Positively twisted: the inside story of the 10 rebrand

In late 2017, CBS, the most watched free-to-air network in the US, acquired Network Ten, signalling the start of a new, stable era for the network. With this new owner and a new lease of life, 10 was ready to change things up. The most visible change would be a whole-of-company rebrand, the first in 27 years. For a task of this nature, 10 needed help and branding design agency Principals was called on to assist with the process.

Wayde Bull, founder and planning director at Principals, says, “The opening conversation was around the pace of change. How do you run a proper process to define the way forward, but get to it reasonably swiftly?”

While a rebrand was important to signpost this fresh new era, it was also important that the heritage of the brand remained. The view was that 10 needed to rediscover what had made the brand great throughout its more than 50-year history. “The whole branding exercise was one of going back and finding out what made 10 successful in the past,”