by Thinus Ferreira
Work on the latest eNCA rebranding unveiled today on 1 May started in August 2022 with the latest schedule and programming changes introduced from today which have all been timed for the South African TV news channel's 15th anniversary happening in June.
eNCA launched on MultiChoice's DStv in June 2008 as the eNews Channel with the Hyde Park headquartered channel that has gone through a myriad of anchor, schedule, programming, logo and on-air looks over the past decade and a half.
On Monday eNCA once again adapted its logo and on-air look, while introducing another schedule shake-up like cancelling its The South African Morning programming block in favour of simulcasting free-to-air sister channel e.tv's The Morning Show.
About the simulcast of The Morning Show, produced by Cheeky Media with Yusuf Stevens as executive producer, John Bailey, eNCA managing editor, on Monday said "that while eNCA will remain true to its business of news and content creation, what we are offering our viewers is really looking at how we can enlighten our viewers, especially in the morning".
"That's why we are bringing our hard-hitting news that we have become known for over all these past years, but also just give you a different sense of let's talk about spirituality that The Morning Show has become so famous for - but also issues around lifestyle".
eNCA logo revamped again
Norman Munzhelele, eNCA managing director, said the planning for yet another eNCA logo revamp started in August 2022.
The latest eNCA logo remains red and blue but delineates the blue "e" from the red and also inverts and flips the blue and white lettering colour and background colour from what they were before.
"We looked at some of the best brands in the world. On 1 June eNCA will be 15 years in existence and we thought we need to find a way of how does the eNCA brand grow organically?"
"eNCA was known for 'No fear, no favour'. We have to question a lot of things. We want to get our audience to do something about what we provide them. We're in the business of content creation which happens to be news. That brand must live amongst us. It's a call to action as to what we should be doing as a company."
He said that the "new positioning is a new era for eNCA, a new era for the viewers of eNCA".
John Bailey said eNCA's new brand positioning is "let's take it to our viewers - let's empower our viewers, also with the type of content we're going to put on-air on eNCA, we are going to give you the questioning part, we want you to think about what we put on air".
"If you have to question those in power - and we are talking a wide range of when we talk about those in power - it's not only politics. It's also to do with the private sector, it's where you live. And even question yourself. And you empower yourself to see how do I make a change and how do I better my own community and myself. So it's a call to action," he said.
"It's to get people to think differently about how they approach life. It cannot just be left to certain industry or certain individuals to make a change. You as an individual, you have to start thinking about how do we start taking South Africa to where we want the country to be. We want to create hope with our new positioning."
