Telenet is the largest provider of broadband services in Belgium.

Last year, Telenet bought the media group SBS (which has 4 free channels).

As a result, the group decided to rename the totality of its brands under the new name: PLAY. The group also decided to launch a new sports channel and a digital platform.

With this portfolio, Telenet has become the main player on the Belgian audiovisual scene. This strategic choice to invest in content needed to be supported by new branding to communicate the renaming of the existing brands, as well as to promote their new and unknown brands.

With these two aims in mind, we created the logotypes and the 360° visual and sonic identities of the mother-brand Play and its 8 sub-brands (5 free channels, cinema, series and sports packages, and a digital platform).

1,300 elements have been created and delivered in just 6 months.

We created a new generation of logotype which is polymorphic, expressing all the brand’s values with a single sign.

The P (first letter of the brand name) is transformed through rotation, becoming:

- A Play sign, symbolizing the digital connectivity of these brands, available on all screens, where you want and when you want.

- A heart that expresses all of the emotions provided by the content. It also reflects a connected brand that wants to create dialogue and share with its audiences.

The design has been thought of and created with motion in mind, and to fit all the new usages (e.g., mobile consumption). The graphic codes are adapted to all formats.

Each sub-brand has its own identity, a balance between the spirit of the mother-brand and each individual brand’s DNA. Thus, we had to manage very different target audiences and brand DNAs, all using the same sign.

Play is a portfolio of media brands who have to express themselves and communicate on a daily basis. TV brands have to create advertising and promos for the content they release 24/7, not only on their own channels but also using cross promotion, off air and digital communication (on their website, apps, social media accounts, press, outdoor…). This 24/7 communication requires specific tools, so the internal teams can create, use and adapt the identity on a daily basis. We created and delivered files that were automatized so that the internal production process could be fast and fluid.

Because Play is a media brand, it was also important to create an identity that works in motion (used for on air promos, ad breaks, bumpers, openers, video loops for screens, digital usage…) as well as in print (stationery, posters, invitations, signage in the building, collaterals, goodies…).

Since the rebranding was only launched this January, we don’t yet have reliable or precise data on audience figures or on the evolution of the turnover in terms of advertising revenue. As for qualitative studies, these will be conducted in May.

The audiences for January and February were very good, but it is still too early to link these audience figures directly to the rebranding. We will only be able to obtain exact data after six to twelve months have passed.

That said, the various launches and rebranding have gained a lot of positive coverage from the press.