People watch shows, not networks. It's an observation shared by many television execs, says Discovery Channel VP/creative director Dan Bragg in our "Best Rebrands of the Decade" feature in Boards' January/February 2010 issue. This line of thinking impacts the amount of time and money that networks will allot to comprehensive rebrands. Instead, their focus turns to generating ratings, and therefore ad revenue, via a programming strategy.

"We're always in conflict," says Bragg. "We want to get personality out there but how do you do it so that you can attach some show recognition and help move the meter on ratings at the same time?"

It's an important question for networks, but one in which an answer isn't without precedent. In 2007, UK network UKTVG2 was faced with lackluster ratings and a lack of audience awareness. The channel was largely a hub for classic television shows and had a small budget, so the usual route that networks take to increase growth - acquire and actively promote new programming, or place its resources behind one high-profile, high-performing show - wasn't an option. Instead, UKTVG2's strategy focused on building the audience relationship with the channel as a whole. It would go against the grain and offer a comprehensive rebrand with no new programming.

Audience research showed that the UKTVG2 name was not only confusing in a landscape cluttered with channels that follow the network-and-numeral strategy, but that it was also unmemorable.

"What they found was they had good programming that people liked, but the audience didn't know which channel they were watching it on," says senior creative director Ruth Shabi of Red Bee Media, the agency that handled the rebrand. "UKTVG2 is a bit of a mouthful and the name didn't cut through to people. The network wanted to change the branding and give it a whole new look and a different name so that it would appeal to the audience and get notice."

Red Bee undertook the risky proposition of ditching the traditional network-and-numeral naming strategy and rebranding the channel with the personality-driven name, Dave. It marked the first time ever that a UK channel branded itself with a name.

"The audience was primarily young blokes," says Shabi of the intended 16- to 44-year-old target market. "The research showed that these guys had young families, but because of their responsibilities they were missing out on going to the pubs with their mates. We found that [the network's] programs had lots of witty comedians and watching it was a bit like going down to the pubs with your mates."

Dave was the connector, originating from the tongue-in-cheek insight that everyone seems to have a good friend, or at least know a good guy, named Dave. The idea was that the audience could treat the channel as a friend that they have fun spending time with. With the new name came a new tagline that established a sense of place for the brand: "The home of witty banter."

The rebrand was accompanied by an extensive off-air campaign that comprised of outdoor executions and a series of idents that further defined a sense of place, important for a network whose audience previously misattributed its shows to other networks.

"We didn't necessarily want to make Dave a person, we wanted to make it a state of mind or a way of thinking and being," says Red Bee CD Kevin Hill of the conceptual platform for the idents, which feature young revelers exploring the grounds and interior of a fantastical estate. "That's where we came up with the idea of an eclectic, unusual place that wasn't necessarily of this world or this time. We went for the idea that Dave could be a traditional pub, but equally it could be some kind of stately home or some other parallel world where anything can happen."

The rebrand led to real results. Within one month of its launch, Dave increased audience share by 35%, in three months it attracted an additional eight million viewers and in six months delivered £4.5 million in profit. The rebrand successfully drove viewing amongst the 16- to 44-year-old male demographic with 67% uplift in reach, a major triumph as UKTVG2's shift from pay television to free-to-air digital terrestrial platform, Freeview, meant that it was actually less likely that particular demographic would access it on that platform. Moreover, viewers became channel advocates: 22 Facebook groups were created specifically in appreciation of Dave TV.

"There is a tendency to say, ‘Oh, something's not working, so it must be our programming," says Hill. "With Dave, we took a leap of faith. You can do all your research and be really well informed and feel in your gut that it's right, but then you have to take that leap. We were confident that we could break the mold and challenge the way that TV channels are branded."

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