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Following in the footsteps of its sister services W and UKTV Play, UKTV’s comedy channel Dave is launching its refresh on Wednesday with a focus on keeping the brand relatable to viewers.
“Dave is an iconic TV brand so it is a particularly exciting time to enter the business as its fresh new look hits screens. Following this year’s successful W and UKTV Play brand refreshes, this marks the next step in Dave’s evolution as it expands its footprint and draws in new viewers,” said UKTV’s Chief Marketing Officer Penny Brough, who joined the company in September.
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Dave is home to UKTV original unscripted comedies, including Big Zuu’s Big Eats, Outsiders, Mel Giedroyc: Unforgivable, Hypothetical, Comedians Giving Lectures, Question Team, Alan Davies: As Yet Untitled, The Island and British As Folk. The channel also offers such scripted comedies as Meet The Richardsons and Red Dwarf. And in recent years, Dave has expanded to social media platforms such as YouTube, Facebook and TikTok.
Nick Gilmer, interim marketing director for Dave, began by working with consultancy Eat Big Fish to develop new brand positioning for the channel. Strategists Craig+Bridget helped write the brief, while in-house agency UKTV Creative designed and delivered the new brand assets in collaboration with agency Studio Output.
“With a brand as distinctive and celebrated as Dave, keeping it fresh and relevant to audiences was a real balancing act,” said Gilmer, also in a statement. “We had to ensure Dave continues to feel modern and resonates with viewers without losing the unique identity that made the brand one of the most recognizable in TV. Our new look reflects our audience’s everyday world back at them in a uniquely Dave way, borrowing from our heritage and ensuring Dave provides viewers with a fresh fix of funny wherever they engage with the brand.”
To that end, the team set the channel’s tweaked logo into somewhat random real-world settings, such as on a pile of screws or on a snail’s shell or in a pot of franks and beans.
It then inserted those concepts into a design system that could be tailored to use across Dave’s multiple platforms.
“As UKTV Creative we wanted to take the smart, comic Dave tone-of-voice and apply it to the biggest canvas of all; everyday life. Inserting Dave into the world of our viewers allows us to really resonate as a brand. Dave’s fresh new look and design language also helps us open up the Dave ‘world’, from telly and YouTube to podcasts and TikToks. It’s a new dawn, it’s a new Dave!” said UKTV’s Head of Design Peter Allinson.
Key design elements include a new typeface family, a series of lozenge shapes to frame footage and imagery, new animations and a secondary palette of vibrant colors in addition to Dave’s standard black and white. Dave’s new channel idents also allow the brand to play with everyday scenarios, with a constantly updated bank of real-world videos acting as backdrops for continuity, logo stings and canvases. The combination of all elements allows for flexibility across on-air, off-air and digital formats.
The rebrand comes ahead of new UKTV original programs set to premiere on Dave this month: Live at the Moth Club and We Are Not Alone.
Tags: brand refresh craig+bridget dave eat big fish studio output uktv uktv play