|
Though fairly aggressive in the Asia-Pacific region, India has
been a tough nut to crack for BDA. Apart from the Channel 7 assignment,
BDA’s London office is doing a project for TV Today Network that
manages Aaj Tak and Headlines Today. At one time, BDA unsuccessfully
pitched for a channel account of Star Network in India.
BDA provides a range of promotion and design services to broadcasters
and advertisers worldwide. As a creative agency, it offers a one-stop
solution for clients, producing quality work in the field of TV
channel branding, broadcast design, commercials, sponsorship, promotions,
print and radio.
Commenting on the Channel 7 project, Samuels said that the brief
was to come up with an on-air identity that would be “unique and
different” from the plethora of news channels in India, even while
not deviating from the philosophy of the proposed channel --- to
provide clean and multi-hued information.
“It was important for us and Jagran that Indian clichés
are avoided,” Samuels said. She added, “That’s why even Indian symbols
have not been used for the logo of the channel.”
Admitting that globally news TV is a competitive market --- something
that is true in India too --- Samuels said that it was necessary
for design companies like theirs to get the “attitude” of the channel
right. “The Jagran job needed us to create a unique '7’ that we
have done after studying the looks of other news channels,” she
added.
Though Jagran is not forthcoming enough to give a sneak preview
of the logo and the looks that one would see when the channel goes
on air some time in March, the logo does uses the blue and red colour
liberally with a dash of saffron too.
“Internationally blue colour is associated with serious and conservative,
while red lends vibrancy. So we have combined three colours to create
a dynamic product,” Samuels informed.
On the issue of brand identity, Samuels, who’s from BDA’s Australia
office, felt that the on-air looks of news channels in India presented
a “cluttered look,” with news tickers `flying’ all over and: “sometimes
even coming “ at the viewers’ face. BDA also feels that the ticker
used by NDTV is “enormous”, while Zee News has more advertising
related information on their ticker rather than hard news, which
could be a result of some business decision.
However, Samuels did agree that it is imperative to change the
looks from time to time to avoid boredom setting in. “It tends to
get boring if you as a viewer are watching the same thing for a
long period of time. Globally, TV channels change their looks almost
every two year. It helps to keep people’s interest alive, but there’s
no substitute to good content,” she added.
An award winning global agency, BDA was founded in 1999 and its
clients include Hallmark, Discovery Networks, Ford, Sky Italia,
ITV and Disney.
BDA chairman Bruce Dunlop has launched and managed some significant
promotional and creative services for broadcasters and advertisers
worldwide, including transforming the promotions department at the
Rupert Murdoch-controlled BSkyB, launching Sky multi-channels and
overseeing the branding of ITV 1 and ITV2. He is also the first
non-American to been inducted into the Promax International Hall
of Fame in 1997 "for the contribution he continues to make
to the business".
|
In
India to oversee work relating to the on-air looks of Jagran TV
Ltd’s proposed news channel, Channel 7, BDA business director Gillian
Samuels, told Indiantelevision.com, “India is a dynamic market
(for TV channels) and we are hoping to grab some more meaningful
business here.”