TV Needs a Recognizable, Consistent and Strong Brand

Ms. Cecile Chavepayre, TV Artistic Director of CFI in France, encourages broadcasters to have a brand that is recognizable and consistent. “Moreover, they must brand strongly or speak loudly to differentiate the station from the rest and make consumer buy your products and services,” she said.

Ms. Cecile Chavepayre, TV Artistic Director of CFI in France, encourages broadcasters to have a brand that is recognizable and consistent. “Moreover, they must brand strongly or speak loudly to differentiate the station from the rest and make consumer buy your products and services,” she said.

A brand identity expert, Ms. Chavepayre spoke today at the AIBD/CFI/French Government Regional Workshop on TV Branding and Visual Identity in Bangkok. She is one of two consultants conducting the three-day workshop. The other consultant is Herve Michel, Director International Affairs at France Televisions.

Some 26 delegates from 13 countries, mostly from the marketing, sales and promotions units of private and public service broadcasting organizations are attending this workshop.

In her presentation, Ms Chavepayre identified the different elements of TV branding such as logo, headlines, credits, set design, auto promotion and sound. She said creating a brand should take into consideration values and context. Values, she said, refer to those that matter to a station; for a public service broadcaster it is the idea of sharing, of gathering people and being close to the audience; for the private station, it has to do with being entertaining, innovative and commercial.

“Context refers to whether or not you are a public service broadcaster or a private station, the history of the organization, your competitors, and the political regime you’re operating in,” she pointed out.

She cited two obstacles in building a successful brand, the lack of a clear strategy in which the station hardly knows its direction, and an organizational structure that does not adapt to the need to build a brand.

A major benefit of branding, she said, is enabling audiences exposed to so many things in the media environment to belong.