Channel 4 is the UK’s alternative public service broadcaster. Our currency is entertainment – tv and online content that challenges the status quo, provokes debate and creates change. Our idents sit at the heart of that identity and reflect what we’re about – diverse, inclusive, high quality programming, combining both gravitas and humour. Whilst 5 separate idents were created for use on the channel, we launched them as one powerful, hypnotic film, with a specially commissioned voiceover. The work becomes a piece of entertainment in its own right – broadcast in commercial airtime, but also available to stream on channel4.com

Channel 4 is the U.K’s alternative public service broadcaster. In an ever-expanding world of broadcasters and streamers, our brand love and recognition is critical. This had declined in recent years as our on-screen branding consisted of a deconstructed version of our logo, and didn’t align with our current brand positioning of ‘Altogether Different’. We were tasked with creating new idents for the tv channel (and its online service), that put the iconic ‘4’ back at the heart of the visuals and connected it to the spirit of ‘Altogether Different’ – a positioning that celebrates the diverse, inclusive, and alternative nature of the U.K. as seen through Channel 4’s eyes. We needed a piece of film that cut through and made people love Channel 4.

We created an infinite loop – the iconic 4 sits centrally and endlessly turns into itself, revealing a new scene around it with each loop. This gave us a canvas to create ‘altogether different’ worlds, all unified by the 4, the camera move and the cube motif at the base of the 4. We worked with 17 diverse directors and artists to create 25 distinct worlds that link seamlessly together to become a tapestry of modern Britain. Employing live action, animation, and full CG, and playing with many contrasting elements (scale, tone, colour, light etc), the result is a hugely ambitious visualisation of how we live now.

Reflecting the themes of Identity, the Land, System, Release and Love, we created 5 separate 40” idents for use on the Channel, and combined them to create this powerful and hypnotic piece of film, accompanied by a specially commissioned voiceover.

In the battle for viewers’ attention, broadcast brands need to be immediately recognisable and easy to recall. In a competitive Distinctive Brand Assets study in Jan 2021, we found that both spontaneous and prompted recall of Channel 4 was some way behind our major competitors, particularly in the digital space. Spontaneous association of our logo with the Channel 4 brand was 5% behind our direct competitor ITV, with over 10% of UK respondents not recognising that the famous blocks represented Channel 4.

Our strategic response was to embark on a major principles-based rebrand, pulling our linear and streaming viewing together for the first time under one masterbrand. We decided to put our logo front and centre in the new set of idents (it previously hadn’t featured at all). We made it an active part of the creative – the 4 becoming a literal lens into diverse communities, ideas and worlds.

As our most high-profile brand assets, we ensured enough time was built in for development and execution of the new idents. We needed time to test the physics of how to bring the creative idea to life – developing innovative techniques involving highly complex motion control.

Working with a collective of different makers, each filmic loop required detailed planning to ensure they were as authentic as possible, a true representation of the different communities being brought to the screen.

The process took just under 12 months from brief to launch. The full idents launch film premiered on 14th June 2023 as a primetime full ad break takeover on Channel 4, as well as on YouTube and Channel 4 streaming.

The idents themselves (filmic assets without voiceover) have massive reach, running every hour, every day of the week on Channel 4, reaching 81% of the population 40+ times a year.

The idents appear in every ad break between programmes, providing a backdrop for the continuity announcements. Seen by viewers 40+ times per year, so it’s vital viewers find them appealing as they will be on the channel for years to come. While it is too early to see the long term positive impact on brand recognition scores, Social Listening since launch demonstrates the new idents have been enthusiastically received by viewers. The full launch film has been viewed 70,000 times on YouTube since launch and comments are almost 100% positive. “This is an amazing reflection on the diversity of the British Isles and if I have to say, probably one of the best televisual identities so far in this decade. / “I absolutely love this new ident package. It’s modern, but familiar, and I think it’s great. What a way to pay tribute to over 40 years of Channel 4.