Creative: loyalkaspar, motion design; Wolff Olins, logo design.

Campaign Led By: Dave Mellott, VP, Creative & On-Air Promotions, Current TV; Kent Rees, EVP, Marketing, Current TV; Michael Streefl and, SVP, Marketing, Current TV.

Target Audience: Adults, 25-54.

Objective: To position Current TV as a provocative multiplatform network.

Steps Taken: The Peabody and Emmy Award-winning Current TV has been at the forefront of user-generated content: It was the first to air a Twitter broadcast on television, the first to produce an entirely crowd-sourced newscast and the first to broadcast viewer-created ad messages. Even the network’s pixilated, digital logo properly conveyed its user-generated origin. But after six years and the addition of Keith Olbermann and Morgan Spurlock’s names to the programming slate, it was time for the network to clarify its brand perception as something more than an independent website.

For its new look and feel, Current TV replaced its computer-based logo with a new, free-flowing flag meant to go beyond a traditional typographic look. The simple, motion-based, black and white theme combined with the flag is meant to drive the rest of the channel’s look and convey the brand’s core values of being dynamic, audacious, provocative and intelligent. “I think the literal interpretation of the logo is also sort of a metaphor for how we feel about our content and our point of view,” said Kent Rees, EVP of marketing at Current TV. On-screen, the new look is meant to serve as a practical message alerting viewers that they need to pay attention to Current’s ideas, news and information.

Lessons Learned: “Avoid over complicating the message to the viewer. Just get rid of all the marketing jargon and clichés and don’t overwrite things,” said Dave Mellott, VP of creative and on-air promotions at Current TV. “It gets back to what people learn first at design school: keep it simple, stupid.”

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