English Entertainment
Troika refreshes E! Network’s on-air look
MUMBAI: Design and branding agency Troika Design Group has been instrumental in the brand new refreshed look of E! Entertainment Television.
This was announced by Troika’s executive creative director and co-founder Dan Pappalardo. Working closely with E!’s in-house creative team, Troika delivered a refresh of the network’s on-air identity, including concept, design and 2D and 3D animation.
E! had also selected Troika to assist in the design and production of the network’s rebrand in 2002.
Troika’s deliverables included IDs, a promo tool-kit, international promo elements, sponsor billboards, news tickers, online tags, lower thirds, a brand style guide and the :30 Summer Spot, which introduces the new on-air look and new programming line-up.
Pappalardo said, “We worked in concert with E!’s in-house marketing and design teams to establish an identity package that truly suits their needs today. The project was a great opportunity to evolve a brand that is very familiar to us. Our successful history of collaboration permitted us to quickly execute the project through creative shorthand, shared design sensibilities and strong relationships.”
“One of the most important objectives of the brand refresh was to establish long-term stylistic rules to help us guide our in-house design team while allowing them creative freedom in day-to-day promotion,” added E! Networks vice president and creative director, on-air design Ann Epstein-Cohen.
“Troika worked very closely with our art directors to develop a contemporary, engaging look that can evolve as our production does. E! continues to be a fan of Troika’s highly capable design sensibilities and vibrant creative skills,” she added.
In 2002, Troika worked with E! to create a consistent and controlled look based on the colors of red carpet and black tie and the use of klieg lights as a metaphor for entertainment. In 2005, Troika was asked to assist in balancing a consistent brand identity with more flexible promo packaging that could reflect the varied tones of E!’s programming.
In the redesign, celebrity and entertainment are expressed though a broad palette of vibrant color and dynamic textures that reflect energy and excitement.
Troika creative director and designer Reid Thompson said, “The primary motif — and a source of immediate energy — was found in the E! exclamation point logo. By cropping the logo, or at times tilting it, Troika accentuated its inherent boldness. The logo is so iconic that even when tightly cropped, it is instantly recognizable by viewers.”
The logo takes the viewer on colorful graphic journeys as it flies through a 3D space, creating an expanded visual language. The promotional package also utilises patterned background textures created from repeated E! logos. The E! logo is also designed as a window for video and graphic transitions.
English Entertainment
Ellison takes his Paramount-Warner Bros case straight to theater owners
The Skydance chief goes to CinemaCon with promises and a skeptical crowd waiting
CALIFORNIA: David Ellison strode into a room packed with thousands of cinema owners and executives at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on Thursday and did something rather bold: he looked them in the eye and asked them to trust him.
The chief executive of Paramount Skydance vowed that his company would release a minimum of 30 films a year if regulators greenlight its proposed $110 billion acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, a deal that has made theater owners deeply, and loudly, nervous.
“I wanted to look every single one of you in the eye and give you my word,” Ellison told the crowd. “Once we combine with Warner Bros, we are going to make a minimum of 30 films annually across both studios.”
It was a confident pitch. Whether it landed is another matter. Cinema operators have already called on regulators to block the deal, and scepticism in the room was hardly concealed.
Ellison pushed back by pointing to recent form. Paramount, born from the merger of Paramount Global and Skydance Media last August, plans to release 15 films this year, nearly double the eight it put out in 2025. Progress, he argued, was already underway.
He also threw theater owners a bone they have long been chasing: all films, he pledged, would run exclusively in cinemas for a minimum of 45 days, drawing applause from a crowd that has spent years fighting for exactly that commitment across the industry.
“People can speculate all they want,” Ellison said, “but I am standing here today telling you personally that you can count on our complete commitment. And we’ll show you we mean it.”
Fine words. The regulators, however, will have the last one.
