Rapidly changing tv industry drives rebrand

SIMON SMITH – 8 MAY 2014

The Television Academy, previously The Academy of Television, Arts & Science, was predominantly recognised as the organisation behind the popular Primetime Emmy Awards.

Brand strategists, Siegel+Gale worked with The Television Academy to move away from the restrictive identity and reposition itself as a brand for every day of the year. It wanted to be seen as an organisation at the forefront of the evolving television landscape with a new image that would be simultaneously professional and celebratory.

The biggest change was the Television Academy’s simplified new name. The mantra of the campaign was, ‘New look — new vision — new destination’. The new brand kept the Emmy statuette logo, but slightly modernised it to be more streamlined and athletic, the logo was then incorporated into a complete visual identity including a graphic and a new wordmark. The new visual identity is modern and suited to digital platforms.

“This is the most important and pivotal year in our organization’s history,” says Bruce Rosenblum, chairman and CEO of the Television Academy, “The academy is expanding, innovating and evolving alongside the dramatic changes in our industry.”

The consumption of online content is an integral aspect of the television industry’s future and last year’s Emmy Awards recognised a straight-to-Netflix series demonstrating that the Television Academy is evolving alongside this shift. The rebrand was intended to convey this to consumers.

The rebrand was accompanied by a $40m fundraising campaign for the Television Academy Foundation, funds raised will be used to supplement scholarship and internship programmes.