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Ten reveals first major rebrand in 27 years: Peach, Boss and 10 News First

Ten has confirmed speculation about a major network rebrand, revamping its multi-channels to become ‘10 Peach’ and ‘10 Boss’, rebranding its 5pm news bulletin ‘Ten Eyewitness News at Five’ and removing the words ‘Ten’ from its logo.

At the CBS-owned broadcaster’s upfronts on Wednesday evening, Ten revealed Eleven and One would become known as 10 Peach and 10 Boss respectively, with the brands reflecting a ‘feeling’ and an ‘attitude’ respectively.

The number ’10’ is at the forefront of all of Ten’s new assets

The new branding will also see the word ‘Ten’ removed from Ten’s logo, instead replaced by a number surrounded by a bright blue circle. In addition to the multi-channels and main channel, ‘tenplay’ will become known as ’10 Play’ and ‘ten daily’ will be rebranded as ’10 Daily’. Branding agency Principals is behind the work. Branding for new subscription video-on-demand service, 10 All Access, and new audio business, 10Speaks, was also featured at the Upfronts. Ten’s owner, CBS, is not mentioned in the consumer-facing branding, but will appear on corporate documents.

Ten’s last major change was in 1991

Ten’s new logo

Each brand will also have a different colour, with 10 Boss to be red, 10 Peach to be purple, 10 Play and 10 All Access to be different shades of blue and a green for 10 Daily. The change marks the first time in 27 years Ten has received such a major overhaul of its branding. In 1991, the logo was changed from a gold ’10’ next to an image of Australia.

The logo from 1989-1991

 

The 1988 logo received backlash, as people perceived Ten as ‘X-rated’

 

The 1964 Melbourne ATV0 ident, the first of the stations that became the TEN Network

The rebrand comes a year after US giant CBS acquired Network Ten, following a period in voluntary administration. Since then, Ten has also separated from its sales house, Multi-Channel Network.

Ten CEO, Paul Anderson, told Mumbrella it was “time for a change”, laughing as he admitted a number of Ten viewers “probably weren’t born” when the last rebrand occurred.

“It was about making the brand more contemporary, some consistency across all our brands and also signalling that a lot has changed at Ten over the past year. It’s a new era in our business and while some of the stuff has been leaked in the press – Peach and Boss – and there’s been a lot of speculation, we have a very clear strategy around why we’ve done that,” Anderson said.

“It’s very much around demographics and Peach being a feeling ad Boss being an attitude. Nothing to do with gender which has been predicted.”

Beverley McGarvey, Ten’s chief content officer, told Mumbrella design agency Principals was not just hired for a changing of the logos, but also to research and understand what advertisers, audiences and staff expected.

McGarvey hopes the new branding will communicate the ‘cheeky, mischievous, fun and authentic’ nature of Ten.

On the rebrands of One and Eleven, McGarvey said it was about differentiating the multi-channels.

“The Boss and Peach thing is part of a bigger picture. Really what Boss and Peach were about were giving channel names meaning and that could attract further meaning. Really what it’s about is demographics,” McGarvey said.

“One does and will even more now target older audiences. We’ll play all the CBS content that works really well for that audience – things like NCIS, CSI. The reason they skew a bit older is because it’s about character. Those characters all tend to have that big persona ‘boss’ attitude.

“When you think of someone like Judge Judy and the word ‘Boss’, it is not a literal definition of the word boss, it’s the way she is [talked about] colloquially by contemporary audiences.

“We spent a lot of timing branding Eleven nine years ago, so a lot of the work we did for Eleven still stands, but what we wanted to do was differentiate it. We will push it even younger. We really want Peach to be a feeling… sorts of shows on that are more… you are relaxed when you are watching them and it’s almost a guilty pleasure.”

Across the consumer-facing side of the rebrand, CBS’ name is absent. Anderson said since acquiring the network, CBS has always celebrated the 50 years of brand equity Ten has, never wanting to change or intrude on it.

The newly branded channels and assets

“Right from day one, CBS have never taken that approach. They were the complete opposite in that you’ve got 50 years of brand equity in Australia, in this market, why would we try and change that?” he said.

McGarvey added: “CBS is a very strong corporate brand here – in terms of the advertising community. But in terms of our audiences, it doesn’t have the same strength.”

Principals’ executive creative director, Simon Wright, said the project was about helping Ten find its “mojo”.

“This new identity captures this spirit while looking to 10’s future as an entertainment network that specialises in escapism,” Wright said in a release.

“We worked closely with the brilliant in-house team to celebrate escapist entertainment. Across design, naming and writing, we’ve created a stronger, more unified brand expression to get Ten back to what it’s always done best – being as fun as the programs it shows.”

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