Karin Rainey
Creative Executive
The transition from the ABC Family brand to the Freeform Brand has been one of the highlights of my career. Beginning with research nearly 3 years prior, I was an integral member of the rebrand team and one of only a few executives with the inside track on defining this young adult brand for The Walt Disney Company.
The challenge -- to rebrand a network to appeal to a non-viewer -- without losing our #1 status with the viewers we already had. We partnered with numerous agencies on research and brand strategy to identify Freeform’s key attributes… flexible, imaginative, expressive, dynamic, modern, fresh, fun, adventurous, unexpected, vibrant, and optimistic.
From exploration of network logos to establishing our design philosophy to the complete transition across ALL platforms - linear, non-linear, digital and social, we made tremendous change over an incredibly short timeline. The production process was a whirlwind with the entirety of the network rebrand executed in less than five months.
We collaborated with an external vendor in a long term partnership, but also built relationships with several new agencies to ultimately create a dynamic and versatile package. Our internal teams rallied to complete the majority of the production in-house.
This rebrand garnered a Silver Award in the 2016 PromaxBDA North American Promotion, Marketing and Design Awards.
