VMtv rebrands Living and Living2
Virgin Media Television is renaming its Living2 channel offering and overhauling the visual identity of its Living channel.
Living2 is being rebranded Livingit on 30 November. The relaunch is being accompanied by new programming under the strapline “Life’s worth watching”. The programming focuses on “real people and real lives” and includes shows such as The 45 Stone Virgin, Ghost Adventure and Airways.
Virgin Media director of television Claudia Rosencrantz says Living2, now four years old, had “got to the point where it deserves to be a name and not a number” and the change will help it step out of the shadow of the core Living channel and stop it being mistaken for a “catch-up” channel.
Jeff Dodds, Virgin Media brand and marketing director, adds that the positioning and the reality TV programming will help the channel increase its market share and extend its audience of housewives with children.
Rival broadcaster BSkyB offers a channel called Sky Real Lives with the strapline “Ordinary people. Extraordinary stories”.
Living, now 15 years old, will have a new identity to reinforce its brand values. On-air idents show people interacting with a huge real-build version of the channel’s logo, for instance a Cirque de Soleil performer.
Dodds says: “A lot of channels are doing lots of clever images on screen, but we believe Living is a channel with scale and honesty and the creative idea reflects this.”
“In the TV environment it’s essential to have a strong brand. We also have a duty of care to our advertisers to keep viewers watching and engaged during a programme break with our branding creative.”
The brand identities were devised by Red Bee Media and Virgin Media Television’s in-house creative team.
