Animal Planet Gears Up for February Rebrand

SILVER SPRING, January 14: Animal Planet in the U.S. is set
to relaunch in February with a new logo, new content and new tagline: “Same
Planet. Different World.”

In February alone the channel will feature eight new series
and specials, all targeted at reaching “a more adult audience with gripping
entertainment rather than pure observational documentary and host-driven
formats,” the channel said in a statement.

New content coming to the network includes new docu-soaps (Escape
To Chimp Eden, Lemur Kingdom); pet entertainment (Petfinder, Groomer Has It, Clinically Wild); and
unscripted dramas (Whale Wars, After
The Attack, A Year With Lions), as well as the return of Puppy Bowl, the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship and Mutual Of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.

“In an increasingly technological, rational, pressured,
thoughtful and well-socialized environment, there is an enormous desire for
unmediated, intensely felt, visceral, in-the-moment experiences,” notes
Marjorie Kaplan, the president and general manager of Animal Planet Media. “And
animals, in real life and in great, archetypical stories, are a short cut to
those instinctual feelings. In a world of intellectual or clever television or
lightweight entertainment, Animal Planet is television that gets you where you
live—literally—in your gut.”

“Consumers will be surprised at the unexpected new face of
entertainment we’re bringing to them on-air and online,” added Victoria Lowell,
the senior VP of marketing for Animal Planet Media. “The new campaign will
change consumers’ perceptions of our brand. There is so much goodwill to the
brand, and now we’ve got to translate that goodwill to increased viewership.”

—By
Mansha Daswani