Work for Media

1. 32 Designing idents for Television
LO1 & LO2/ researching idents
for channel 4
By Matthew Marshall

2. What is an Ident?
“An ident is a very short advert used by channels to help create self branding.”
But why do we use idents?
We use idents for many reasons. One of the
reasons are because they give the company
team and the viewers a short break to use the
bathroom and grab a coffee etc, this is mostly
seen in the BBC because they do not have
adverts to use as breaks so instead they use
idents. Another reason we use idents is because
it helps create an identity for the channel,
channel identity is probably the most important
reason for Idents in my opinion because it helps
target our audience and it makes them more
loyal to a channel. Finally another reason for
idents is to advertise certain programs to get
more viewers to watch their shows, an example
would be the BBC ident for Doctor who, it is used
to build “hype” for the show and to get more
people to watch it.

3. What is a Suite?
“A suite of an ident is a theme that spans across several different idents.”
There are many uses to using suites in our idents. One of
these ways is by strengthening the Brand identity, for
example the BBC1 world logo symbolises the BBC looking
over the world. Another use of suites in idents is it can
relate to different seasonal times, for example during
christmas time many channels use winter/christmas
themes throughout their idents to help connect with the
audience and to get the audience excited for the “winter”
programs that will be on, an example of this is the BBC1 on
the right.
Suites are used by many companies that
create idents for example the BBC suite is
the design of a circle in most of their idents.
This circle represents the world and shows
the BBC as covering the world. Channel 4
also has a very prominent suite of the
number 4.

4. Conventional Features of an Ident Company Logo
The company logo is the
most important convention
of an advert because it is
what sticks in the mind of
the viewer and what brand
recognition is based
around. An example of this
is channel 4.
Short Running Times
Short Running Times
are what makes idents
idents, because of the
short time they can be
played multiple time
during an advert break
as well as being
cheaper and easier to
create then an advert.
An example of this is
every idents running
time, usually around 30
seconds.
Themes & Suites
The themes and
suites of idents help
immensely with
brand recognition
because they are
similar to other
idents people have
seen meaning it will
stick in the mind of
the viewer easier. An
example of this is
the BBC Circle
Suite.
Non Diegetic &
Diegetic Sound
Diegetic Sound is
sound that is inside
the tv world eg car
horns. Non diegetic
is sound only the
viewers can hear eg
music. They are both
essential because
they captivate the
audience and draw
attention to the
screen an example
of this is the Dave
idents with their own
theme tune.

5. BBC Idents
Purpose
The purpose of the BBC ident is to create a small amount of
time for viewers and workers to have quick breaks but also to
fill in gaps so programs start on schedule, they also provide
information on programs that are starting. They also help
create probably the biggest brand identity in England, the BBC
brand, they do this by sticking to the same themes and styles
through all of their idents even their seasonal idents.
Audience
The audience for the BBC idents are people aged 30+. This is
because they are quite formal but kind of childish in a way for
example the Doctor Who/Hippo ident is quite playful with the
inclusion of animals however it is still very formal.
Tone
The tone of the BBC idents are meant to be serious but also a
tiny bit playful because they want to try to reach a wider
audience. Some of the idents are rather realistic and serious
such as the Helicopter ident but some of them are unrealistic
and playful such as the pixie/fantasy ident, this could be
because they are trying to reach out to multiple audiences of
different age groups.

6. Channel 4 Idents
Purpose
The purpose of the Channel 4 idents
is to create a permanent image inside
the viewer's head of the channel 4
logo “the 4”. In nearly all the channel
4 idents the 4 is used sometimes it's
easily spottable such as the tokyo
ident and sometimes it is hidden such
as the airplane scrapyard ident.
Audience
The audience for channel 4 is
people of all ages because of its
“Saturday Night” design. Channel
4’s shows are very big normally with
bright colors and fireworks some
examples are Saturday Night
Takeaway and Strictly. Some of the
idents show this off aswell for
example the Tokyo Ident.
Tone
The tone of the Channel 4
idents are quite over the top and
“big”. They are normally
complicated rather than simple
and usually feature large
amounts of CGI. The idents are
usually quite bright with them
being outside in the sun or
being lit up at night by neon
lights etc.

