All-new on-air brand refresh from Buenos Aires-based global branding and creative agency reflects the playfulness and imagination of kids’ lives.
NEW YORK -- Nickelodeon, the number-one kids’ network with the top-rated kids’ shows on all TV, is pairing this year’s fun-filled slime-fest, the 2017 Kids’ Choice Awards, with the debut of an all-new brand refresh of its on-air and online look and feel -- one that reflects the play, surprise and imagination in kids’ lives and delivers on the net’s mission to help make the world a more playful place. Created with global branding and creative agency Superestudio, based in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Nick’s new look focuses on the power of imagination via an array of kids interacting with the real world and Nick’s beloved characters in surprising and surreal mixes of live-action and graphics.
The new look consists of almost 300 deliverables, including bumpers, IDs, promo toolkits and graphic developments that will first roll out across the net’s U.S. linear platform, followed by online, social media and off-channel. Updated elements for the network’s international channels will then follow.
“We really wanted to highlight how much surprise and fun is a part of kids’ everyday lives, so we took as our inspiration the surreal nature of GIFs, memes and emoticons and created an entire new visual vocabulary,” says Michael Waldron, Senior Vice President Creative Director Art and Design for Nickelodeon Group and Nick @ Nite. “Using a mix of real kids and on-air talent, the refresh looks through the lens of how kids see things -- the unpredictable, extraordinary and joyful nature of a child’s imagination. Superestudio was the right company for this refresh because they use a great mix of different techniques, and they brought a fresh viewpoint that had just the right amount of quirk and whimsy.”
“Kids are constantly exploring the world and being amazed by new knowledge and discoveries,” noted Ezequiel Rormoser, Executive and General Creative Director of Superestudio. “The depth to which Nickelodeon knows it audience allowed us to reach the three creative goals we set for this project--be real, be unexpected and be playful -- and to create an entirely new iconography that is clearly kid-first and kid-centric.”
The visual narrative of Nickelodeon’s new look was executed by combining real kids with 2D and 3D graphics to create imaginative reinterpretations of Nickelodeon’s properties and characters as they became real-world playgrounds for kids to bring to life, rearrange and redesign. From turning SpongeBob’s face into a tongue-twisted fun zone, to kids rearranging and rebuilding Lincoln Loud from The Loud House, everything from the overhead and docu-style camera angles to the seamless blend of real-world, tactile and fantastical elements, is designed to drive a visual conversation between the network and its audience.
Nickelodeon’s classic orange logo will now be set against an updated color palette of bright and cheerful tones, including purple, light blue, lime and cream. Embracing the bold, modern sans-serif type, Galano Grotesque Black, the refresh also uses color to create, contrast and codify the on-air messaging.
“We had a wonderful collaboration with the Nickelodeon team, and we’re really proud of creating something together that’s new, exciting and purely Nick,” added Rormoser. “This project with Nickelodeon bears all the hallmarks of a Superestudio project, from live-action to animation and all of our creative capabilities in between, and we’re grateful for the opportunity to have worked on such a major brand initiative with a network we love and respect.”
Nickelodeon’s brand refresh comes at a time when the network is experiencing a surge of creativity and popularity, recently marking three years and counting as the number-one kids’ network--in every kid demo (Kids 2-11, Kids 6-11 and Kids 2-5), and with a new generation of hits for its audience. Nick is presently up +9% among Kids 2-11 year to date and owns the top-rated kids’ shows in all TV in every demo, with hits like: Henry Danger, The Loud House, The Thundermans, Blaze and the Monster Machines and Shimmer and Shine. Nick is also heading into the new programming season with a content pipeline for every genre kids love, filled with almost 700 episodes of new and returning series across its platforms in preschool, animation, and live action; TV movies and tent-pole events; and real-world, on-the-ground experiences that will grow the brand further beyond television.
Source: Superestudio
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
