implemented in June.
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New logo: Associated Press

Yesterday, February 23, the Associated Press (usually known as the AP) unveiled a new visual identity, its first logo change in 30 years. The new identity system was developed with the New York agency Objective Subject.

It keeps the two letters that signify the news agency at the center. To allow continuity with the previous mark, the new letters have some stencil characteristics, and the red color is kept in form of an underline, "just like it would underline an important fact".

The letters are always enclosed by a "container" in the form of a white square. In that sense, the image above is slightly misleading, as the square disappears against a white background.

The red line, which is referred to as the "prompt", can also be used as a separate element. Another new visual property is a series of "watermarks" - lines inspired by the AP letterforms that can be used as backgrounds and supporting graphics.
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New logo: Deutsche Welle

Deutsche Welle is Germany's international broadcaster, the German equivalent the BBC World Service or Voice of America. It started regular broadcasts in 1953, and now has radio and TV channels around the world in several languages. Today, January 31, it announced a new corporate identity, along with several changes to its television service. It will now operate six television feeds with different mixes of programming in German, English, Spanish and/or Arabic for different regions.

The new programming launches February 6, and one can guess that the new corporate identity launches on that day as well.
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New logos: Thames, Talkback, Retort and Boundless

Today, the UK division of the international TV production company FremantleMedia, that until now has been know as TalkbackThames, underwent a rebranding exercise. The division is now called FremantleMedia UK, and the TalkbackThames name has been replaced by four different names, described as "labels", for different kinds of content: Thames for entertainment, Talkback for comedy entertainment, Retort for scripted comedy and Boundless for factual programming. All logos carry the tagline "Part of FremantleMedia UK".

TalkbackThames was formed through the merger Talkback and Thames, and this rebrand revives to two names as independent brands. Thames is of particular historical significance as it was the London station of Britain's commercial TV network ITV between 1968 and 1992, producing a wide range of quality programmes, making its logo with a London skyline known even outside the UK. Those who had hoped for a return of the skyline are probably disappointed, as the new Thames logo doesn't have anything in common with its predecessors. Instead it is an awkward composition with a shiny purple sphere and a lower-case T.

While the rebrand exercise was announced in November last year, the logos were unveiled more recently, probably today.

The other logos can be seen below.
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New logo: AMC Networks

AMC Networks is a American media company that owns four cable channels, the most popular being AMC, home of Mad Men. The others are IFC, Sundance Channel and WE TV, that all provide programming for certain niche audiences. Until recently known as Rainbow Media Holdings and owned by the cable company Cablevision, it was spun off as a separate company on July 1 and began trading on NASDAQ. The motion branding agency Loyalkaspar were involved in the rebrand, and this week they posted a case study with some information about the work on their website.

Thw spin-off was approved in March, along with the namechange. The new look was unveiled at The Cable Show in mid-June.
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New logo: YLE

YLE (an abbrevation of Yleisradio, meaning "Broadcasting") is Finland's national broadcaster. Yesterday, December 19, YLE revealed a new corporate identity, scheduled for launch in March 2012. The stated reason for this is "to help the Finns find and recognise YLE content". It is also said to be "a way to get closer to the Finns".

The new logo consists of a square with rounded corners and "YLE" written in lowercase with fashionable typeface. The colour is said to be a combination of the blue and green from the previous logo, but YLE also acknowledges that the new colour is "clearer and fresher" than the previous.

Most of the work on the new identity was done in-house at YLE, by a team lead by Tuire Nuolivirta. New typefaces were developed by Finnish typographer Saku Heinänen. The work is rooted in YLE's core values - Finnishness, reliablity, versatility, independence and respect for the human being.

YLE's TV channels will also launch new identites when the new corporate logo goes live in March. Much of the identity work isn't finished yet, so expect more news on this next year.
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New logo: TC. Transcontinental

Yesterday, November 23, the Canadian print media company Transcontinental changed its name to TC. Transcontinental to "better reflect its evolution into a leading player in the new marketing communications landscape". Based in Montreal, TC. Continental owns several newspapers and magazines.

"Beyond the truncation of the word Transcontinental, the ‘t’ in the new ‘tc’ stands for technology, while the ‘c’ represents community. In the chosen typography, the bold, upright ‘t’ embodies confidence and solidity. The ‘c’, with its generous opening, signifies willingness to communicate. The red dot from the former logo is transformed into a black one, which represents the digital economy as well as the point of contact between the company and its customers. The logo is black or white, depending on context and usage. Keeping the main typographic element devoid of color will allow the use of various colors to illustrate sub-brands." - Press release

The company's two divisions are now called TC. Media and TC. Transcontinental Publishing. It has also secured the domain name tc.tc (.tc is the top-level domain for Turks and Caicos), which is currently redirecting to tctranscontinental.com.
The new brand identity was developed with two Montreal-based firms, the brand consultancy Cohesion Strategies and the advertising/design agency Bleublancrouge.
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New logo: Bertelsmann

Yesterday, July 18, the Germany-based international media company Bertelsmann unveiled a new corporate identity, a "powerful" wordmark with blue lettering. The new logo was developed with Peter Schmidt Group in Hamburg, who also created the previous logo.

Bertelsmann includes one of Europe's biggest television groups, RTL Group, as well as the book publisher Random House, magazine publisher Gruner + Jahr and the 'media services' company Arvato.

Previous logo.

The previous logo, which included an orange line of varying length and the slogan "Media Worldwide", was introduced in 2001.

With the new branding, "Media Worldwide" has been dropped as it was considered outdated and no longer properly reflecting the company, which has now expanded outside the media field. In addition, Bertelsmann now considers itself a strong international brand that doesn't need added explanations. A new slogan has been selected, "Creativity meets Entrepreneurship", but its use will be more limited and it will not be a part of the logo.

The old logo as a graphical element was considered "fragmented, unwieldy and inflexible". The modified Trajan lettering was elegant, but not strong enough. The letterforms used in the new wordmark are custom-made, inspired by the lettering in the previous logo, but stronger and more self-confident.

The new logo was launched worldwide on Monday, and revealed on several Bertelsmann branches around the world. According to a press release, Random House and Arvato are altering their identities to fit the corporate rebrand, while RTL Group and Gruner + Jahr will remain as they are.
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New logo: Mediaset España

On Wednesday, April 13, Gestevisión Telecinco, one of the largest media companies in Spain, announced that it was changing its name to Mediaset España Comunicación.

The history of Gestevisión Telecinco dates back to the late 1980s when it was one of three companies to receive licenses for national terrestrial television networks (the others being Antena 3 and Canal+). The Italian media company Mediaset was involved from the start and would soon control the company. For a long time, Telecinco was the company's only television channel, but lately it has expanded with the launch of digital channels and the aquisition of its competitor Cuatro and a share in the digital satellite platform Digital+.

The logo combines aspects from both Telecinco's logo and its corporate parent Mediaset to create a wordmark. The "Mediaset" part is borrowed from the Italian Mediaset logo and uses the same colour and the same typeface (Gill Sans Italic), but excludes a symbol with a snake and a flower, possibly because it is irrelevant to the Spanish public.

The "España" part uses a slab serif called Corporate Demi Italic. The navy blue colour is used in the logos of Telecinco and two of its digital channels. The tilde sign has been replaced by a part Telecinco's logo (the "flag" in the 5 numeral) and the wordmark ends with a dot, also from the Telecinco logo.

The new identity was created by Summa, who created a cohesive design for Telecinco and its digital channels a few years ago, and were also behind the rebrand of state broadcaster RTVE.

Previously, the company used Telecinco's logo as a corporate logo. It will still be used by the television channel.
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