ABC takes creative approach to new channel branding via Method, Maud + Uncanny Valley
On Sunday 20th July, the ABC’s main television channel refreshed its branding with an exuberant package that celebrates diversity and puts eclectic characters on stage, front and centre. The brand work is underpinned by a 60 second spot edited to Australia’s unofficial anthem, ‘Throw Your Arms Around Me’ by Hunters & Collectors via Method, Maud and Uncanny Valley.
It includes 20 channel idents, brand spots, a new promo graphics package and a return to the old logo form with a new colour palette, new typography and a conversation-starting tagline, #ourABC. The channel also dropped the ‘1’ and will now be known as, simply, ABC.
The project was sent to tender late last year and awarded to Method 
Studios, who have been important creative partners in the development process. ABC Television worked with Maud to develop the brand strategy work. Audio composing house Uncanny Valley won the tender to compose tracks for the new branding elements, with the tight brief to include the iconic ABC three-chord 
pneumonic in the channel idents.
ABC Open – an ABC initiative that helps regional Australians create and publish photos, stories, videos and sound – was the first port of call. Having a regional voice in the mix was considered vital and the new branding taps into Open’s rich library of beautiful imagery and stories from communities across the country.
Says Diana Costantini, ABC Television head of marketing and communications: “It’s been an incredibly exciting project as we’ve chosen to work with quite a few creative partners, including our internal colleagues at ABC Open. Having to work with existing footage can sometimes present a sizeable creative impediment but we were able to re-craft the spots and put our own spin on them. The ABC Open stories really set the tone for the rest of the branding elements, which have been masterfully realised by Method Studios.”
Ensuring a 360° experience and brand affinity for audiences, the ABC has created an online destination where people can upload their own interesting anecdotes and images – abc.net.au/ourabc. Using a comprehensive social media marketing tool, Mass Relevance, we are able to collate and curate stories and push them back out through all our social platforms.
Says Costantini: “Strategically and creatively we’ve tried to leave no stone unturned, working hard to be distinctive and modern in some areas while giving a nod to the goodness of the past in others. For example, we’ve revisited the 80s logo design so you’ll see the ABC ‘worm’ – or Lissajous curve – in a simplified 2D form with a fresh, new colour palate. In a first, we’ve dropped the ABC typographical lockup. We know that we have one of the most recognisable logos in this country so the ‘worm’ has become the hero and we know it’ll shine on its own.”
The new look is about being inclusive, highlighting togetherness and connecting Australians. That thinking cascaded through to the creative approach with ABC Television inviting multiple people, with different disciplines, to be involved in the development process.
Says Costantini: “We didn’t want to send the job out of house and pick up a completed package at the other end. The ABC team were instrumental in creatively driving this project and influencing the outcome – working alongside our creative partners at Method and Uncanny Valley. It was such a refreshing way to work and the end result delivered the perfect package for us.”
7 Comments
They used tax payers money for this. Laughable.
Spend the money on better programming and innovation in where and how to watch.
Your brand is what you do, not what you tell us you are. Madness.
Not sure what planet you are living on Wow.
Typical Aussie ‘tall poppy’ knocking other peoples work.
It’s so easy to sit back and criticise.
I thought they were excellent.
I’ts not awful, it’s just that we’ve all seen this type of ad a million times
Let’s do that
I hope that saves a dying business then.. Advertising is known to save a business with a product, image and management problem.
Oh wait.. No, thats BS isn’t it.
So… iView was the leading and first online viewing platform from an Australian television channel, and some of ABC’s shows rate higher than the dredge on Seven, Ten or Nine.
And according to you, they still need to invest in better programming and innovation in viewing formats?
That’s not why the ABC is at risk. They’re attracting more viewers than ever before. They’re at risk because of the current federal government trying to cut funding so they can spend it on rich white men’s television channels.
Sounds like you’ve watched a bit too much of the Bolt Report, and not much of anything else.
These were great. Good use of talent and story.
Just as the ABC does.
To those dissing the ABC, as another commenter said, wake up and smell the iView.