ITV2 rebrand to spurn ‘cool’ youth image for fun

ITV group marketing director David Pemsel says the broadcaster’s rebrand of its youth-oriented digital channel ITV2 will spurn “being cool” for playing to its strengths of “fun” and enjoyable entertainment.

Pemsel has admitted that although ITV2 targets the same demographic as E4, Channel 4’s digital youth channel, it is not seen as cool in the way E4 is.

He adds/ “We have avoided using the word ‘cool’; Channel 4 does cool. We’re about being as fun and uncynical as possible. The tone is very important. To make it cool was not an aspiration.”

But he also admits that it is “very, very difficult” to shake off the dominance of ITV1 and develop a channel without the same values.

The rebrand includes an updated logo, new continuity idents and a 60-second TV spot which breaks this week featuring “key talent”. The revamp has been created by ITV’s in-house agency ITV Creative and includes a new-look website.

The ad spots star Jordan and Peter Andre, Fearne Cotton and Holly Willoughby, and will also run in cinemas from next month.

Pemsel says the channel has been repositioned around content, which is now “much, much better”; as over the past three or four years either the programming was stronger than the brand, or vice versa.

The new ITV2 branding aims to reflect the lives of its core 16- to 34-year-old audience, including the importance of socialising, music and connectivity.

An ITV spokeswoman adds that the channel is a place to “get together, be entertained and leave with a smile”.