Broadcasters are in a fight for attention. The lure of deep-pocketed global streaming services like Netflix mean that British public service broadcasters are in an uphill battle to remain relevant and visible, especially among younger viewers. The brief was to make the Channel 4 brand as visible and consistent as possible across all touchpoints, elevating the Channel 4 brand to masterbrand status, drawing all of our activities under one recognisable brand across streaming and linear TV. This was to be achieved through the creation of an all new centralised brand identity system, underpinned by clear principles and practitioner toolkits. Budget c. £2m.

As one of the UK’s most watched broadcasters, Channel 4 has a mass audience – it’s for everyone, so we needed to reflect the brand’s promise of being ‘Altogether Different’, while ensuring broad appeal and accessibility. So we developed a principles-based brand system that embraces Channel 4’s inherent rebellious and unapologetic creativity, balanced with a need for cohesion and consistency — a system that gives the brand the ability to both unify, and be creatively flexible. Grounded by a consistent brand narrative, ‘4 is a traveller’, the 4 logo can now confidently lead its viewers through a universe of ‘Altogether Different’ content, acting as a guide and companion to viewers, as well as a bold marker for a vibrant and modern Channel 4.

Central to the whole project was the re-establishment and elevation of Channel 4’s logo. We brought the blocks back together and redrew it to hold greater visual presence in digital assets, created a new motion logo reveal, and set it in a new single masterbrand colour. A design system for a brand of this breadth and depth requires a fine balance between design consistency and creative freedom. We made conscious decisions to define the functional elements (that were then simplified and strictly templated) and the expressive elements (that would be driven by our brand personality ‘4ness’ and allowed for creative flex).We expanded our headline brand typeface 4Headline into x-condensed and x-wide styles to give more variation whilst maintaining attribution.

We added branded iconography with sets ranging from functional system & wayfinding to expressive ‘4Mojis’ that bring personality to our stripped back approach for all functional text.

The new brand identity was rolled out across Channel 4 and our streaming service (previously named ‘All 4’) during Spring 2023. Alongside the rebranded channel and streaming service, we simultaneously rolled out the new branding across all B2C marketing communication channels, including on air programme trails, paid social & organic content, programmatic, outdoor, and audio advertising, as well as across Channel 4’s B2B activities, including events and partner engagement. Now projecting one stronger brand and for the first time presenting a joined up experience across streaming and linear, we experienced a 19% rise in streaming views YoY in the 3 months since rollout, which is a strong indication that it is helping viewers recall and recognise the revitalised Channel 4 brand. The latest brand tracking shows a 4.1% rise in our long term brand distinctiveness metrics in the period May to September 2023 which is a very significant shift.