Sphere Media, Sphere Animation and Sphere Films unveiled at MIPTV 2022
Sphere, the Canada-based content production and distribution specialist, has unveiled its new corporate brand. The move is designed to enhance and support the creation, production and distribution of content, both domestically and internationally, in a fast-growing global market.
In practical terms, the brand rationalisation will see all the group’s specialist units rebranded under the Sphere banner. Sienna Films, led by Jennifer Kawaja, BGM, headed by Marlo Miazga, and GO Films, led by Josée Vallée, will all become Sphere Media, which will oversee the creation and production of TV and film content and distribution of all television content. Oasis Animation, headed by Jacques Bilodeau, and Sardine Productions, led by Ghislain Cyr, will become Sphere Animation, while WaZabi Films headed by Anick Poirier and Lorne Price, which distributes feature films, will become Sphere Films.
The new branding serves to highlight not only Sphere’s multidisciplinary talent but also the scope of its content and activities. In recent years, Sphere has acquired several companies with world-class creative teams and strong brands. The architecture is designed to simplify Sphere’s communications with both its clients and industry but more importantly to accelerate collaboration and synergies between its teams and thereby enable the delivery of a greater number of projects.
Bruno Dubé, Sphere’s president and CEO, said: “This new brand identity strengthens our ability, both locally and internationally, to create, produce and distribute content that touches people’s minds and hearts and reflects the world in which we live. Identifying the right story and delivering it in the right way is our promise. Whether we are working with our in-house creators or collaborating with partners, what drives us at Sphere is getting ideas off the ground, telling stories and finding the right audiences to tell them to. They say the whole is greater than the sum of its parts — Sphere is looking forward to showing the world how true that is.”
Sphere’s premium content spans not only markets but genres. Its output includes documentaries, feature films, drama series, game shows, magazine programmes, variety shows, major television events, 2D animation and digital projects. Among its international scripted hits are Transplant, Cardinal, The Porter and Sort of — the last of which has recently been confirmed for a second season and is going into production in early May. Its French-language drama successes include Les Honorables, psychological thriller Aller Simple, Cerebrum and Une autre histoire.
Sphere’s factual returners include Haunted Hospitals, game shows Les Petits Tannants and Génial!, and variety show Belle et Bum. In children’s content, its stand-out titles include recent TVOKids commission Riley’s Rocket and award-winning series Backyard Beats and Gabby’s Farm.
Sphere’s roots go back to 1984, with the foundation of Groupe Télé-Vision. The company became Datsit Studios in 2012 and subsequently merged with ORBI-XXI in 2016, Sphere Media Plus in 2017, GO Films in 2018, Oasis Animation, Quiet Motion and WaZabi Films in 2019, BGM and Sienna Films in 2020 and, finally, Sardine Productions in January 2022. Each of these brands served to strengthen the Sphere creative family with their exceptional legacies of content, know-how and talent.