From billboard to binge – DixonBaxi partners with Hulu on a new, unified brand experience.

DixonBaxi, in close partnership with Hulu, have created a new brand design for the U.S. streaming platform. The new design unifies the Hulu experience like never before with a brand system born from the origins of its name. We call this ‘One Hulu’.

Hulu has undergone a huge amount of growth and change. With over 39.4 million subscribers in the U.S., the streamer offers Originals including The Handmaid’s Tale and Woke, live TV featuring sports and news and an impressive library of top titles and films. Over an intensive, highly collaborative partnership, DixonBaxi was challenged to leverage equity, realign and reimagine the brand, marketing and the product experience as ‘One Hulu’.

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Collaborating across the brand, product, campaign and strategy leadership, we developed a set of four universal global design principles that underpin the entire brand. They express the need to put the story first, to be warm and delightful, to do it different and to be simply essential.

The Hulu logo has always had strong equity but needed to have more meaning. Research led us to uncover the origins of the name, an ancient Chinese proverb that describes Hulu as a ‘gourd’ — the ‘holder of precious things’. This pivotal discovery became the basis for the new brand design with the ‘U’ in the logo forming part of the Vessel.

It all begins with an iconic, new network ID that will live at the start of every Hulu Original. The sonic identity – developed in partnership with Zelig – features a unique four-beat mnemonic. This is carried through all key brand interactions from platform startups, pre-rolls to campaign end-tags.

The Vessel flexes from charismatic storyteller to premium expression. Seamlessly connecting brand and product.

The Vessel is an infinitely adaptive design and narrative system. It sparks conversations and serves as a guide. It’s a friend and a fan which connects us to the stories we love. Celebrating powerful characters, iconic moments and having something to say about all of it.

We doubled-down on the distinct Hulu green –  to create ownership and punctuate stories. Then expanded the palette with deeper, richer content-inspired colors that create a rich atmospheric world, bringing the warm glow of the TV experience into our brand.

The new voice features punchy headlines that make people think twice, as much being friendly and fun telling people what they need to know. It’s dialled up in out-of-home advertising that is optimistic, charming and cheeky and dialled down on the product, making every word count in this waffle-free zone.

The new brand launches as part of a major out-of-home campaign across the U.S. and will be seen across every part of the Hulu experience.