National broadcaster enlists international talent for complete brand make-over.
SHANGHAI -- Final Frontier, a Shanghai-based production company, has joined forces with Art&Graft, a London based animation studio, to execute the complete rebrand of CCTV Kids, the dedicated children’s channel of China’s national broadcaster. A full visual make-over is planned in order to create a unique, modern on-air package.
Art&Graft devised a three-tier brand system to appeal to the channels wide demographic, creating a series of harmonious fantasy worlds while incorporating the rich heritage of Chinese culture. The package also includes a family of original brand characters, set to represent the channel for years to come. In total the studio delivered over 60 final assets in the package.
China Central Television (CCTV) is one of the most watched television networks in the world, with more than 1.3 billion viewers per year, operating multiple channels, covering diverse subjects and demographics. CCTV Kids features original IP, licensed Chinese programming and a block of international shows. In an unusual move, the state-run network has tapped international talent for the channel’s rebranding.
“Art&Graft have a rich history of innovative global rebrands and we challenged ourselves once again to deliver something unique for CCTV; an ambitious and expansive character-led creative concept to appeal to the wide demographic of their audience, including core channel branding, a modular on-air design system plus a whole load of idents and promos that expand on the visual language we devised throughout,” remarked Art&Graft creative director, Mike Moloney.
“We’re honored that CCTV entrusted Final Frontier with such an important project,” noted Final Frontier executive producer, Gustavo Karam. “It feels like validation for what we’re doing here. CCTV wanted the very best and were open to harnessing talent anywhere in the world to achieve it. That is what Final Frontier is here to help our clients do.”
Karam continued, “One of the reasons we founded Final Frontier was to give ourselves the opportunity to collaborate with studios we’ve always admired, and A&G was right up near the top of that list. We're proud to have them with Final Frontier, to be able to connect with such a great local client like CCTV and to develop a MASSIVE project like this one.”
"We were thrilled to be asked and incredibly proud of the results for a project which is certainly our biggest in China to date,” Maloney added. “Working with our friends at Final Frontier was a real pleasure and their support on the ground in Shanghai was invaluable to the success of the project.”
The project is the latest channel rebrand by Art&Graft following high profile jobs for Boomerang (Cartoon Network), Pogo (India), W Channel (UKTV), and Alibi (UKTV).
Source: Final Frontier
