BBC marketing head admits W1A's satirical rebrand 'cursed' the new BBC Three logo

Jessica Hynes’ portrayal of Siobhan Sharpe as a representative from fictional marketing agency Perfect Curve, to some, paralleled the new branding designed to attract BBC Three's historically young audience.

Nikki Carr, head of marketing at the BBC, anticipated that W1A's humour could reflect badly on the rebrand from Red Bee, she said in a blog post: “Thanks to W1A we're cursed at the BBC when it comes to marketing and I don’t want to come across all Siobhan Sharpe but forgive me some lingo.

“The visual identity brings new BBC Three together - a new logo, new idents, new animations and new on screen presentation, all with a new colour pallet. This visual identity will underpin what we do in the future.”

Rebrands often come under harsh scrutiny initially and Carr admitted there have been several critiques such as: “It looks like Adidas”, “it looks like a “hamburger menu icon,” “it doesn’t even say three”, “are they Roman numerals”.

The new BBC Three logo looks to me more like an excited logo for BBC Two.

— Martin Bryant (@MartinSFP) January 4, 2016

She concluded: “If I'm being honest I’m not worried. Some people are resistant to change and we wanted to be bold and create something that looks forward and will be around for years to come.”

To combat the criticism, the BBC Three social media team broke out the GIFS, engaging with some commenters.

.@bbcthree Understood. pic.twitter.com/Dnl5faLKQJ

— BBC Two (@BBCTwo) January 4, 2016

@Liam_Beattie pic.twitter.com/3sILr6yLbT

— BBC Three (@bbcthree) January 4, 2016

@TheSherlockyOne pic.twitter.com/e1cJ8TZLc4

— BBC Three (@bbcthree) January 4, 2016

@WhoviVortex pic.twitter.com/HYwLm1eweq

— BBC Three (@bbcthree) January 4, 2016

Check out the infamous clip from W1A below.