TELEVISION CHANNEL BRANDING IN GHANA: A STUDY OF TELEVISION IDENTS

ABSTRACT

TV Idents are short videos or animated sequence of about 3-7 seconds that are played in between programmes to identify, promote and advertise a TV channel to its audience. This communication tool has become increasingly important the Ghanaian television landscape in recent times. A close observation of Ghanaian television idents from both experts and laymen point of view suggest that the visual elements do not reflect channel philosophy.  Besides, the design structure and aesthetic contents seem to lack the expected commensurability with the core philosophies of television channels in Ghana. The aim for this study was to investigate the extent to which TV idents express the brand philosophies of GTV, TV3 and UTV.  The study was conceptualized under the interpretivist worldview of research and therefore takes the disposition that knowledge, truth and reality regarding the construction and deconstruction of meanings through television idents are subjective. In view of this, the qualitative research approach was employed to investigate motives, meanings, reasons, and other subjective experiences of television channels, visual communicators and audiences regarding the use television idents as a means of communication.  Using the purposive sampling technique, the researcher sampled GTV, TV3 and UTV, which form the three top television channels out of the accessible population of 21 free-to -air television channels in Ghana.  Data was collected through interviews, questionnaires and semiotic analysis. Findings indicate that, though the selected channels are deeply steeped in philosophies, there is a disconnection between the visual elements, design structure and the philosophical underpinnings of the selected channels. Rather than visually explaining their philosophies, television channels rely solely on their slogans.  Again, the study discovered that the pattern of meanings from the television idents do not commensurate with their philosophical underpinnings. The researcher recommends that GTV, TV3 and UTV could improve on their ident by expressing their core philosophies through visuals that simply explain their core philosophies rather than relying solely on slogan to communicate their core philosophies.  Television channels should develop brand manual to guide designers in communications.