Identity
When ABC first went on the air, they utilised the successful branding of their sister company ABC Cinemas. This featured a triangular shield with the letters ABC upon it, and a bar across it with the caption 'Television'. This lasted from the stations launch in 1956 until c.1958. The ITA had criticised ABC's original presentation style for being bland and too much attached to the existing ABC Cinemas brand.
As a result, ABC created a new brand ident featuring three arrows pointing to the bottom of the screen to reveal the letters ABC in turn and leaving a triangle behind and ontop of the letters. At the end of this, the three triangles would snap together into the new ABC logo. This ident lasted until 1964 when the lettering font was altered slightly from a serif font to the latest bold used by the company, with the latest revision used until the company's end.
The logo uses the notion of threes, three triangles making another triangle, with the points of a triangle often being labelled 'A', 'B' and 'C' in geometry. The tune that was used for all of ABC's idents was a xylophone playing 'la-te-doh' (or 'A-B-C' on the tonic sol-fa). Out of this look, ABC Television developed a strong corporate identity, effectively becoming the first British TV station to recognise the importance of corporate branding.
The company itself was called Associated British Cinemas (Television) Limited, however on exports and some continuing productions for Thames Television, the name Associated British Corporation was used. As for on-air, the name was for a few months Associated British, before becoming ABC Television. The station also received a joke nickname from Bob Monkhouse, namely All Bloody Commercials.
The stations slogan varied through time, starting off as ABC - Associated British Corporation in the North/Midlands before being replaced in 1958 to ABC, your weekend television and again changed in 1964 to ABC, your weekend television in the North/Midlands.
Read more about this topic: Associated British Corporation
Famous quotes containing the word identity:
“Let it be an alliance of two large, formidable natures, mutually beheld, mutually feared, before yet they recognize the deep identity which beneath these disparities unites them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“During the first formative centuries of its existence, Christianity was separated from and indeed antagonistic to the state, with which it only later became involved. From the lifetime of its founder, Islam was the state, and the identity of religion and government is indelibly stamped on the memories and awareness of the faithful from their own sacred writings, history, and experience.”
—Bernard Lewis, U.S. Middle Eastern specialist. Islam and the West, ch. 8, Oxford University Press (1993)