On November 28, 2014, La Voz (The Voice) one of Canal 2 Frecuencia Latina’s flagship programs, aired a spot showing television personalities such as presenter Karen Schwartz or news anchor Mónica Delta jumping into a bathtub. The spot was shot with a high-speed Phantom camera, accompanied by the slogan “Your favorite stars are in Latina.”

Of course, Latina is a play on words that you only understand if you speak Spanish: Latina is both the name of the channel, and “la tina,” which translates to “the bathtub” in English. Hence, the big dive into the tub—and into a whole new world of programming—by the network’s most popular stars.

That’s how Latina kicked off its rebrand and its name change from Frecuencia Latina to just Latina. The impact of that change is still being felt one year later.

Latina features programs aimed at a general entertainment audience and ranks second in preference among Peruvian viewers. For 20 years, its traditional programs were mainly local products, such as the soap opera Amor Serrano, El Especial del Humor and the comedy La Paisana Jacinta.

In 2012, the channel was sold to Grupo Enfoca, which spent the last two years working to merge its television content with its multiplatform content. The channel’s rating improved by 6 points during this period, underpinned by three strengths: entertainment shows, talent shows and Turkish soap operas, in addition to news and sports. Andrés Badra, manager at Latina, says the network also plans to venture into the co-production of series and movies in the future.

“We understood the new name had to be the basis. We had to transmit the modernity of the new era, but without leaving aside the local elements,” says Emiliano González of Circus Grey, the agency that, jointly with Brandlab, led the charge on the network’s rebrand.

The approach was to remove “Frecuencia” and play with “Latina,” turning it into both the station’s name and its motivation: fresh programming, focused on local and Latin American showbiz. The new tagline “Always more,” also was intended to reaffirm that brand shift, with the network always looking to surprise and innovate.

One of the most radical aspects is the dynamic logo chosen by Latina: an upper case “L” that changes its color and shape to present different types of programming – from entertainment to sports – placed on a square in purple tones, without the old green circle of the TV network.

BrandLab, creator of the logo, said the color evokes “freshness and evolution” towards leadership. Argentina-based creative agency Superestudio oversaw the rebrand’s overall graphic look.

What remains after so much change?

“The approach with which we see and understand things have changed completely, both in terms of aesthetics as well as strategically,” sys Pilar Guevara, marketing manager for Latina. “But we are not going to change our business vision, which is to develop local talent with quality content.”

Twelve months later the metrics reveal that the rebrand helped move Latina forward.

Before its rebranding, Latina achieved a 28% share of the audience in Peru, behind the country’s leading television player, América Televisión. For the first time in 20 years, Latina won the rating race against América TV, and received the 2014 ANDA award for Best Peruvian TV Network. E

Even so, the idea to turn Latina into “a platform with a vast quantity of digital content, made up of a channel, a web page and with interaction in its networks,” according to Alfonso Fernández, creative director for Brandlab, is still a work in progress.

Latina’s is most active socially on Facebook, where it has more than 3 million followers. It gets the most social traction when it posts news about popular talent show La Voz. Recently, the program signed an agreement with Guvera to offer streaming music to 10 million Peruvian mobile users.

Carlos Rojas, general director at Guvera Latinoamérica, says “this is the first time in Peru that a music streaming platform has been integrated into a TV channel” and it will be used as a test for similar applications in the region. In addition, Latina includes its own app — with more than 400,000 downloads so far — to connect to its viewers beyond the TV.

One year after its release, what’s next for Latina?

“We hope to be recognized internationally not only for how we look, but also for what we are and do” says Guevara. “This year we have made a difference at all levels – image, programming and production– and we expect to continue on that path.”

Read this story in Spanish here.

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