‘Further’ reiterates our need to be ONE National Geographic:Swati Mohan

National Geographic this week embarked on an extensive global rebrand across the company’s media platforms, experiences and non-profit organisation and embraced a global tagline – ‘Further’. To reinforce the notion of ONE National Geographic, as part of this new branding effort, the network has dropped the word “Channel” both on air and off all around the world from November 14, 2016.

The rebrand touches every aspect of National Geographic, including the visual presentation of the global channels in 171 countries, the iconic magazine, nationalgeographic.com, all of the company’s social and digital platforms.

In conversation with Adgully, Swati Mohan, Business Head, Fox Networks Group, speaks at length about the channel rebranding, the vision, the ‘Further’ proposition and much more. Excerpts:

On the ‘Further proposition and the channel refresh.

‘Further’ is basically the new global tagline of the brand across its many world class assets. National Geographic is not just a channel globally, it is actually an institution of 128 years old – assets that go across the magazine, the travel business, consumer products, digital, licensing a lot of that. ‘Further’ really embraces the ethos and spirit of a brand that has always sort of championed the cause of deeper and better understanding of the world around us. And that is exactly each of the assets separately have done. So what we have really done is not changed the core of the brand, we have brought them all together and ‘Further’ really brings together all these assets and our need to function as ONE National Geographic. As of yesterday, the word ‘Channel’ has been dropped from the logo on air. That is ONE National Geographic cutting across all these assets and is bringing the brand together under this one tagline of ‘Further’.

Last year, there was an expanded joint venture between National Geographic and 21st Century Fox. We have majority stake in this new company formed, called National Geographic Partners, and ‘Further’ really brings together all the assets under National Geographic. This rebrand has happened in 171 countries across all platforms. And of course, when it comes to timing in particular, there isn’t a better time to really satiate this curiosity gene which the brand has always created across its brand and consumers and also the need to scratch beyond the surface, explore new territories and find the answers to new questions is more pressing than ever before. The timing and the need for change is actually pretty perfect.

What ‘Further’ really means in terms of what people are going to experience – the look and feel of the channel on air will absolutely change; and as I mentioned, the word ‘channel’ will be dropped from the name; the new tagline, and of course, it will align with our new premium programming strategy which is built on quality and a relentless pursuit of creative excellence. So the new look – if you see it on the channel now – it is contemporary, sophisticated, and of course, cinematic, which gets me to the next point on content, which will also take a huge leap going forward with regards to the depth of content we are talking about. We have always led the way when it comes to world-class storytelling and we think the word ‘Further’ and our venture into what it means for content will cement that further. And we will reach a kind of scale and purpose altogether and if you saw the premiere of ‘Mars’ (on November 14, 2016), that’s the beginning of the unique format that really gets scripted entertainment of Hollywood stature, documentary sequences and spectacular visual effects. Now that’s the scale and depth of content we are talking about when we talk about the change in our programming strategy.

If you have noticed, from the beginning of the year we had some of the greatest talents and associations across the world – both on-air and off-air. We already started that earlier this year with Morgan Freeman in ‘The Story of God’. Two weeks ago we had ‘Before the Flood’ on the channel and across digital, which was a documentary with Leonardo DiCaprio exploring the massive impact of climate change. Going forward, we will have beyond Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, who are the filmmakers of ‘Mars’. We will also have the likes of James Cameron, Ridley Scott and Darren Aronofsky also creating some great series for us in the future. And lastly, I think the very important one, especially when it comes to India, I think is the fact that the kind of content we are also bringing together on the channel across the world will also have topics that are important for our fans, our consumers, and the world to really know, understand and be aware of – whether it is climate change, renewable energy, the water problem or even celebrate the strides that we in India are making in the world of innovation. We will have content that embraces that change and the need for change as well. And that’s something that would be really spectacular.

While it may be said that a lot of this content seems like it is catering to global tastebuds, but one data pointer we have recently absolutely reassures us is ‘Before the Flood’, which has been stated as being the highest rated show of all time on National Geographic globally and has 12 per cent of its viewership actually coming from India. That is really testament to the fact that this content is really resonating well both in terms of style, talent, access and purpose. We are really looking forward to such more content and we are very, very positive about the change that it is going to create in the industry.

On localised content offerings.

Regionally, we have always led the way for localised content we have produced. When come for infotainment, we are actually the first movers when it comes to local content all the way back in the 90s. We have continued that piece here, we just completed the new season of ‘Mega Kitchen’, we have Jagannath and going forward we will absolutely embrace the global vision of depth of content, access and purpose that I just spoken to you about. We will indeed embrace the global strategy, we will not stop localisation we will just absolutely take forward this beautifully written global strategy which I think many in the markets will do so willingly.

On the decision o drop ‘Channel’ from the name.

As I mentioned earlier, our need to behave like ONE single National Geographic is very powerful. Now that we have all of these assets under one umbrella, it was time to actually unify it under one brand logo and one tagline, that is, National Geographic and Further. So that really cuts across all of that. Now if we look at the example of ‘Mars’, we not only have the show ‘Mars’, we also have the November issue of the magazine and the cover as Mars, we also have a special edition of book of Mars and our global website also really talking all about Mars. And all these assets have never really worked together in this consolidated fashion and this is just an example in the beginning of such collaboration that we will really be making the most of going forward.

On communicating the rebranding to consumers across platforms.

If you see the channel, there is much excitement as the look has changed and we have already got fantastic feedback – right from the consumers to the industry experts to the creative experts, most renowned film directors – They are loving the new look. People will experience and feel it, it will reinstate their love for this brand and why they actually started reading the magazine many, many years ago. I think communication of the rebrand is something that people have already felt and have started responding very well and positive to it. Our ambition from this of course is the fact that we do want to take this purpose some further and give it some more meaning which we will be doing in the coming years for sure.

On changes and developments in National Geographic post the JV with 21st Century Fox.

All our assets have been functioning collectively in a consolidated fashion. We have united together under one umbrella with one brand logo and one tagline of ‘Further’. I think there is way more aggregation. We have brand teams as opposed to asset teams. We have teams working globally across all our assets. It is also a rally to get a lot of people to work together for a common brand mission as opposed to separate platforms. That’s a big change in how we are think and functioning and of course this is internal and as a experience for the consumer, they will see ONE National Geographic now.

On the ‘India Unlocked’ initiative.

India Unlocked is a programming stand that really brings together some of our great Indian content and we have always for the past few years have been using the term ‘Unlocked’ because I think the we are always on tapping new potential access, etc.

On National Geographic’s performance as a channel.

Despite much fragmentation, the fact that content is available on many platforms, we have got an ever fitting viewer, we have got many channels that are launching every year and these largely are the changes in the last three years. The infotainment category and especially, National Geographic, has always seen growth. I think we are very proud of that achievement and the category remain relevant, fresh and purposeful and I think this new rebranding will take that forward to reach in much more depth to that whole ambition.