7. ITV Idents
Purpose
The purpose of the ITV idents is to
provide entertainment to the
viewers, they are not used for
information like most other idents
from other companies. They are
usually shorter than other
channels idents and are mainly
there to remind people of what
channel they're watching and to
engrain the logo into the
audience's head creating a
stronger brand identity.
Audience
Like channel4 ITV doesn't have a
super specific audience because
the “Stories” in the idents are what
most people do in Britain like
having a barbecue or getting ice
cream. The theme of family
seems to be a recurring theme
among nearly all their idents
compared to other channels like
the BBC who have the suite of the
world etc.
Tone
The tone of the ITV
idents are very
close to home and
quite warming in a
strange way, they
are usually seasonal
for example the
barbecue being
summer and the
fireplace being
winter.

8. Dave Idents
Purpose
The purpose of the Dave
ident is to provide
entertainment and create a
brand identity some of the
idents also provide
information using a voice
over for example the alarm
rooster ident.
Tone
The tone of the Dave idents
are meant to create a witty
and jokey, “Banter” feeling
because that is the sort of
programs Dave includes for
example Top Gear and Red
Dwarf.
Audience
The audience of the Dave idents contain a wide range
because of the comical style of them. Children can be
included because of the use of an animal suite, young
adults can be included because of the comical “British”
humor and adults-old people can be included because it
provides information for programs they watched when
they was younger as well as being the same style of humor
as the old programs.

9. The Advantages of using Idents as marketing
opportunitiesThere are many advantages of using idents with marketing techniques. One of
these advantages is Idents are easier to remember then full adverts so they
can stick in the audience's mind more, an example would be the Doctor who
tardis ident for BBC 1 because i cannot remember any doctor who adverts
however i can remember that ident easily. Another advantage is idents are
cheaper than full on adverts, because they are only a few seconds long
usually whereas trailers are at least 2 minutes long sometimes even 5 minutes
long.
BBC
The BBC uses idents to
advertise their big shows
such as Doctor Who and
Strictly Come Dancing. An
example of this would be
the Doctor Who idents
which make appearances
in their normal adverts to
get people excited for the
new season.
ITV
ITV uses idents in a
different way and instead
of advertising their own
stuff they let other
companies sponsor their
shows with their own
idents. An example of this
is iceland sponsoring “Im a
celebrity” this ident
combines both the
advertisement for iceland
and the advertisement for
the show.
Channel 4
Channel 4 use a mix
of both the outside
company idents (The
hollyoaks dominoes
ident) and the self
advertisement (The
simpsons ident).
Dave
Dave does not use this
type of marketing as
often as the others
however they do still
have a couple of
idents relating to Red
Dwarf to help
advertise the show.

10. How the BBC has created a corporate identity with
idents
The BBC has created their identity through idents using suites as their main attraction point. For years
the identity of the BBC suites was the theme of a circle and the world but recently they have changed
it. They originally created their circle/world identity in 1953 with the creation of the eye with the
batwings ident. This idea of a circle/world design carried on until 2016 where they decided to change.
The circle/world was meant to show the BBC as covering the entire world especially on BBC news
where the world was heavily used.

11. What are the negative elements of creating a new
brand identity
There are many problems when creating a brand identity. One of these problems is the audience
might not like the new design, for example the recent change the BBC had where they removed the
globe caused an uproar among their viewers because of how iconic the globe was. Another problem
is it can be hard to capture the audience's attention, the new identity might not be as entertaining as
the original leading to viewers becoming bored of the new design and moving to another channel.
Another problem of creating a new brand identity is the time and cost of it, building up an identity
takes many years of constant work and money, the BBC idents cost around £150,000 every ident to
make each. Another problem is the complexity of designing a completely new identity that audiences
will find appealing as well as showing off the channel in a good light, for example if you was going to
create a new brand identity you would need to do extensive research to find out what is your target
audience so you can appeal to them and to what their preferences are changing to.