Channel Branding and Empty Promises

As someone who came up through motion design, I’ve always had a soft spot for broadcast rebrands—the kind of event where a TV channel throws out its entire visual identity and bets everything on a new look. ProSieben, Germany’s largest commercial network, did exactly that in early 2009, launching a new on-air identity under the concept "E-Motion": silver palette, cleaner geometry, supposedly platform-agnostic. The rollout landed just before a prime-time screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, with the Pussycat Dolls providing the soundtrack to the debut trailer.

What got me was the positioning. Someone at the network apparently told a trade journalist that ProSieben was aiming to be the Apple among broadcasters. Which is either an extraordinarily confident statement or a deeply embarrassing one, depending on how the rebrand actually held up. That kind of comparison has a way of aging badly. But I was curious enough to watch—which is, I suppose, exactly what any good rebrand should make you do.