BBC Broadcast creates five-channel brand for Belgian national football

BBC Broadcast has created a brand for all Belgian national football television coverage.
The football brand which launches in early August will be broadcast by three broadcasters across five channels.
Belgacom purchased the rights to broadcast Belgian national football as part of its move into broadcasting and will be streaming matches on its newly launched channel, 11, which is available through Belgacom TV. Belgacom Skynet has sublicensed some rights to Belgian public service broadcasters VRT (Flemish-speaking) and RTBF (French-speaking), enabling them to cover Belgian national football both through live match broadcasts as well as magazine programmes.
“We needed to develop a unique visual identity that could be used across multiple channels to ensure a consistent brand for Belgian National Football coverage, while still allowing the broadcaster or channel to take ownership of their coverage,” said Bart Becks, CEO of Belgacom Skynet.
At the centre of the visual brand is the distinctive Belgian white football, on which each channel or programme can stamp their logo. The ball embodies the passion and excitement involved in the game and in the title sequence expands out like an atom to reveal highlight clips from matches, which are suspended in the air surrounded by the ball’s hexagons.
The football’s cheeky personality and energy are carried throughout the visual brand with the ball animating on screen in the three idents, jumping into action as the start whistle is blown, zooming into the back of a net to score a goal when one has been scored in the match and whizzing around the stadium in a haze of confetti when a match is won.
Jane Fielder, Creative Director at BBC Broadcast, said: “The aim of the visual brand is to encompass and enliven the excitement involved in national football and BBC Broadcast has been able to keep this visual brand alive throughout programmes and live match broadcasts by developing a range of stings and sequences that clearly brand the coverage.”
(GB)