As part of its growth strategy and to kick off the 2019-20 television season, FOX Entertainment unveiled a brand evolution during the recent 71st Emmy Awards. The brand’s new cross-platform identity created by the Trollbäck+Company studio challenges traditional network models.
In conjunction with FOX Entertainment’s EVP, Head of Marketing, Darren Schillace and EVP, Head of Creative Advertising, Scott Edwards and VP of Design, Ian MacRitchie, Trollbäck+Company evolved the FOX brand strategically, systematically and visually. Armed with culture-defining hit shows and the strongest sports lineup in network television, newly independent FOX sees itself as a nimble start-up with entrepreneurial roots and a rich history of innovation.
The rebrand’s visual design process began with a subtle redesign, then abstraction of the FOX logo to create a mark that served as the basis for its entire graphic identity. Reducing down the FOX logo to its core ingredients, then breaking apart the pieces into abstract shapes and patterns was a major component of the visual rebrand. The broken letters offer an infinite number of possibilities for expanding the system: pattern work and creative framing, created from the broken lines of letters and negative space, plays a role in the brand’s iterations across every platform and touchpoint, from billboards to social posts to large-scale, environmental settings.
FOX’s Schillace says, “We needed to break down our brand in order to reimagine it. Trollbäck+Company worked with us on a focused and ownable strategy that looked to our past to reimagine our future, and their design-forward aesthetic brought us a smart and flexible design that is unlike anything else we’ve seen.” Alex Moulton, Chief Creative Officer at Trollbäck+Company, adds, “We approached the project with an ambitious strategic vision and high-end design standards, and we are incredibly proud of the result. The market is ripe for a change of direction, so we set out to position FOX as an entertainment brand that’s forging culture.”
Nuanced variations in the animated toolkit represent FOX’s new master brand in virtually any style or material, from animated and live-action comedy to unscripted series to dramas. Trollbäck+Company also created a digital/social guide and toolkit for the brand that was larger than its on-air guidelines — another reflection of the brand’s shifting strategy. The new FOX identity is featured across all of the company’s 17 owned-and-operated stations and over 185 affiliate stations across the country.
