Out with the old? Not quite by Gayle MacDonald

by Gayle MacDonald

The CBC gave the media a sneak preview yesterday of the new face it plans to show off to the English-speaking world this Sunday when it launches its new fall season.

The funny thing, though, is it looks suspiciously similar to the one this country's public broadcaster has worn for more than 25 years. The logo has been left untouched. Indeed, it's the same little gem created in February, 1974, by Canadian designer Burton Kramer, and often since described as an exploding pizza or pineapple.

What's different is the overall look and feel of the fall programming package. It's undoubtedly sleeker, crisper and more consistent, with each segment choreographed to flow smoothly into the next and imprinted with the tagline, "Canada's Own."

The thing that irked some people at press conferences in Toronto and Calgary yesterday, however, was the fact this much-hyped visual facelift for the country's public broadcaster – accompanied by the new slogan – was the brainchild, to a large degree, of New York-based Razorfish, the flavour-of-the-moment international brand strategist that has handled network rebranding campaigns for AOL, Fox TV, PBS, NBC, Microsoft and Madonna's Maverick Records, to name a few.

Harold Redekopp, the vice-president of CBC Television, was pressed yesterday to say how much the Crown corporation shelled out to the folks at Razorfish to graphically botox away some of age lines and wrinkles at CBC English TV. He was mum on the subject, insisting it is "a matter of policy never to discuss individual project budgets."

Reached in Calgary, Redekopp stressed the visual branding was a necessary step that CBC had to take in order to stay front-of-mind with Canadian viewers who are increasingly lured to look elsewhere in the multichannel universe.

He added that the image overhaul will result in a more viewer-friendly CBC and a far more gripping visual package that he is confident Canadians will immediately gravitate and warm to.

"What we're talking about here is CBC transformation. We're redefining it as the national public television service. So we've spent a lot of time talking about the attributes of the public broadcaster, we've narrowed our focus, and gone back to our traditional strengths."

The new visuals that cross over all program formats, promos and station breaks are important, Redekopp added, but they're just part of a multipronged attack to get the whole of CBC singing from the same hymn sheet.

In addition to the jazzed-up graphics, the CBC will present themed nights – hosted by on-air personalities such as Ron MacLean, Cynthia Dale, Sheila McCarthy, Eleanor Wachtel, and Ralph Benmergui – and a new branding that ties together drama, comedy, news and sports programming on both the main network and CBC Newsworld.

But the refusal to put a price tag on how much the "visual branding" exercise cost angered Neil Seeman, a senior researcher and lawyer with the National Citizens' Coalition in Toronto.

He said that the CBC, ultimately funded by taxpayers, is unpatriotic for using an American advertising firm to highlight its Canadian uniqueness. Seeman also questioned whether viewers will notice – or even care – about these changes. "The pretty new graphics won't matter a whit to taxpayers," Seeman predicted. "To really serve viewers the CBC should disclose the amount of money it is spending on this sort of project.

"This is the type of thing that viewers want to know. The basic principle here is taxpayers deserve to know how their money is spent," said Seeman, adding that the price tag for the visual brand work was rumoured, a few months ago, to be at $2.5-million, and climbing.

"This is just another example of what I can see as foolish and unnecessary government waste."

Redekopp disagrees, and adds that the company didn't make changes simply for change's sake. He stressed the corporation listened to viewers who felt the CBC needed to reintroduce themselves to Canadians, but also heard CBC fans who insisted they liked the old logo and wanted to keep it. He added that studies have shown the so-called exploding pizza is the second-most identifiable brand for Canadians after the logo of the Royal Bank.

"We had three goals we wanted to meet," he continues. "We want our programming to be clearly Canadian, unabashedly Canadian. We want to be a well-managed company, valued by the public. And the third part is the visual identity. We know we have to have a consistent and coherent look. All the master brands and the sub brands have to look like they're related. It will take some time to get it fully through the system."

Ian Morrison, spokesman for the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, also defended the CBC initiative yesterday, saying it's "very important for television operators in the current environment to brand themselves effectively and to update their image.

"If you continue doing all the same things, all the time, you get stale," said Morrison.

"It's also very important that there be a kind of brand continuity between radio and television, and between English and French," he added. "The real test will be to see how far the CBC takes it. Will they brand the corporate identity and not just one of its product lines?"

Yesterday, Redekopp hinted that the CBC will go further. "We have to think about corporate branding," said Redekopp, adding he has been appointed to lead that effort. "But that's the last step. And we won't be getting to the corporate stage for a few months."

© Globe Information Services