Central is not forgotten!!

Remember the post that somebody sent linking to a claim by Carlton's Press Manager that Central had no brand awareness with the public?

Well, I went to Greenwich Theatre tonight to see some screenings of early Spitting Image (from 1984!) complete with VT countdown clock and original ident - projected on a big screen, with the jingle in all its glory over the whole speaker system.

And, within a second of it first appearing, bearing in mind this was probably the first time anybody else in the audience had seen and heard this ident since 1988, a huge number of gasps went around the audience, with people whispering to each other, 'Oh, I remember that!' and 'Oh yeah, Central!' And it took a few seconds for people to stop giggling from the shock of seeing the logo again.

I don't know how much of the audience (if any) were from the Midlands, but the Central name and logo had obviously stuck in their minds somehow.

Maybe the Marketing 'Gurus' of today should sit up and take note.

This also shows the Joe Public's attitude to idents in general. Many people I know do point out old idents, particularly the STV thistle and the Saltire off Grampian, and many are annoyed that they have now gone, to be replaced with 'English logos' as they are usually called

Anyone know of any other 'normal' people ever showing an interest in idents like this?

(Edited by TWO ident at 11:47 am on Jan. 27, 2002)

I was with my freind the other day and we both spotted two idents whilst I was fast forwading through an old episode of Mr. Bean. First it was the Thames '89 cap and then the central endcap which was overlaid on top. He wanted me to rewind them just so we could see it again.

Normally if were watching a video in school and an old ident is shown before the program some people will always comment on how old the tape is bcos of the ancient ident or something. You mostly see 4 & BBC TWO programs. Last year in skool I saw the the 1984 Daytime On 2 ident, u know the stripy 2 but with the daytime yellow/orange back ground!
http://www.tvhome.f2s.com/upload/BBC%20TWO%20Daytime%20Ident%20(Autumn%201984-1986).jpg
Image courtesy of TV Room!

Please e-mail dutyoffice@carltontv.co.uk explaining that you would like the Central name brought back !!

Here are two examples of what I have sent them in the past.

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Hello

I would just like to drop a small e-mail about how disappointed I have been for sometime that the Central name was dropped from ITV in the Midlands.

Please can you consider bringing it back.  The name 'Central' stood for quality broadcasting and friendly presentation that seemed to reflect the needs of the Midlands region.  Carlton seems like just a synonym for London.

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Hello

I would just like to say that I don't think it's fair that Central has lost its identity to 'Carlton'.  I lived in the Midlands and watched Central for many years, however aside from the local news there seems to be no distinction from London.

I think that most people still associate ITV in the Midlands with Central, and not Carlton, and so I would like to see it get its original identity back.  I don't think that people in the region should get a London-ised service.  Basically the bottom line is that I think your branding is wrong.

Please forward this e-mail on to whoever makes these decisions.

[EMAIL]dutyoffice@cartltontv.co.uk[/EMAIL][EMAIL]dfsdfsd[/EMAIL]

Yes we saw that one too there was also cheesy interlude music with a blown up photograph of the TV show that looked like it was taken in 1950. And yes people looked at each other and said 'Och, this is ancient man!'

The old ITV Schools on 4 is the one I always love to see because most of us remember it, and you can see a few heads nodding and feet tapping to the music http://web.ukonline.co.uk/tv.home/forum/emoticons/biggrin.gif

I hate my teachers at school. Whenever they play an old video they always get the video ready before the lesson so we never see the idents and countdown clocks that are on there except on freak occasions.

A quick reply after about half an hour, to which I ask why they haven't renamed HTV? Surely not because the service largely covers Wales!

I saw a Daytime on Two 2 ident a couple of weeks ago in Biology, and I saw an Idependent Television for Schools and Colleges clock ones (and the TWO ident with a clock in the corner and the ITV Schools on Channel 4 idents).

That is exactly the reason! It's something to do with the Welsh assembly and 'national' identity.

And my mum's friend at the Carlton Duty Office says that they get at least an e-mail a week asking about the rebrand!

Who else on this forum has sent an email to Carlton Central's Duty Office about the dissappearance of the Central name??? I certainly have in the past, although they have not said anything about bringing the name back again. All viewers want in the Midlands is something that distinguishes ITV, from Carlton in London and it is not happening at the moment. Even if we could just get the name 'Carlton Central' on our screens, or even better, just 'Central', with decent jingles and animations as we have now (perhaps just modifying the name at the end of the current sequences), that would be a huge achievement and something that viewers in the Midlands have been yearning for for a good long while.

What does everybody else think???

ive emailed them before ... bit of a blunt reply from them, but no doubt they log down the subject of emails for statistical purposes.

one small point, there original reason for changing the names was to avoid poor joe public getting all dizzy and confused ... so i suggest people write in all dizzy and confuzed about the current situation - IMO it would be more influential, and would destroy their reasoning for keeping the current sittuation.