Just in time for the festive season, newly formed company GAC Media rebranded and relaunched two networks with an assist from Atlanta- and New York City-based Definition 6 (D6).

GAC Media—which is owned by Dallas-based Hicks Equity Partners and Bill Abbott, former CEO of Crown Media—acquired Great American Country (GAC) from Discovery and equestrian channel Ride TV from private holders to form GAC Media in July. The partners are now rebranding GAC away from its country roots to focus on wholesome family and lifestyle programming with GAC Family and GAC Living. Both channels, which debuted Sept. 27, have an emphasis on holidays and celebrations and in particular, Christmas.

GAC Family, formerly Great American Country, premiered with its new tagline “Stories Well Told,” encapsulating American culture, lifestyle and heritage with original holiday-themed, family-friendly movies and series. GAC Living, formerly Ride TV, uses the slogan “Life Well Lived,” and serves as GAC Family’s unscripted companion full of lifestyle, decor and cooking shows.

Led by SVP and Creative Director Crystal Hall, D6 developed the creative strategy and visual brand identity for the new GAC family of networks, working closely with Abbott, who conceived the brands as opportunities to share timeless and entertaining programming.

“The D6 team approached this ambitious project with a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and successfully brought our brand vision to life for our new flagship networks,” said Abbott in a statement. “Fan feedback has been incredible, and we look forward to using this momentum to launch our original slate of family-friendly Christmas programming this holiday season.”

D6 was tasked with visually and tonally articulating two distinct entertainment brands in GAC Family and GAC Living. The agency also was asked to reinforce the larger GAC Media brand’s dedication to creating family-friendly content across multiple genres and touchpoints. Deliverables included network logos, mnemonics, on-air graphics packages, a launch promo campaign and websites.

“We wanted the brand identity of each network to express a sense of family, joy, and togetherness in their own unique ways, making the viewer feel at home, whether they are tuning in or engaging with GAC content and talent online,” said Hall, also in a statement. “As both GAC Family and GAC Living hang their hats on the celebrations that bring families together, we future-fitted these brands so they could evolve with the seasons in a unified way.”

For the channels’ new logos, D6 landed on circular concepts alluding to themes around family and home. Designed with matching lock-ups, the GAC Family and GAC Living logos both feature an encircled GAC brand stamp in a lower-case script font called Vadelma by Melvastype. The words “Family” and “Living,” respectively, are oriented to the right using the same typeface.

GAC Family website and mobile platforms.
GAC Family website and mobile platforms.

Extending the circle concept to the on-air look and motion language, D6 incorporated the circles as a way to connect promos, station IDs, bumps, and more.

The network mnemonics, composed by D6 VP of Sound Dan O’Sullivan, underscore the logo while reinforcing the brand equity in the new positioning of GAC.

GAC Family Mnemonic

GAC Living Mnemonic

GAC Family and GAC Living are distinguished by color schemes that reflect each channel’s content offerings. For GAC Family, D6 composed a modular color palette of rich, warm burgundy, dark red and light orange to remind viewers of the holidays, seasons, and occasions its programming celebrates. Conversely, the team made use of cooler colors—teal, aqua and light blue—to express the lifestyle content presented on GAC Living. While also celebrating the seasons, a focus on southern and country living and network talent remains at the forefront.

The team also created a holiday palette of deep green, deep red and gold to celebrate the festive season that marks such an important time of year to the channels and its viewers.

D6’s creative editorial team produced the launch campaign, highlighted by an anthem promo announcing GAC Family and GAC Living, as well as promos for the upcoming “Great American Christmas” slate of original films.

“GAC Family and GAC Living are not just channels, they are destinations,” said Rich Rosario, D6 Creative Director and Producer on this effort. “Bill and his team wanted to establish Great American Channels as a trusted, welcoming place for its viewers, so we set out to do just that. From the design and color choices to the use of imagery and sound, we strove to create a haven where people come together to celebrate and experience life’s most festive and special moments.”

“Bill and his team approached us with a deep understanding of their audience, and a bold vision of how to embrace, engage, and entertain them,” said Hall. “We knew what was at stake and what these brands mean to them, so we were honored they entrusted us to launch not one, but two distinct networks from the ground up. It was also a refreshing and welcome opportunity for us to showcase what’s possible when clients tap into our fully integrated offerings as an agency. We look forward to building on the momentum of GAC Family and GAC Living, as these channels become the go-to destination for family viewing experiences.”

CREDITS

Client: GAC Media

Agency: Definition 6

Network Branding + Creative:

SVP, Creative Director: Crystal Hall

Creative Director/Producer: Rich Rosario

Sr. Creative Director/Copywriter: Linda Danner

VP, Operations: Andy Solomon

VP, Sound/Composer: Dan O’Sullivan

Sound Designer/Mixer: Ted Marcus

Art Director: Elisa Bates

Logo Designer: Noelle Mullins

Lead Animator/Designer: Hubert Reinfeld

Animator: Marcial Gonzalez

Animator: Roberto Nunes

Designer: Ana Sanchez

Designer/Animator: David Cuenca

Writer/Producer: Bill Dempsey

Editor: Stephen Cheifitz

Editor/Designer/Animator: Vlad Mihalkov

Assistant Editor: Juan Enis

Producer: Lucy de Freitas Hofle

Website Architecture + Branding + Design

SVP, Group Account Director: Margaret-Parham Loyd

SVP, Group Creative Director: Doug Dimon

VP, Technology: Ronnie Roberts

Sr. Project Manager: Angelina Pennington

Digital Producer: Akeem Mitchell

UX Design Director: Kyu Yang

Graphic Designer: Renita Ravuth

Software Development Director: Chet Verigan

Sr. Software Developer: Amanda Edwards

Front-End Developer: Matt Weaver, Ben Degiglio

IT Director: Bryan Elliot

Digital Marketing Analyst: Matt Akins

Infrastructure Engineer: Matt Mills

Director of Quality Assurance: Pierre Sooh

Tags: brand identity brand launch definition 6 gac family gac living partner content


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