KERA Unveils New Brand

KERA is excited to unveil a refreshed brand that reflects the best-in-class content and services it provides.

The new look is part of a rebranding and audience development campaign KERA has created with Dallas-based creative agency Commerce House.

“This is a bold campaign that will allow KERA to connect with new audiences like never before, while deepening our relationship with those who already love what we do,” said Mary Anne Alhadeff, President and CEO of KERA.

The visual representation of each of KERA’s platforms is now more cohesive, while communicating the unique properties of each. KERA’s family of brands – including KERA TV, KERA FM, KXT 91.7 and Art&Seek – is unified with a design treatment that highlights the depth and variety of the station’s content. The new logo, which resembles a speech bubble, exemplifies the civil conversations audiences can find on KERA every day, suggesting a dialogue through which viewers and listeners can connect and engage.

KERA’s audio identity also has been refreshed with a new mnemonic that will be used to connect programs on KERA FM. Through its partnership with Commerce House, KERA contracted Dallas-based producer Nick Seeley to create the mnemonic, as well as new musical themes for KERA News and Art&Seek. Seeley enlisted local musicians to perform each musical element, including Dallas’ Kaela Sinclair, who composed KERA’s mnemonic.

Listen to samples of the mnemonic and learn more about the composers in this profile from Art&Seek.

The new tagline, “Go Public,” is part rallying cry, part call-to-action. For those who tune in, turn on and type in, it’s a call to tell the world how they “KERA.” For unfamiliar audiences, it’s an up-close look at undiscovered programming and a call to join KERA’s community movement.

The launch of the refreshed brand will set in motion a two-year audience development plan that will include advertising and outreach initiatives spanning KERA’s broadcast footprint. Recognizing the immense population growth in North Texas in recent years, KERA is reaching out to communities across the area with the most expansive awareness campaign in the station’s history. The multi-faceted outreach strategy includes print, digital, outdoor and cross-channel advertising, as well as placement on DART trains and buses.

For more than 55 years, KERA has been home to programs that inform, engage and entertain. Serving the fifth-largest media market in the United States, KERA reaches a weekly audience of 2 million people through its TV, radio and digital platforms. The new brand is a culmination of a two-year process of deep audience research, testing and design, and it comes on the heels of the 10th anniversary of Ms. Alhadeff. Since joining KERA, Ms. Alhadeff has overseen the launch of KXT, one of the most-listened-to AAA stations in the country, added a dedicated arts wing with Art&Seek and significantly expanded KERA News’ local reporting.

With each of these strategic additions to KERA’s constellation of on-air and online platforms, the station’s national profile has risen substantially. Since beginning the expansion of KERA News in September 2012, more than 350 KERA News stories have aired on national and international programs, including NPR’s Morning Edition and Marketplace, as well as the BBC and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

In 2015, KERA earned 24 regional and national awards for outstanding journalism. The honors include the esteemed Peabody Award, which recognized KERA’s contribution to NPR’s coverage of the Ebola outbreak. KERA also earned six regional Edward R. Murrow Awards, including KERA’s first-ever award for Overall Excellence among large radio stations in Texas and Oklahoma. Additionally, KERA’s One Crisis Away series won an inaugural national award from Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI) and the National Endowment for Financial Education.

KERA understands its audience seeks to learn and discover more about their community and the world around them. Throughout its history, the station has provided programs and stories designed for the curious and thoughtful families and individuals who rely on its content. KERA’s new brand identity is a reflection of this commitment to provide intelligent programing that is appropriate for all ages.