What happens when two brands which are completely unconnected share a similar name and logo?
It’s rare but there are examples: in Scotland take a look at Bank of Scotland and Royal Bank of Scotland.
Their logos are not dissimilar and on occasion they have been confused by careless journalists and people moving to Scotland.
As of today, there are two unconnected TV networks which use the letter “U”.
It is the new masterbrand for UKTV’s free-to-air channels. And it is the name of the ITV region covering Northern Ireland.
It is highly unlikely that UKTV or the branding team which came up with the identity were too concerned about the situation in Northern Ireland.
The legacies of the old UTV brand still linger: the logo is seen on the news programme UTV Live, the weather, local trails and the magazine show UTV Life. It also appears in the title sequences of many local programmes.
I have argued before that there is no harm in keeping UTV as a local sub-brand. It is no “worse” than the remaining use of Granada or Meridian.
But it is time to ditch some of the remaining visual uses of the name. Otherwise there could be a false association between UTV and the UKTV channels. If you don’t live in design world, you might even think the U logos are similar although they are quite distinct.
The EPG name needs to become iTV 1 or ITV 1 – UTV.
UTV Live needs explicit ITV News branding.
Remaining uses of the 2016 UTV logo, such as on the weather and local trails, need to be phased out.
The oral name of the region respects the brand heritage and avoids the thorny question of Ulster or Northern Ireland.
But with the new look UKTV, there is an argument that UTV’s remaining visual branding needs ditched.
Acknowledgements
PICTURED: UTV and U logos. COPYRIGHT: ITV plc and BBC Studios respectively.