Wednesday 1 July 2015 Multi-award winning media company, UKTV, today unveiled a new on and off air identity for its popular pay TV crime channel Alibi.Adrian Wills, UKTVs General Manager for Alibi said,
We launched the channel six years ago and its established itself as a loved destination for fans of crime drama, with an enviable mix of high quality British and US content. It is now the right time to mark the next stage in Alibis evolution by infusing its brand identity with a contemporary edge to reflect its high quality output.
From today, viewers will see changes to Alibi both on and off screen with four new intriguing idents and menus which will rotate daily. Alibis iconic logo has also been modernised with new typeface and colour texture.
Led by Alibis Assistant Brand Manager, Stephanie Maas and UKTVs Creative Director, Scott Russell, design agency Art&Graft was brought on board after a three-way pitch to develop the brands visual identity and tap into what the audience loves about Alibi and its content.
Russell said,
The crime genre is full of clich s but Art&Graft impressed us with their fresh approach and presented a concept that we hadnt seen before. The four idents are all inter-linked and tell the story of one crime; this puzzle solving element is at the heart of what the audience love about Alibis shows and allows them to play detective. The red string, which visually runs throughout the narrative, acts as a device to help viewers piece the clues together and leads to the crime board menus which, in turn, use the device to link programmes.
Each ident was shot in a cinematic style to match Alibis quality programming and to mimic the visual look of the live rendered OSP menus.
Art&Grafts creative was inspired by the personality of the channel and plays to puzzle solving with the worlds greatest minds; a theme that often forms the centrepiece of a good detective show. Founder and Creative Director of Art&Graft Mike Moloney said,
We considered the process of a crime investigation and wanted the idents to capture it in its most minimal, conceptual form. The red string connects various pieces of evidence within each environment, taking the recognisable image of a crime detectives pin-board and transporting it into a physical space. We ask the viewer to complete the puzzle as if they are the first person to arrive at a crime scene.
The updated brand identity epitomises Alibis programme schedule which includes much loved favourites Castle, Rizzoli & Isles, Murdoch Mysteries, Luther and New Tricks. Castle and Rizzoli & Isles are the channels top performing programmes this year, peaking with 483k and 448k viewers respectively, followed by Death in Paradise with 390k.
Next week (7th July) viewers will also be treated to the premiere of international hit drama series Crossing Lines, starring William Fichtner and Donald Sutherland. A unique and exhilarating global action and crime drama, Crossing Lines taps into the charter of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to mandate a special crime unit to investigate serialised crimes that cross over European borders.
To mark the launch of the brands refreshed look, a two-metre high replica of a human skull was unveiled on Londons South Bank this morning. The skull, which took a design team two weeks to create, was cordoned off with crime scene tape as three forensic scientists studied the area for evidence. A tonne of earth was used to dress the scene, making it look as though the huge skull had just been discovered after being buried.
ENDS For more information, please contact:
Kerry Parker, Head of Network Communications
Lara Feinstein, Corporate Communications Coordinator
NOTES TO EDITORS About alibi HD Sky channel 132 and Virgin TV channel 130
Alibi is TVs home of crime drama, promising the best selection from the genre. It premieres hit US series like Castle, Body of Proof and Rizzoli & Isles and Perception.
The channel also features some of Britains best-known TV detectives such as Sherlock, Inspector George Gently and Luther and welcomes BBC hit, Death in Paradise.
The schedule features favourites including Dalziel & Pascoe, Diagnosis Murder and Miss Marple. The crime scene teams of Silent Witness and New Tricks keep audiences guessing - and there is always murder most foul with the channels popular co-production of Murdoch Mysteries.
About UKTV UKTV is the multi-award winning media company that reaches 42 million viewers a month. UKTVs eleven imaginative brands - UKTV Play, Dave, Watch, Gold, Alibi, Yesterday, Drama, Really, Home, Eden and Good Food - include the most popular non-PSB channel in the UK and account for 9% of the British commercial TV market. The companys most recent financial results showed record-breaking year-end revenue of £283m and EBITDA of £74.1m. It invested £123m in programming and related launches last year, and is becoming an increasingly significant investor in UK creativity.
UKTV has a truly innovative model, curating brand-defining commissions, high-profile acquisitions and the very best of BBC, alongside programmes originally shown on ITV and Channel 4. The network embraces technology to deliver inspired channels to audiences through Freeview, Sky, Virgin Media, BT, TalkTalk, YouView and UKTV Play, and distributes its highly valued original programmes to 200 territories.
Now celebrating its 22nd year at the forefront of digital television, UKTV - an independent commercial joint venture between BBC Worldwide and Scripps Networks Interactive, Inc. (SNI) - is proud to be the only British television broadcaster to be recognised by Best Companies.
corporate.uktv.co.uk / press.uktv.co.uk / @uktv_press
