MEDIA: ITV REBRANDING - AN EXPERT'S VIEW. ITV's new idents have a fresher feel but better programming is still needed.(Column)

It has become very easy, and very fashionable, to knock ITV. And if it was honest with itself (now there's a novel thought), ITV would have to accept that it has been the architect of its own downfall. Whether it was the ITV Digital fiasco, or its seeming inability to stop massive audience decline in the face of competition, or the current furore surrounding Carlton and Granada's proposed merger, ITV does seem to have become a bit of an 'own goal' specialist.

It would be very easy for me to take the cynical view and suggest that this rebranding of ITV is tantamount to the rearranging of deckchairs on the Titanic. However, as it is in all our interests to see a strong ITV, capable of delivering significant audiences, anything that can begin to arrest the real and perceived decline in ITV should be given proper consideration.

Let's be realistic. Any changes or improvements to on-air branding will not in itself deliver a dramatic difference in ITV's fortunes but it does make sense to have a more coherent and relevant channel identity. To give ITV's marketing director, Jim Hytner, credit, he is a realist and accepts this is the start of a process and not the definitive solution.

The use of ITV's stable of star names in trailers is a simple but effective promotional tool and will help to engender some viewer familiarity and loyalty. However, the more discerning modern viewer really identifies with specific programmes, not channels, and therefore focusing on the programme budget will prove to be of far more importance.

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