Fuse Media Inc. announced at this year’s upfronts that there would soon be a change to its lineup of NUVOtv and Fuse, two channels targeted at Latino millennials and music lovers.

That change is now here, with a relaunched Fuse and a new channel, FM, to expand both of those target audiences with the grand unveiling Sept. 30.

But in order to create and brand “the new attitude of Fuse,” Jesus Rodriguez, SVP of marketing at Fuse, and his team had to define what that target audience really meant to the network.

When NUVOtv’s parent company SiTV bought Fuse, the networks decided to combine their platforms and rethink their networks to appeal to the New Young Americans, a demographic that includes the rapidly growing subset of multicultural young millennials who are both pop culture and social savvy.

“What we saw was the perfect place to take the best of the two brands,” said Rodriguez. “From NUVO, we took the storytelling aspect of it, the Hispanic flavor and attitude, and also its long history of comedy. From Fuse, we took the love of music and a brand that truly resonated with a younger audience that wanted to reach out.”

Rodriguez said this relaunch came naturally to Fuse, as it utilized the best of both NUVOtv and Fuse before the change, and speaks to an important group of young people who are heavily influencing the country as well as the TV industry.

“What’s exciting for us is that this is what the country is moving toward – this New America,” said Rodriguez. “NUVO was more into the Latino audience, while Fuse was more into young Americans. The new audience is the perfect combination of the two of them. We’re trying to reach every person that belongs to this New America, which is by definition multicultural.”

So last summer, Fuse started rethinking what that brand would mean on air. Rodriguez said that a large part of the preparation came from understanding this new subset, the New America.

“Once the Hispanic audience in this country goes from Spanish-only television to English,” said Rodriguez, “they feel that they want to be part of the bigger conversation – they like to be treated as part of it. They want to be sitting at the table with everybody else, not singled out.”

So the creative followed that ideal, presenting a brand “for everybody who wants to be invited to the party.”


Diversity became a creative component as well as a staple in the network itself, using the human body as a graphic element in network IDs.

Fuse cast eight dancers of different backgrounds for these stylized pieces – using diverse performers from the dance worlds of ballet to hip hop. Using the human body as the basis, Rodriguez wanted the look to reflect both the new network’s vision as well as this New America generation.

Using a contemporary but warm color palette, these on-air elements were created to be inviting and all-inclusive that was stark and beautiful at the same time.

Typography was the next part of the brand’s evolution, using type that Rodriguez called “big and bold and unapologetic.”

“We wanted the logo to feel a little happier, a little more approachable,” he said.

Fuse’s logo got blocked out, using different shades to represent the diversity the network was embracing. Along with the logo is the slightly altered tagline for the brand, “Where ____ lives.”

The previous tagline, “Where music lives,” worked for the old Fuse but the new network was expanding beyond that, so the relaunch had to communicate something more inclusive. Fuse’s old programming was very music-centric, but its new storytelling and comedy push needed to say more than that, with a tagline that can change as the channel does.

“We don’t want to be married to one tagline that defines us,” said Rodriguez, “because the channel is now more than ever going to feel way more organic and responsive to the reality of us as a culture. Millennials don’t like to be put in boxes.”

FM, Fuse Media’s new music channel, is launching alongside Fuse’s relaunch Sept. 30.

“When Fuse organically grew into more than music,” said Rodriguez, “we felt that we had a responsibility with our audience and the television landscape as a whole with a brand that was exclusively dedicated to celebrate music and music culture.”

And FM, while easily associated with the radio dial, can mean anything, he said. “We don’t want to define what FM stands for, it can be whatever you want it to be. We like that flexibility that the two letters have, it can mean different things for different people.”

With help from Argentina-based agency Plenty, FM’s branding is based on platforms that millennial music lovers are more used to, using bright colors and graphic elements inspired by music streaming platforms and social sites.

“We wanted to create graphics that felt like they could have been born for another platform that’s not TV,” said Rodriguez. “The elements are sophisticated from the design point of view but very unique and very right now. At the same time they feel very basic from the technology point of view, which makes it friendly for iPhones, tablets and devices.”

CREDITS:

FUSE:

Fuse In House Design team

Creative Director: Federico Reinfeld

FM:

Plenty (Argentina)

Creative Director: Mariano Farias

http://www.plenty.tv

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