Teletoon, the animation broadcast station owned jointly by Astral Media and Corus Entertainment, launched a comprehensive brand redesign yesterday.
The new look affects Teletoon’s on-air presentation, as well as its website and marketing collateral. Yesterday’s launch, which comes as the station celebrates its 10th anniversary, was the culmination of a rebranding process that began in mid-2005.
“There was a bit of a disconnect between our programming and our marketing and this was an opportunity to make a better match,” says Leslie Krueger, vice-president of marketing for Teletoon.
Natalie Cunningham, brand manager for Teletoon, says the decision to create a more mature look for Teletoon was the result of viewer research by Toronto’s youth-focused research agency Youthography. According to Cunningham, younger audiences indicated a strong interest in shows typically geared toward the 18-24 demographic the station airs during its post-9 p.m. programing segment, called The Detour.
“One of the biggest insights for us was that we learned just how savvy kids are and what their interests are,” says Cunningham. “It’s that lifestage aspiration, where the 16-year-olds aspire to be like the older youth who watch The Detour, so we noticed the opportunity to appeal to all of our demographics across the board.”
However, Krueger points out that Teletoon still delineates between younger and older audiences.
“There is a clear demarcation of our daytime brand and our evening brand, and you know you’re in a different place at 9 p.m.,” she says.
In addition to Youthography, Teletoon worked with its agency of record, newly merged JWT Enterprise, media branding and creative agency Brand New World, and animation company 4stroke to bring the redesign to life.
The process also resulted in the creation of an online youth advisory panel, which provided input and will continue to do so on an ongoing basis.
