One for the ladies, one for the fellas.

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Gem from the Nine Network, and 7mate from the Seven Network both launched over the weekend, although not in that order.

Long before digital multichannelling got too interesting in Australia I pondered how the commercial networks would approach the tricky task of extending their brands to multiple channels. Channel 4 have done a great job naming their portfolio of channels under the “4″ brand, while the UKTV group have adopted individual brands for each of their many channels.

These two approaches are currently playing out in Australia, with the Seven Network now extending its brand name and logo to 7two and 7mate, while Channel Nine has launched Go! and Gem. Personally I think the impending launch of Eleven is the best branding we’ve seen on a commercial multichannel yet, but that said I’m pretty hot for any branding Channel Ten comes up with.

As for this weekend Gem looks pretty and is a nice start, although perhaps something you might see on an inflight channel, 7mate on the other hand is less a brand and more of a punchline, so lets just say neither of them bowled me over.

Channel Nine says Welcome Home.

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Channel Nine has again refreshed itself, this time with the tagline ‘Welcome Home’.

There use of the Black Eyed Pea’s track “I Gotta Feeling” comes hot off the heels of CBS doing the same thing, but I guess that’s the price you pay for using overly predictable Top 40 music in your promotions.

For more from the new look check out this.

Go. Exclamation Point.

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One of the great promises of digital multichanneling has always been the ability finally play out series with some regularity and respect to the audience. Channel Nine, the most middle of the road of the Australian networks flicked the switch on its new general entertainment digital channel tonight, with that promise at its core.

And for a broadcaster that hasn’t shown much in the way of innovation lately, its only apt that best name they could come up with was Go! (I’m sure they’re aware of the riotous success the name has had as failed internet portal, and a defunct airline, but third time is a charm I’m sure).

I would’ve loved to have seen the names they rejected..

Australia’s Funniest Home Videos.. still not funny.

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Australia’s Funniest Home Videos now has one redeeming feature.. this swish new title sequence and its very cool spaghetti lettering.

– Thanks for the video Alex, and sorry again for.. well you know.

Baz Luhrmann’s Australia.. the ident.

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As part of the massive marketing effort to promote to Baz Luhrmann’s new flick Australia, the Nine Network has been running a series of line-ups and idents themed around the movie. The odd combination of an epic film, and a line up featuring Two and a Half Men doesn’t exactly make sense, but very little does on Nine.

Nine News gets a “makeover”.

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The occasionally highest rating news service in Australia, the Nine News (formerly National Nine News) got a visual refresh this month.

Unfortunately the new look is huge step down from previous incarnations, with superfluous lines flying everywhere and ever classy solar flares, accompanied by a confusing combination of orange and blue, its less flagship-news-bulletin and more lifestyle-travel-show.

Shouting at Channel Nine. It’s a national pastime.

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“You make me want to shout”.. is not a slogan I would associate with a television network, there are just too many ways to turn it around on them.

But then again this hilariously bad promo for Channel Nine is 18 years old, coming to us from 1990. And perhaps back then, times were simpler, and marketing departments didn’t have to worry about what bloggers would say about them.

– Thanks to Sam for digging this up from the archives.